Indian monsoon precipitation, low-pressure systems and their sensitivity to climate change.

The project is related to the precipitation associated with monsoon low pressure systems over India, and their sensitivity to an increase in atmospheric moisture. Task 1 - current work: A major part of the precipitation over central India during the mon soon season comes from the monsoon low-pressure systems. This study investigates if the passage of these low-pressure systems can be related to extreme rainfall events. Task 2 - proposed work at NCAR: Since the atmospheric moisture is expected to increa se with an increase in surface temperature, the sensitivity of these low-pressure systems will be investigated by performing high resolution simulations with the model WRF-Hydro where the atmospheric moisture is increased. Task 3 - proposed work at NCAR : An increase in the atmospheric moisture can lead to more extreme rainfall events. Therefore, since the model WRF-Hydro has an improved representation of surface processes, and can provide information about the river runoff, the climate sensitivity simu lations described in Task 2 will be analyzed with a focus on how the extreme rainfall affects the river runoff.