Mesoscale convective complexes over the Indian monsoon region

Abstract

Full disk infrared satellite imagery was examined to determine if mesoscale convective complexes (MCCs) frequent the Indian subcontinent (ISC) region. MCC criteria were defined for the ISC; 49 systems met the ISC MCC criteria during the period April to December 1988. The results indicate that the characteristics of ISC MCCs are very similar to those of MCCs found in the Americas, China, Australia, and the western Pacific region. In particular, the typical system is nocturnal, trends to form over land, has a lifetime of about 9 h, and produces a cold cloud shield area of about 3 × 105 km2. Furthermore, as with other MCC populations, some of the systems developed into tropical depressions. It is concluded that the systems observed over the Indian subcontinent are essentially the same phenomena as the MCC populations documented for other areas of the world. -from Authors