9728755 Vernekar Description: This award supports the US-India Cooperative Research: The Effects of Realistic Eurasian Snow Cover on the Indian Summer Monsoon-- A Numerical Experiment with a Regional Model. The collaborators are US PI Anandu D. Vernekar, Department of Meteorology, University of Maryland and Indian PI S.K. Dash, Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi. This research examines the effect of the Eurasian snow cover on the interannual variability of the Indian monsoon. The hypothesis that excessive winter Eurasian snow cover has adverse effect on the subsequent summer monsoon rainfall over India will be studied through numerical experiments on a high resolution regional model linked to a global general circulation model. The results will have important predictive value about the onset and strength of the Indian monsoon. Scope: This is a new collaboration linking the Department of Meteorology, University of Maryland and the Center for Atmospheric Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. This project combines the pioneering expertise of Vernekar's group at Maryland in numerical experiments with general and regional models with the capability of the Delhi group in modeling atmospheric and ocean processes. The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) will provided Cray supercomputer facilities to support this research. ***
