A Modelling Study in Mountain Meteorology: Impact of Western Ghats Orography on the Weather and Climate of South India

There are very few studies conducted to understand the impact of a tropical mountain on the weather and climate of a region with an integrated approach. The main difficulties in these type of studies are the lack of insitu observations over the inhospitable terrain and also maintaining an obseravational platform in different terrain of the study area. The solution to this problem can be tackled to a great extent by the use of a meso-scale model. In this study, with the help of a Meso-scale model MM5, the data has been generated for 17 years with a resolution of 10 kms and also the orography over the area has been modified to pin point the impact of the mountain. Palghat Gap, the major geological discontinuity of the Western Ghats over the Southern Peninsular Region of India has been given a special attention in this study. Thus this study reveled some of the specific phenomena created by mountain and its impact to the local climate of the region.