Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 92 (2013) 94–99

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Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jastp

Planetary Boundary Layer height over the Indian subcontinent during

extreme monsoon years
M.N. Patil n, S.D. Patil, R.T. Waghmare, T. Dharmaraj
Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune-411008, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) plays an important role in the regional monsoon circulation by
Received 13 February 2012 exchanging heat and moisture between the earth surface and free atmosphere. However, PBL
Received in revised form climatology over the Indian sub-continent in the context of extreme monsoon conditions is not
27 August 2012
available for its use in the regional climate models. In this study, a large-scale seasonal feature of PBL
Accepted 9 October 2012
Available online 9 November 2012
height over the Indian sub-continent is explored with 40 years (1961–2000) ERA-40 reanalysis data.
The variations in the PBL height associated with excess and deficient monsoons over India are
Keywords: examined. The seasonal climatology showed higher PBL height during pre-monsoon (spring) and
Planetary Boundary Layer monsoon seasons as compared to post-monsoon and winter. For the extreme monsoon situations, PBL
Indian summer monsoon
over the north-west (NW) India has greatly reciprocated. Over the NW India, during deficient monsoon
Extreme monsoon years
years, composite anomalies of the PBL are observed to be negative indicating large reduction in PBL.
Convection
Low level jet Whereas during excess monsoon years, observed positive anomalies suggest increase in the PBL. During
excess (deficient) monsoon years, the convection and the LLJ are found to be stronger (weaker)
associated with the higher (lower) PBL height.
& 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) located in the lower part of
troposphere, forms as a consequence of interactions between the
atmosphere and the underlying surface (land or water) over time
scale of a few hours to about a day (Garratt, 1992; Arya, 1988;
Stull, 1988). The PBL disperses (horizontally and vertically) heat
and moisture from surface, effectively air-conditioning the bio-
sphere and providing a conduit for energy to power the weather
system on all scales. Thus, the turbulent nature of the PBL is one of
its most conspicuous features and can be considered as the
circulatory system of the biosphere in many aspects. The large-
scale monsoon over India is characterized by the intra-seasonal
oscillations (Sikka and Gadgil, 1980) associated with PBL. During
weak and active phases of the monsoon, the PBL over Indian sub-
continent showed different characteristics (Parasnis and Morwal,
1991; Parasnis, 1991; Kusuma et al., 1991). During active monsoon
conditions, the surface wind speed, sensible and latent heat fluxes
were increased over the Arabian Sea (Holt and Sethuraman, 1987)
and Bay of Bengal (Sivaramakrishnan et al., 1996).
El Niño and La Niña are well known to be associated with
significant monthly/seasonal climate anomalies at many places
around the globe. El Niño/La Niña events have significant relationship
with the relative frequency of climate extremes (Wolter et al., 1999)
and deficient/excess Indian summer monsoon rainfall (ISMR) respec-
tively. However, with the changing atmospheric general circulation
pattern across the globe, decreasing influence of El Niño (Krishna
Kumar et al., 1999; Annamalai et al., 2007; Turner et al., 2007) and
increasing influence of the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) (Behera et al.,
1999; Ashok et al., 2001) on the ISMR have been reported. The
response of the ISMR to the tropical Pacific SST anomaly pattern is
more sensitive (Keshavamurthy, 1982; Krishna Kumar et al., 2006;
Kim et al., 2009).
Most of the PBL studies mentioned above are based on small
period data particularly over the Indian monsoon trough region,
Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal, but its large-scale feature as well
as dynamics and thermodynamics with extreme Indian summer
monsoons are not yet studied due to unavailability of PBL height
dataset. In this study, we analyzed the ERA-40 reanalysis data to
bring out the anomalous feature of PBL height in the excess and
deficient monsoon years. Its interaction with the convection and
the low level jet (LLJ) stream is explored. Also, the long-term 40
years (1961–2000) means seasonal PBL height climatology over
the Indian sub-continent is brought out.
2. Data and analysis

n
Corresponding author. Tel.: þ91 20 25904370; fax: þ 91 20 2586 5142. European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)
E-mail address: patil@tropmet.res.in (M.N. Patil). has produced an ERA-40 re-analysis data set from meteorological

1364-6826/$ - see front matter & 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2012.10.011
 M.N. Patil et al. / Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 92 (2013) 94–99
Table 1
All-India summer monsoon rainfall (AISMR) in mm for excess and deficient monsoon years during the period 1961–2000
(Parthasarathy et al., 1994).
Excess monsoon rainfall
Year AISMR (mm) % departure from normal
1961 1020.3 20.1
1970 939.8 10.6
1975 962.9 13.3
1983 955.7 12.5
1988 961.5 13.2
1994 952.1 12.1
observations accumulated from many sources. The ‘second-genera-
tion’ ERA-40 re-analysis would provide better products than those
from the first-generation ERA-15 and NCEP-NCAR re-analysis
(Uppala et al., 2005). Further, it has been suggested that ERA-40
provided higher horizontal and vertical resolution in the PBL than
the ones provided by the earlier re-analyses ERA-15. The ERA-40
re-analysis fields showed good agreement with the PBL heights
derived from radiosonde data (Von Engeln et al., 2003) over ten
stations spread in the latitudinal and longitudinal domain of
321630 N to 37180 S and 771530 E to 221950 W respectively. Long-term
re-analysis runs such as ERA-40 reanalysis dataset are still the best
source of global climatological information for many variables
(Simmons and Gibson, 2000; Simmons et al., 2006–07) and hence
are widely used by numerous researchers across the globe.
In the present analysis, we considered the monthly mean PBL
height dataset (http://data-portal.ecmwf.int/data/d/era40_moda/)
for 40 years (1961–2000) with 2.5  2.51 latitude/longitude grid
resolution during winter (December, January and February), pre-
monsoon (March, April and May), summer monsoon (June, July,
August and September) and post-monsoon (October and Novem-
ber) seasons over the Indian sub-continent. The monthly Out-
going Longwave Radiation (OLR) and 850 hPa level zonal wind
data for the period of 1961–2000 have been considered from
NCEP/NCAR re-analysis (Kalnay et al., 1996). Excess as well as
deficient ISMR, which is part of the natural inter-annual varia-
bility, tends to have an adverse impact on Indian economy and
social life. If ISMR during the year exceeds the long-term mean by
more than one standard deviation, then the year is defined as an
excess rainfall year, and if it is less than the long-term mean by
one standard deviation, then the year is considered as a deficient
rainfall year (Parthasarathy et al., 1994). With these criteria,
among the 40 years (1961–2000) dataset, we extracted 6 excess
and 8 deficient monsoon rainfall years as shown in Table 1.
3. Spatial pattern of PBL height over Indian sub-continent
The PBL height depends upon the convection available at the
earth surface, synoptic weather pattern and existing land surface
conditions, which vary from place to place. Fig. 1 shows the
climatological feature of 40 years (1961–2000) mean PBL height
over the Indian sub-continent for the different seasons of India i.e.
(a) pre-monsoon, (b) summer monsoon, (c) post-monsoon and
(d) winter. It is seen that the PBL height is greater over the region
of NW India in monsoon season and over the Tibetan plateau in
winter season. Otherwise, in the pre-monsoon season, most parts
of Indian sub-continent are covered with large PBL height
(  1800 m) mainly because of intense solar heating in this season.
Also, interestingly, it is seen that PBL height is gradually increas-
ing from south to north and the highest PBL height is confined
over the NW India in monsoon season. The minimum PBL height
95
Deficient monsoon rainfall
Year AISMR (mm) % departure from normal
1965 709.4  16.5
1966 739.9  12.9
1968 754.6  11.2
1972 652.9  23.1
1974 748.2  12.0
1979 707.8  16.7
1982 735.4  13.5
1987 697.3  17.9
is seen over the Arabian Sea and the Head Bay of Bengal in the
monsoon season.
The experimental observations over the Bay of Bengal showed PBL
height in the range of 400–1200 m in pre-monsoon (Allappattu and
Kunhikrishnan, 2010), 100–900 m in the monsoon (Bhat, 2003) and
50–900 m in the post-monsoon season (Bhat et al., 2000). The PBL
height over the Arabian Sea was observed in the range of 375–
1200 m in the pre-monsoon (Allappattu and Kunhikrishnan, 2010)
and 300–800 m in the winter season (Ramana et al., 2004). Over the
continental region of NW India, over Delhi (281360 N. 771120 E), the PBL
maxima are observed nearly 3000, 5000, 2000 and 1000 m in pre-
monsoon, monsoon, post-monsoon and winter seasons respectively
(Gamo et al., 1994). Over the station Anand (221350 N, 721550 E) in NW
India, Nagar et al. ( 2001) observed the PBL height in the range of
1500–3000 m in the month of May 1997 (pre-monsoon). Over the
station Kharagpur (221300 N, 871200 E), the maximum PBL height was
observed to be nearly 900 m (Parasnis and Morwal, 1994). These
observed PBL heights over continental as well as oceanic stations of
India are consistent with the mean climatology of PBL height shown
in Fig. 1. The Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) is extending
towards NW India in the pre-monsoon and shifts maximum north-
ward in the monsoon season (Sikka and Gadgil, 1980). During the
pre-monsoon and monsoon seasons, Zeng et al. (2004) found large
PBL height in the ITCZ region corroborating our findings.
In the monsoon season, NW Indian region is the seat of
relatively low pressure and it is more or less persistent throughout
the monsoon. Also, it is a heat low region. The warm water of Bay
of Bengal acts as a heat and moisture source and transfers it
towards the north-west Indian region with monsoon winds. There-
fore, PBL height is increasing from the Bay of Bengal towards the
NW region (Rajasthan) of India in the monsoon season. Over the
Bay of Bengal, PBL height is found to be less with more cloudiness,
whereas over the NW region (Rajasthan), PBL height is higher with
less cloudiness. Sikka and Narasimha (1995) have also reported
that NW region of India has less moisture whereas the Bay of
Bengal region has more moisture, which leads to the deep convec-
tion (more cloudiness) over Bay of Bengal and dry convection (less
cloudiness) over NW India (Rajasthan). Thus, we found greater PBL
height in the region of dry convection and less cloudiness.
4. PBL height during excess and deficient monsoon years
During deficient and excess monsoon years (see Table 1), the
composite anomalies for PBL height computed from the 40 years
(1961–2000) mean in monsoon season are shown in Fig. 2. It can be
seen that during deficient years, the negative anomalies of PBL
height have prevailed over the Indian subcontinent, which indicated
reduction in the PBL height. Otherwise during the excess monsoon
years (Fig. 2b), there were positive anomalies that show increase in
PBL height. In the monsoon season, we observed the deeper PBL
96 M.N. Patil et al. / Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 92 (2013) 94–99
Fig. 1. Seasonal mean of PBL height (m) over the Indian subcontinent derived from 40 years (1961–2000) for (a) pre-monsoon, (b) monsoon, (c) post-monsoon
and (d) winter seasons.
( 1800 m) in the NW India and it gradually decreased towards the
south-east part where PBL height is in the range of  600–1000 m
(see Fig. 1b). The PBL height over the NW India (Rajasthan) and
neighborhood is reduced by 240–270 m (Fig. 2a) and increased by
150–180 m (Fig. 2b) in the deficient and excess monsoon years
respectively. In the deficient monsoon years, reduction in PBL height
has gradually decreased towards the Indian mainland but only in
the excess monsoon rainfall years (see Fig. 2b), the PBL height has
increased more significantly in the region of NW India.
Observations over the station Jodhpur (261180 N,631040 E) in NW
India, during Monsoon Experiment (MONEX-79) in the year of
1979, which is a deficient monsoon year, showed mean PBL height
of nearly 1600 m in the month of August (Kusuma et al.,1991).
Similarly, in the year of 1997, which is a normal monsoon year, the
Land Surface Procresses Experiment (LASPEX) observations over
the station Anand (221350 N, 721550 E) in NW India showed PBL
height in the range of 2600 m in the monsoon season (Murthy and
Parasnis, 2002). Unfortunately, the PBL observations over the west
India in excess monsoon years are not available due to unavail-
ability of high resolution radiosonde/remote sensing observations.
Thus, the observations collected during the above special experi-
ments supported the hypothesis of deeper PBL in the excess
monsoon years and shallow PBL during deficient monsoon years.
In the deficient monsoon years (Fig. 3a), the strong and deep
convection (OLR¼190–210 Wm  2) prevails in the Bay of Bengal
and NE-India, but during the excess monsoon years (Fig. 3b), it is
extended towards the south and south-east India (lower the OLR
more the convection). During both the extreme monsoon condi-
tions, the convection is low in the region of NW India (Rajasthan)
and increases towards the Indian mainland, Arabian Sea and Bay of
Bengal. This deep convection releases more latent heat contributing
to the formation of monsoon systems in the Bay of Bengal. Earlier
studies (Holt and Sethuraman, 1987; Sivaramakrishnan et al., 1996)
also showed the high convection with greater heat fluxes in the
Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal during active monsoon conditions.
The deep convection is found over the Bay of Bengal during deficient
years composites though it is low over the continental region. In
contrast, during excess years, it extends over to the land region and
even to the Arabian Sea.
The spatial pattern of the 850 hPa wind vector in monsoon
season showed that the LLJ in Arabian Sea is stronger (14–
18 ms  1) during excess monsoon and weaker (10–14 ms  1)
during deficient monsoon conditions (see Fig. 3c and d). But, over
NW India (Rajasthan), it is observed that the winds at 850 hPa
were strong (4–6 ms  1) and weak (2–4 ms  1) in deficient and
excess monsoon years respectively. Swapna and Ramesh Kumar
(2002) clearly brought out the importance of low level flow into
the Indian sub-continent (Equatorial Indian Ocean) during the
excess and deficient monsoon years and reported that the
strength of the low level flow into the Indian sub-continent
(Equatorial Indian Ocean region) was significantly high during
break and weak monsoon conditions. Active periods of rainfall
were characterized by stronger low level flow directed to Indian
sub-continent transporting more moisture in to the Indian sub-
continent. Ramesh Kumar et al. (2009) showed the low level wind
flow at 850 hPa was substantially more (less) and directed
towards the Indian sub-continent (equatorial region) during the
monsoon years that experienced a rainfall excess (deficit). The
weaker LLJ in the Arabian Sea during deficient years leads to
lowering the PBL height but it will not shift more towards the
north. Also, comparatively strong winds at 850 hPa over NE India
lead to increase the PBL height in that region. The reduction of
PBL height in excess monsoon years is attributed to the weak
wind at 850 hPa over NW region due to weak convection in
 M.N. Patil et al. / Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 92 (2013) 94–99 97

Fig. 2. The monsoon season PBL height (m) anomalies for (a) deficient ISMR years and (b) excess ISMR years.

Arabian Sea and southward shift of weak LLJ’s core compared to
the situations in excess monsoon years.
5. Interaction of PBL and land surface parameters with
extreme monsoon
It is well known that the land surface processes influence the
monsoon (Sud and Smith, 1985; Xue et al., 2004, 2006). The surface
energy balance is sensitive to the surface albedo, evaporation, surface
roughness, surface heat capacity, etc. For instance, modification of
vegetation cover can change the solar energy absorption by the
surface, as well as its redistribution in the atmosphere as latent and
sensible heat. Therefore, the main focus of the research in the last
decade or so is on the land surface parameterizations (Avissar and
Pielke, 1989; Li and Avissar, 1994; Oleson et al., 1997; Liang and Guo,
2003; Kahan et al., 2006; Han et al., 2008). By using the General
Circulation Model (GCM), Charney et al. (1977) tested albedo drought
hypothesis (Charney, 1975) and showed the importance of the
turbulent fluxes on precipitation. In the excess monsoon year, the
soil moisture will be higher compared to that of deficient monsoon
years. High soil moisture conditions will decrease the surface albedo
and hence the net solar radiation at the surface will be increased.
Increase of net radiation at the surface tends to increase the total heat
fluxes (sensible and latent) from the earth surface into the PBL.
The higher heat fluxes will give greater PBL height. The land surface
processes interactions with the excess and deficient monsoon condi-
tions are illustrated in Fig. 4.
98 M.N. Patil et al. / Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 92 (2013) 94–99

Fig. 3. The mean Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) in Wm  2 for (a) deficient ISMR years, (b) excess ISMR years; mean wind vector at 850 hPa, (c) deficient ISMR years
and (d) excess ISMR years.

Fig. 4. Interaction of PBL with extreme monsoon conditions.

6. Summary and conclusions
The mean PBL height has found to be higher during pre-
monsoon season covering almost all mainland region whereas
during the monsoon season, the region of high PBL has shifted
towards north i.e. PBL has gradually increases from south to north
and the higher PBL is confined over the NW India. The composite
anomalies of the PBL height during excess and deficient monsoon
years showed interesting contrast feature. The negative anomalies
have been observed over the north and NW India during deficient
years composite indicating the reduction in PBL height whereas
during excess monsoon years composite, there were positive
anomalies which lead to the higher PBL height over the same
region. During excess (deficient) monsoon years, the convection
 M.N. Patil et al. / Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 92 (2013) 94–99
and the LLJ were found to be stronger (weaker) associated with
the higher (lower) PBL height.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to Prof. B.N. Goswami, Director, Indian
Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune for providing the facilities
and continuous encouragement during the course of the study.
We are thankful to an anonymous reviewer for constructive
suggestions that helped to improve the manuscript.
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