Warming SST of Bay of Bengal and decrease in formation of cyclonic disturbances over the Indian region during southwest monsoon season

Low-pressure system (LPS), a major rain-bearing synoptic circulation, forming over the Indian region, including Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea plays a vital role in performance of southwest monsoon over the country. The term LPS includes lows, depressions and cyclonic storms. According to the intensities, LPS are categorized into two, one only low-pressure areas (LPA) and the other more intense systems like depressions/storms (DDS). Statistical analysis reveals some significant results. Decadal analysis shows that there is a significant increase(decrease) in the frequency and duration of LPA(DDS) during the monsoon season for the recent decades. SST of Bay of Bengal also increased significantly during recent period. It is also observed that frequency and duration of LPA(DDS) show significant positive(negative) trend and sea surface temperature (SST) of the Bay of Bengal shows significant positive trend for the period after 1960. The total frequency of LPS has neither increased nor decreased significantly but the duration of LPS has significantly increased. This means, while the average total formation of the systems remains the same, the duration has increased. It seems that there are some atmospheric and oceanic conditions which are responsible for not allowing the intensification of lows into depressions. The frequency and duration of LPA(DDS) during the monsoon season are positively(negatively) correlated with SSTs of the Bay of Bengal during winter, pre-monsoon and monsoon season indicating warmer SST of the Bay of Bengal may not be favourable for intensifying lows into depressions.