# Observational evaluation of a convective quasi-equilibrium view of monsoons

### Abstract

Idealized dynamical theories that employ a convective quasi-equilibrium (QE) treatment for the diabatic effects of moist convection have been used to explain the location, intensity, and intraseasonal evolution of monsoons. This paper examines whether observations of the earth’s regional monsoons are consistent with the assumption of QE. It is shown here that in local summer climatologies based on reanalysis data, maxima of free-tropospheric temperature are, indeed, nearly collocated with maxima of subcloud equivalent potential temperature, $heta$eb, in all monsoon regions except the North and South American monsoons. Free-tropospheric temperatures over North Africa also exhibit a strong remote influence from the South Asian monsoon. Consistent with idealized dynamical theories, peak precipitation falls slightly equatorward of the maxima in $heta$eb and free-tropospheric temperature in regions where QE seems to hold. Vertical structures of temperature and wind reveal two types of monsoon circulations. One …

Publication
J. Clim.
Date