On the role of sea surface temperature variability over the tropical Indian Ocean in relation to summer monsoon using satellite data

The sea surface temperature (SST) variability over the tropical Indian Ocea n is studied for the period January 1988 to December 1992 using the multich annel sea surface temperature (MCSST) from the NOAA series of satellites. T he MCSST values were found to agree reasonably well with the Reynolds and S mith (1994) data for the same period, but the anomalies were found to diffe r significantly. An interesting result is the influence of the Somalia coas t zonal anomaly of SST (SCZASST) and central Indian Ocean zonal anomaly of SST (CIOZASST) with the monsoon rainfall over different meteorological subd ivisions of the Indian subcontinent. The SCZASST is negatively and signific antly correlated with the monsoon rainfall over the western and central par ts of India, while CIOZASST is positively and significantly correlated. (C) Elsevier Science Inc., 1999.