The monsoon onset over Kerala is considered as the beginning of rain fall over India and it is the end of hot summer. Different criteria have been used to define the monsoon onset over Kerala, with the one given by India Meteorological Department taken as the standard criteria. The analysis of the past 20 years of observations shows that the variables during the monsoon onset do not behave in the same way always. The purpose of this paper is to analyses the monsoon onset phases and to find possible reasons behind the variable nature of the monsoon onset. Different meteorological parameters like precipitation, outgoing long wave radiation (OLR), winds, air temperature, and specific humidity at different levels are analyzed for the same. Research has been done on various distinct features of monsoon such as Low Level Jet (LLJ), Tropical Easterly Jet (TEJ), monsoon trough, and depressions etc., during the onset phase. The analysis showed that in some years the strength of LLJ is lesser compared to the normal years. It is also seen that in some years the wind flow pattern is different from that observed during a standard onset year. The results of these analyses will be presented in detail in the paper.
展开▼
