Classification of Middle Tropospheric Systems over the Arabian Sea and Western India

TL;DR

This study classifies Middle Tropospheric Cyclones over the Arabian Sea and Western India using machine learning, revealing four dominant formation patterns linked to large-scale environmental factors, aiding prediction of extreme rainfall events.

Contribution

Introduces an unsupervised machine learning approach to classify MTCs and identifies their formation mechanisms and environmental dependencies.

Findings

Four main weather patterns leading to MTC formation identified.

Type 2a MTCs have the highest rain rate of 60 mm/day.

Formation patterns are linked to Boreal Summer Intraseasonal Oscillation phases.

Abstract

The formation of Middle Tropospheric Cyclones (MTCs) that are responsible for a large portion of annual precipitation and extreme rainfall events over western India is studied using an unsupervised machine learning algorithm and cyclone tracking. Both approaches reveal four dominant weather patterns that lead to the genesis of these systems; specifically, re-intensification of westward moving synoptic systems from Bay of Bengal (Type 1, 51%), in-situ formation with a coexisting cyclonic system over the Bay of Bengal that precedes (Type 2a, 31%) or follows (Type 2b, 10%) genesis in the Arabian Sea, and finally in-situ genesis within a northwestward propagating cyclonic anomaly from the south Bay of Bengal (Type 2c, 8%). Thus, a large fraction of rainy middle tropospheric synoptic systems in this region form in association with cyclonic activity in the Bay of Bengal. The four variants identified also show a marked dependence on large-scale environmental features with Type 1 and Type 2a formation primarily occurring in phases 4 and 5, and Type 2b and Type 2c in phases 3 and 4 of the Boreal Summer Intraseasonal Oscillation. Further, while in-situ formation with a Bay of Bengal cyclonic anomaly (Type 2a and 2b) mostly occurs in June, downstream development is more likely in the core of the monsoon season. Out of all categories, Type 2a is associated with the highest rain rate (60 mm/day) and points towards the dynamical interaction between a low pressure system over the Bay of Bengal and the development of MTCs over western India and the northeast Arabian Sea. This classification, identification of precursors, connection with cyclonic activity over the Bay of Bengal and dependence on large-scale environment provides an avenue for better understanding and prediction of rain-bearing MTCs over western India.