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Onset of south west monsoon (SWM) over Kerala is associated with intense convection followed by heavy rainfall over the west-coast of India. The intense rainfall events are usually associated with meso-scale convective systems embedded in large scale synoptic system over the Arabian Sea. Such deep and intense cumulus convection can have an important effect on the dynamics and energetics of large-scale atmospheric systems, because of the large magnitudes of the energy transformations associated with changes of phase of water in precipitating cumulus clouds as well as the strong updrafts and downdrafts in the troposphere. The prime objective of this study is to understand the convective structure (active/suppressed) of the atmosphere over the west-coast of India during ARMEX-I (Arabian Sea Monsoon Experiment). This study uses an approach to obtain the average structure of a cloud cluster and its interaction with the environment that enables in distinguishing the variation of kinematic and convective parameters from suppressed to convectively active process. Upper air observations obtained from four coastal land stations viz., Bombay, Goa, Mangalore and Trivandrum, alongwith that obtained over ORV Sagar Kanya are used to calculate both the convective and the kinematic parameters at the centre of the polygon formed by these observation locations. Time averaged circulation kinematic parameters and vertical velocity during active and suppressed convective phases off the west coast of India were discussed. The apparent heating and the apparent moisture sink are also estimated through residuals of the thermodynamic equations during intense and weak phases of SWM.

During ARMEX-I several special observations were taken over Arabian Sea region and adjoining west coast of India, which gave an opportunity to study this region more thoroughly. To handle such voluminous data, ARMEX data center has been established at National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), in collaboration with India Meteorological Department (IMD) and Indian Institute Technology (IIT), Delhi. One of the tasks of this center is to produce reanalysis for ARMEX period, utilizing these observations. It is essential to assimilate every observation from all available sources, especially over the data sparse oceanic regions for accurate determination of the three-dimensional structure of the atmospheric circulation. Before assimilating these data in global data assimilation system of NCMRWF, an attempt has been made to validate some of these data against observational facts from other sources. Upper-air observations (Digicora) from Dabolim, Goa have been compared with RS/RW observation of IMD, at Panjim, Goa. Though the trend in variations of all the meteorological parameters of these two stations is similar but there is a large difference in their absolute values. Reanalysis generated using the specially collected upper-air observations have been compared with the operational analysis of NCMRWF. The impact of these special observations on analysis and forecast system is found to be confined over the Arabian Sea region only in the lower troposphere. However, in the upper troposphere and stratosphere the impact is seen also over the equatorial Indian Ocean region.

A spectral cumulus ensemble model has been used to determine the impact of lateral detrainment and convective downdraft on the cloud clusters, during, different phases of the, summer monsoon, the model consists of a population of clouds of different sizes which are In different stages of their life cycle. Entrainment and detrainment is considered to take place at all levels, Each cumulus cell has an updraft and a corresponding down draft which originates at a level below the cloud top depending upon the depth of the cloud, Upper, air observations collected from stationary ships forming polygons over the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal during MONEX- 79 have been used for the study