Wave- cloud lines over the Arabian Sea

Meteosat visible satellite images between 2006 and 2011 show wave-cloud lines over the Arabian Sea in all months outside the summer monsoon (June-September). These lines are most frequent between January and May (2-3 per month in a given year). All wave-cloud lines in the region propagate offshore. As these wave-cloud lines are associated with coherent convergence lines, the objective technique described by Berry and Reeder is applied to the ERA-Interim reanalysis and a climatology of convergence lines at 850 hPa developed. Despite the coarse resolution of the ERA-Interim reanalysis, the statistical properties of these lines are broadly constant with those deduced from the Meteosat visible satellite images. The generation mechanism is investigated in a simulation with the Met Office Unified Model of a particular wave-cloud line (12 March 2011). The process appears to be similar to that over northwestern Australia, which has been documented previously. During the day, a synoptic-scale northeasterly flow opposes the inland advection of the sea breeze on the west coast of India. However, as the daytime turbulence decays and the boundary layer stabilizes, the northeasterly flow accelerates, pushing offshore the leading edge of the sea breeze during the late evening and early hours of the morning. A wave is generated as the northeasterlies penetrate the marine boundary layer, and this wave propagates westward, producing cloud at its leading edge where there is strong ascent.