Variability in vertical structure of precipitation with sea surface temperature over the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal as inferred by Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission precipitation radar measurements

Saikranthi, Kadiri; Radhakrishna, Basivi; Narayana Rao, Thota; Satheesh, Sreedharan Krishnakumari

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-10423-2019

Articles | Volume 19, issue 15

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-10423-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Special issue:

Interactions between aerosols and the South West Asian...

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-10423-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 15

Research article

|

15 Aug 2019

Research article |

| 15 Aug 2019

Variability in vertical structure of precipitation with sea surface temperature over the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal as inferred by Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission precipitation radar measurements

Kadiri Saikranthi, Basivi Radhakrishna, Thota Narayana Rao, and Sreedharan Krishnakumari Satheesh

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Final revised paper (published on 15 Aug 2019)
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Preprint (discussion started on 04 Sep 2018)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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- Supplement

RC1: 'Specific comments', Anonymous Referee #2, 02 Oct 2018
- AC1: 'Replies to Referee 2', Saikranthi K., 02 Jan 2019
SC1: 'Comments on Kadiri Saikranthi et al.', Bijay Guha, 13 Nov 2018
- AC2: 'Replies to short comments', Saikranthi K., 02 Jan 2019
RC2: 'Rejected', Anonymous Referee #4, 04 Dec 2018
- AC3: 'Replies to Referee 4', Saikranthi K., 02 Jan 2019

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

AR by Saikranthi K. on behalf of the Authors (28 Jan 2019) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (29 Jan 2019) by Armin Sorooshian

RR by Anonymous Referee #2 (11 Feb 2019)

RR by Anonymous Referee #5 (04 Mar 2019)

Suggestions for revision or reasons for rejection

The topic is interesting, but the authors should revise the following points before final publication.

Major comments
1. It is not clear the SST effect is the primary cause of the variability of vertical structure of precipitation. The authors should examine the SST effect on this variability under similar monsoon westerlies conditions, following the paper by Takahashi and Dado (2018) showing that SST makes a positive contribution toward rainfall in the Philippines during the summer Monsoon, but the monsoon westerly is the primary driver of the variation in rainfall.

2. I cannot agree with the arguments described in Line 283-285, since cloud effective radius　(CER) is not simply linked to precipitation size (i.e. Z-R). The authors should refer to the review by Rosenfeld, D., and C. W. Ulbrich (2003) describing that microphysically “continental” clouds with greater concentrations of small cloud droplets produce greater concentrations of large rain drops and smaller concentrations of small rain drops compared to microphysically “maritime” clouds with small concentrations of large cloud droplets.

3. It is not clear the definition of deep systems shown in Fig. 3. If deep systems include both convection and stratiform precipitation, they should be separated. I would sugest the authors refer to the paper by Kobayashi et al. (2018) describing vertical gradient of stratiform radar reflectivity below the bright band.

4. I speculate that small variation of vertical structure of precipitation with SST over BoB should be explained by the fact that rainfall over BoB is produced by southeastward-propagating systems from the India coast (Yang and Slingo 2001; Li and Carbone 2015) rather than those developed in situ.

Minor comments
Line 78-80: I would suggest that the authors refer to Kumar et al. (2014) and Shige et al. (2017) describing summer monsoon rainfall over the Western Ghats and Myanmar coast.

Kobayashi, K., S. Shige, and M. K. Yamamoto, 2018: Vertical gradient of stratiform radar reflectivity below the bright band from the tropics to the extratropical latitudes seen by GPM. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc., 144 (Suppl. 1), 165-175, doi:10.1002/qj.3271.
Kumar, S., A. Hazra, and B. N. Goswami, 2014: Role of interaction between dynamics, thermodynamics and cloud microphysics on summer monsoon precipitating clouds over the Myanmar coast and the Western Ghats. Climate Dyn., 43, 911–924, doi:10.1007/s00382-013-1909-3.
Li, Y., and R. E. Carbone, 2015: Offshore propagation of coastal precipitation. J. Atmos. Sci., 72, 4553–4568, doi: 10.1175/JAS-D-15-0104.1.
Rosenfeld, D., and C. W. Ulbrich, 2003: Cloud microphysical properties, process, and rainfall estimation opportunities, in Radar and Atmospheric Science: A Collection of Essays in Honor of David Atlas, Meteorol. Monogr., 52, pp. 237– 258, Am. Meteorol. Soc., Boston, Mass.
Shige, S., Y. Nakano, and M. K. Yamamoto, 2017: Role of orography, diurnal cycle, and intraseasonal oscillation in summer monsoon rainfall over Western Ghats and Myanmar coast. J. Climate, 30, 9365–9381, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0858.1.
Takahashi, H. G., and J. M. B. Dado, 2018: Relationship between Sea Surface Temperature and Rainfall in the Philippines during the Asian Summer Monsoon, Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan, 96 (3), 283−290, 2018DOI:10.2151/jmsj.2018-03
Yang, G. Y., and J. Slingo, 2001: The diurnal cycle in the tropics. Mon. Wea. Rev., 129, 784–801, doi:10.1175/1520-0493(2001)129,0784:TDCITT.2.0.CO;2.

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ED: Reconsider after major revisions (04 Mar 2019) by Armin Sorooshian

AR by Saikranthi K. on behalf of the Authors (07 Apr 2019) Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (09 Apr 2019) by Armin Sorooshian

RR by Anonymous Referee #5 (29 Apr 2019)

Suggestions for revision or reasons for rejection

The authors have examined the impact of zonal wind on rainfall in response to my previous review comment. However, the manuscript still needs additional revisions. My comments are as follows.

Major comments:
1.　Under weak wind regimes, the reflectivity for deep and shallow systems decreases with increase in SST over AS (Figs. R1 and R3). Why? Is this consistent with the authors’ argument that the variations seen in reflectivity are originated in the cloud formations stage itself? This point should be discussed in the manuscript.
2.　The authors should note their assumption that the microphysical process at all SST’s is same in the manuscript.
3.　Again, the authors should explain the definition of deep and shallow systems (not just refer to Houze et al. 2007) in the manuscript.

L38: Tropical rainfall measuring mission should be Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission.
L92: tropical rainfall measuring mission should be Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission.
L103: I would suggest the authors add Tao et al. (2016).
L295: the particle size should be the precipitating particle size.
L305-307: Change in fall speed from ice hydrometers to raindrops should be added.
p. 29: The figure should be Figure 7.
p. 30: The figure should be Figure 6.

Tao, W.-K., Y. N. Takayabu, S. Lang, S. Shige, W. Olson, A. Hou, G. Skofronick-Jackson, X. Jiang, C. Zhang, W. Lau, T. Krishnamurti, D. Waliser, M. Grecu, P. E. Ciesielski, R. H. Johnson, R. Houze, R. Kakar, N. Nakamura, S. Braun, R. Oki, and A. Bhardwaj, 2016: TRMM Latent Heating Retrieval: Applications and Comparisons with Field Campaigns and Large-Scale Analyses, Meteorological Monographs - Multi-scale Convection-Coupled Systems in the Tropics: A tribute to Dr. Michio Yanai, 56, 2.1-2.34, DOI: 10.1175/AMSMONOGRAPHS-D-15-0013.1.

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ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (29 Apr 2019) by Armin Sorooshian

AR by Saikranthi K. on behalf of the Authors (07 May 2019)

ED: Publish as is (08 May 2019) by Armin Sorooshian

AR by Saikranthi K. on behalf of the Authors (10 May 2019) Author's response Manuscript

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Short summary

Recent studies have shown that simulation of monsoons can be improved with an exact representation of SST–precipitation relationship. The vertical structure of precipitation with SST is distinctly different over the Arabian Sea than over the Bay of Bengal. The reflectivity profiles show variation with SST over the Arabian Sea and do not show considerable variation with SST over the Bay of Bengal. The variations in reflectivity profiles seem to originate at the cloud formation stage itself.