THE BURST OF INDIAN SUMMER MONSOON AS REVEALED BY GOES SATELLITE DURING MONEX 1979

During FGGE year 1979, low-level air flow over the western Indian Ocean was determined from the analysis of GOES images (5－20 June). The wind pattern shows sudden change in low-level air circulation over western Indian Ocean during the initial burst of summer monsoon. The burst of monsoon is characte-rized by sudden establishment of low-level jet and strong cross-equatorial flow. This abrupt change signals the beginning of southwest monsoon over India and it is associated with the first monsoon rainfall over the southern part of western coast of India. Sudden change in low-level air flow is followed by the burst of monsoon within 3－5 days.