Climate change at the 4.2 ka BP termination of the Indus valley civilization and Holocene south Asian monsoon variability

2003 ◽  
Vol 30 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Staubwasser ◽  
F. Sirocko ◽  
P. M. Grootes ◽  
M. Segl
2002 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 15-1-15-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Staubwasser ◽  
Frank Sirocko ◽  
Pieter M. Grootes ◽  
Helmut Erlenkeuser

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 569-582 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. V. S Ramarao ◽  
R. Krishnan ◽  
J. Sanjay ◽  
T. P. Sabin

Abstract. Recent studies have drawn attention to a significant weakening trend of the South Asian monsoon circulation and an associated decrease in regional rainfall during the last few decades. While surface temperatures over the region have steadily risen during this period, most of the CMIP (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project) global climate models have difficulties in capturing the observed decrease of monsoon precipitation, thus limiting our understanding of the regional land surface response to monsoonal changes. This problem is investigated by performing two long-term simulation experiments, with and without anthropogenic forcing, using a variable resolution global climate model having high-resolution zooming over the South Asian region. The present results indicate that anthropogenic effects have considerably influenced the recent weakening of the monsoon circulation and decline of precipitation. It is seen that the simulated increase of surface temperature over the Indian region during the post-1950s is accompanied by a significant decrease of monsoon precipitation and soil moisture. Our analysis further reveals that the land surface response to decrease of soil moisture is associated with significant reduction in evapotranspiration over the Indian land region. A future projection, based on the representative concentration pathway 4.5 (RCP4.5) scenario of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), using the same high-resolution model indicates the possibility for detecting the summer-time soil drying signal over the Indian region during the 21st century in response to climate change. Given that these monsoon hydrological changes have profound socio-economic implications the present findings provide deeper insights and enhance our understanding of the regional land surface response to the changing South Asian monsoon. While this study is based on a single model realization, it is highly desirable to have multiple realizations to establish the robustness of the results.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samar Minallah ◽  
Valeriy Y. Ivanov

Abstract The Indus River basin is highly vulnerable to water scarcity due to increasing population, unsustainable management practices, and climate change. Yet the regional hydroclimate and precipitation dynamics remain poorly understood. Using running trend and spectral analysis with multiple gauge-based, remote sensing, and reanalysis precipitation datasets, this study analyzes precipitation temporal variability, its subregional variations, and the main seasonal drivers, particularly the South Asian monsoon. The results uncover remarkable alternation of long-term positive and negative interdecadal precipitation trends in the basin over the past half century. These trends have led to substantial changes in water input over the region at the time scales comparable to climate assessment periods (30 years), and therefore this high intrinsic variability must be accounted for in climate change adaptation studies. This study also reconstructs onset and withdrawal dates of the South Asian monsoon that exhibit interdecadal variability, but their dominant modes differ from that of annual precipitation. The findings hypothesize that higher-frequency variability in El Niño–Southern Oscillation is likely to have a pronounced impact on monsoon onset and duration in the studied region.


2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 229-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Lomazzi ◽  
Dara Entekhabi ◽  
Joaquim G. Pinto ◽  
Giorgio Roth ◽  
Roberto Rudari

Abstract The summer monsoon season is an important hydrometeorological feature of the Indian subcontinent and it has significant socioeconomic impacts. This study is aimed at understanding the processes associated with the occurrence of catastrophic flood events. The study has two novel features that add to the existing body of knowledge about the South Asian monsoon: 1) it combines traditional hydrometeorological observations (rain gauge measurements) with unconventional data (media and state historical records of reported flooding) to produce value-added century-long time series of potential flood events and 2) it identifies the larger regional synoptic conditions leading to days with flood potential in the time series. The promise of mining unconventional data to extend hydrometeorological records is demonstrated in this study. The synoptic evolution of flooding events in the western-central coast of India and the densely populated Mumbai area are shown to correspond to active monsoon periods with embedded low pressure centers and have far-upstream influences from the western edge of the Indian Ocean basin. The coastal processes along the Arabian Peninsula where the currents interact with the continental shelf are found to be key features of extremes during the South Asian monsoon.


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