All-India summer monsoon rainfall and sea surface temperatures around northern Australia and Indonesia

Abstract

The relationships between Indian summer (June-September) monsoon rainfall and sea surface temperatures around northern Australia-Indonesia has been explored using data from 1949 to 1991. Warm sea surface temperarures are generally associated with a good monsoon; a poor monsoon is usually accompanied and preceded by low sea surface temperatures. This study also confirms a relationship between changes in Darwin pressure and Indian monsoon rainfall. These two relationships appear to provide a method for predicting Indian summer monsoon rainfall a month or two before the onset of the monsoon season. The northern Australia-Indonesia region is clearly an important component in the large-scale interaction between the Indian monsoon and the El Nino-Southern Oscillation. -from Author