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Abstract

The representation of the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) circulation in some current chemistry-climate models (CCMs) is assessed. The main assessment focuses on the anticyclone that forms in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere and the related changes in water vapor and ozone during July and August for the recent past. The synoptic structures are described and CCMs and reanalysis models are compared. Multiannual means and weak versus strong monsoon cases as classified by the Monsoon-Hadley index (MHI) are discussed. The authors find that current CCMs capture the average synoptic structure of the ISM anti-cyclone well as compared to the 40-yr ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-40) and NCEP-NCAR reanalyses. The associated impact on water vapor and ozone in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere as observed with the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) on Envisat is captured by most models to some degree. The similarities for the strong versus weak monsoon cases are limited, and even for present-day conditions the models do not agree well for extreme events. Nevertheless, some features are present in the reanalyses and more than one CCM, for example, ozone increases at 380 K eastward of the ISM. With the database available for this study, future changes of the ISM are hard to assess. The modeled monsoon activity index used here shows slight weakening of the ISM circulation in a future climate, and some of the modeled water vapor increase seems to be contained in the anticyclone at 360 K and sometimes above. The authors conclude that current CCMs capture the average large-scale synoptic structure of the ISM well during July and August, but large differences for the interannual variability make assessments of likely future changes of the ISM highly uncertain.