Effect of condensational heating over the Bay of Bengal on the onset of the South China Sea monsoon in 1998

Summary In this study, the authors analyse the observational features of the onset of the South China Sea (SCS) monsoon in 1998 shown in reanalysis data and use a numerical model to understand the mechanisms responsible for these features.The onset of SCS summer monsoon in 1998 occurred around 21 May. Prior to this period, monsoon depression activity was strong over the Bay of Bengal (BOB) and warm temperature anomalies appeared at the mid-upper troposphere over the northern BOB. In the meantime, warm horizontal thermal advection occurred over the northern Indo-China peninsula and South China. This warm advection seemed to play an important role in the winter-to-summer transition of the patterns of mean meridional temperature gradient in the 500–200-mb layer over South Asia.The PSU/NCAR Mesoscale Model Version 5 (MM5) is used to understand the physical link between the latent heating associated with the monsoon depression over BOB and the establishment of SCS monsoon. Full-physics simulations, for a 6-day period coinciding with the onset of the observed monsoon, reproduce realistically the evolution of the monsoon depression and monsoon onset process. It is found that the condensational heating over BOB is important for the formation of large-scale circulation pattern that favors the establishment of SCS monsoon. In an experiment without latent heating, the winter-to-summer reversal of meridional temperature gradient over South Asia was delayed and the onset of SCS summer monsoon did not occur during the simulation period.