Documenter la variabilité climatique récente est nécessaire à la compréhension des mécanismes en jeu, associés au rôle du bilan de masse de l’Antarctique pour l’élévation du niveau des mers globale. Les enregistrements issus des carottes peu profondes d’Antarctique sont des données précieuses, complémentaires aux observations instrumentales et satellitaires, pour couvrir en continu l’ensemble du continent. Mesurés le long de ces carottes de glace, les isotopes stables de l’eau sont traditionnellement utilisés pour quantifier les changements passés de la température locale.Cette thèse doctorale a été initiée dans le cadre du programme de l’Agence Nationale de la Recherche ASUMA (“Improving the Accurancy of SUrface Mass balance of Antarctica”), ayant pour objectif de reconstruire et identifier les processus contrôlant la variabilité spatio-temporelle du bilan de masse de surface (BMS) de la Terre Adélie. J’ai utilisé des données d’isotopes stables de l’eau enregistrées dans des carottes de névé, des simulations atmosphériques produites par le modèle atmosphérique de circulation générale de haute résolution ECHAM5-wiso équipé des isotopes stables de l’eau, des réanalyses atmosphériques, des rétro-trajectoires, ainsi que des observations instrumentales satellitaires et de surface.Dans une première partie, j’ai évalué les capacités du modèle ECHAM5-wiso à simuler les températures de l’Antarctique, le BMS, le δ18O et le d-excess (ci-après, d-excess), comme prérequis à l’exploitation du modèle pour interpréter les compositions isotopiques. J’ai développé des diagnostics pour les relations δ18O-température et d-excess- δ18O sur l’ensemble du continent de l’Antarctique, en montrant que les différences issues des pentes des relations δ18O-température spatiales, inter-annuelles et saisonnières. Au sein du groupe de travail international de PAGES (Past Global Changes) Antarctica2k, j’ai utilisé des calibrations établies issues du modèle ECHAM5-wiso pour reconstruire la température de 7 régions d’Antarctique à partir d’une synthèse d’enregistrements de δ18O issus de carottes de glace couvrant les 2 000 dernières années.Dans une seconde partie, de nouveaux enregistrements issus de deux carottes de névé extraites en Terre Adélie, la S1C1 et la TA192A, ont été exploités, couvrant respectivement les périodes 1947-2007 et 1998-2014. Les BMS reconstruits décrivent une grande variabilité spatiale (74,11 ± 14,1 cm w.e. y-1 et 21,8 ± 6,9 cm w.e. y-1 pour la TA192A et la S1C1 respectivement), cohérente avec les données de balise disponibles. En utilisant une base de données mise à jour des isotopes stables de l’eau de l’Antarctique, j’ai montré que les valeurs moyennes isotopiques de Terre Adélie appartiennent à l’intervalle des valeurs côtières de l’Antarctique. Des analyses statistiques montrent une absence de relation entre nos enregistrements avec la température de surface locale à l’échelle inter-annuelle, mais des relations significatives avec des rétro-trajectoires atmosphériques et des simulations isotopiques suggérant que les isotopes de l’eau de la Terre Adélie fournissent des indications de la variabilité de la dynamique atmosphérique et du transport d’humidité, aux échelles saisonnière et inter-annuelle.Les analyses de cette thèse ont été limitées par la quantité d’enregistrements isotopiques disponibles pour la Terre Adélie, ainsi que par le manque de compréhension des effets de dépôt et de post-dépôt. Il est donc nécessaire d’exploiter les nouvelles carottes de névé extraites au cours du programme ASUMA, et d’effectuer en continu des mesures de la composition isotopique des précipitations, de la vapeur d’eau et de la neige de surface de Terre Adélie, en combinaison avec des outils de simulations atmosphériques, tels que des rétro-trajectoires associées à un diagnostic des sources d’humidité, et des modèles atmosphériques de circulation générale et régionaux équipés des isotopes stables de l’eau. / Documenting recent Antarctic climate variability is needed in order to understand the mechanisms at play, associated with the role of Antarctic mass balance for global sea level rise. Proxy records from Antarctic shallow firn cores are precious data, which complement instrumental and remote sensing observations to continuously cover the whole continent. Within these ice cores, water stable isotopes are commonly used to quantify past changes in local temperature.This PhD thesis was initiated within the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche “Improving the Accurancy of SUrface Mass balance of Antarctica” (ASUMA) project, which aims to reconstruct and to identify the processes controlling the spatio-temporal variability of the surface mass balance (SMB) in Adélie Land. I used water stable isotopes records from recently drilled shallow firn cores, as well as atmospheric simulations performed with the high resolution atmospheric general circulation model ECHAM5-wiso model, equipped with water stable isotopes, atmospheric reanalyses and back-trajectories, instrumental and remote sensing climate observations.In a first part, I assessed the skills of the ECHAM5-wiso with respect to Antarctic temperature, SMB, δ18O and deuterium excess (hereafter d-excess), as a prerequisite for the exploitation of the model to interpret isotope compositions. I developed Antarctic-wide diagnostics of the δ18O-temperature and d-excess- δ18O relationships, showing differences in the spatial, seasonal and interannual δ18O-temperature slopes. Within the international working group of PAGES (Past Global Changes) Antarctica 2k, I used the calibrations inferred from ECHAM5-wiso to reconstruct temperatures over 7 Antarctic regions from a synthesis of ice core δ18O records spanning the past 2,000 years.In a second part, new water stable isotope records from two firn core drilled in Adélie Land, the S1C1 and the TA192A, were investigated, covering the periods 1947-2007 and 1998-2014 respectively. The reconstructed SMB display a high spatial variability (74.1 ± 14.1 cm w.e. y-1 and 21.8 ± 6.9 cm w.e. y-1 for the TA192A and S1C1 respectively), consistent with Adélie Land stake data. Using an updated database of Antarctic water stable isotope datasets, I showed that the mean isotopic values (δ18O and d-excess) in Adélie Land are in line with the range of Antarctic coastal values. Statistical analyses show no relationship between our records and local surface air temperature, at the inter-annual scale, but significant relationships with atmospheric back-trajectories and isotopic simulations, suggesting that water stable isotopes in Adélie Land provide fingerprints of the variability of atmospheric dynamics and moisture transport, at the seasonal and inter-annual scales.The analyses performed during this PhD thesis have been limited by the few available Adélie Land water stable isotope records, and by the lack of understanding of deposition and post-deposition processes. Further work is thus needed to exploit the new firn cores drilled within the ASUMA project, and to monitor continuously Adélie Land water stable isotopes in precipitation, surface water vapour and surface snow, in combination with tools of atmospheric simulations such as back-trajectory simulations provided with moisture sources diagnostics, as well as water stable isotopes-enabled atmospheric general and regional circulation models.

Satellite data have shown that east-west oriented cloud bands, known as Intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ), propagate eastwards along the equator throughout the year and northwards during boreal summer on intraseasonal time scales. The northward propagations over Bay of Bengal have important connection with onset of south Asian monsoon and active-break cycles of the Indian monsoon. Some studies on mean structure of ITCZ have concluded that preferred location of ITCZ is governed by meridional variation of sea surface temperature (SST) while other studies have stressed the importance of heating in the free atmosphere. Studies on the migration of ITCZ have shown that northward migration of maximum convergence zone is due to generation of positive barotropic vorticity north of the convection in the boundary layer due to internal dynamics of the atmosphere. In the present study mean and transient structure of northward migration of ITCZ over Bay of Bengal is simulated with the help of a general circulation model (GCM). The mean ITCZ is found not to occur at SST maximum or SST gradient maxima. A new simple model for the mean state of ITCZ based on moisture budget, linear friction and hydrostatic assumption is proposed. It highlights the relative importance of SST and atmospheric effects in generation of maximum convergence. The large cancellation between the effect of SST on boundary layer and thermodynamic effects in free troposphere is shown to control convergence. The model also shows that latitude and time independent linear friction parameterization in a simple model is able to predict monthly mean location of ITCZ in a GCM. The results give a quantitative understanding about the relative role of surface effects and atmospheric effects in determining location of the mean ITCZ. A simple linear model for understanding the mechanism of instability that governs the northward migration of ITCZ is proposed. Vertical shear in mean winds couples the barotrpic and baroclinic modes in free troposphere in this model. The model is able to predict the correct scale with standard values of friction and diffusion parameters. The mechanism of instability is found to be due to internal dynamics of troposphere. It is shown that direction of propagation is decided by vertical shear in zonal as well as meridional mean winds. This is contrary to the previous studies which conclude that either vertical shear in zonal winds or vertical shear in meridional winds control the direction of propagation.

In first part of the study we discuss impact of dynamical core in simulation of tropical rainfall. Over years many new dynamical cores have been developed for atmospheric models to increase efficiency and reduce numerical errors. CAM3.1 gives an opportunity to study the impact of the dynamical core on simulations with its three dynamical cores namely Eulerian spectral(EUL) , Semilagrangian dynamics(SLD) and Finite volume(FV) coupled to a single parametrization package. A past study has compared dynamical cores of CAM3 in terms on tracer transport and has showed advantages using FV in terms of tracer transport. In this study we compare the dynamical cores in climate simulations and at their optimal configuration, which is the intended use of the model. The model is forced with AMIP type SST and rainfall over seasonal, interannual scales is compared. The significant differences in simulation of seasonal mean exist over tropics and over monsoon regions with observations and among dynamical cores. The differences among EUL and SLD, which use spectral transform methods are lesser compared that of with FV clearly indicating role of numerics in differences. There exist major errors in simulation of seasonal cycle in all dynamical cores and errors in simulation of seasonal means over many regions are associated with errors in simulation of seasonal cycle such as over south china sea. Seasonal cycle in FV is weaker compared to SLD and EUL. The dynamical cores exhibit different interannual variability of rainfall over Indian monsoon region, the period of maximum power corresponding to a dynamical core differs substantially with another. From this study there seems no superiority associated with FV dynamical core over all climate scales as seen in tracer transport. The next part of the study deals with impact of diurnal ocean atmosphere coupling in an AGCM,CAM3.1. Due to relatively low magnitude of diurnal cycle of SST and lack of SST observations over diurnal scales current atmospheric models are forced with SSTs of periods grater than a day. CAM 3.1 standalone model is forced with monthly SSTs but the interpolation is linear to every time step between any two months and this linear interpolation implies a linear diurnal and intraseasonal variation of SST which is not true in nature. To test the sensitivity of CAM3.1 to coupling of SST on diurnal scales, we prescribed over tropics(20S20N) a diurnal cycle of SST over daily mean interpolated SST of different magnitudes and phase comparable to observations. This idea of using a diurnal cycle of SST retaining seasonal mean SST in an atmospheric model is novel and provides an interesting frame work to test sensitivity of model to interpolations used in coupling of boundary conditions. Our analysis shows a high impact of using diurnal cycle of SST on simulation of mean rainfall over tropics. The impact in a case where diurnal cycle of SST is fixed and retained to daily mean SST implies that changes associated with a coupled model are to some extent due to change in representation of diurnal cycle of SST. A decrease of excess rainfall over western coast of Bay of Bengal and an increase of rainfall over northern bay of Bengal in such case is similar to the improvement due to coupling atmospheric model to a slab ocean model. This also implies that problems with current AMIP models in simulation of seasonal mean Indian monsoon rainfall could be due to erroneous representation of diurnal cycle of SST in models over this region where the diurnal cycle of SST is high in observations. The high spatial variability of the impact in various cases over tropics implies that a similar spatial variation of diurnal cycle could be important for accurate simulation of rainfall over tropics. Preliminary analysis shows that impact on rainfall was due to changes in moisture convergence. We also hypothesized that diurnal cycle of SST could trigger convection over regions such as northern Bay of Bengal and rainfall convergence feedback sustains it. The impact was also found on simulation of internal interannual variability of rainfall

Indian summer monsoon (ISM) is an important component of the tropical climate system, known for its regular seasonality and abundance of rainfall over the country. The droughts and floods associated with the year-to-year variation of the average seasonal rainfall have devastating effect on people, agriculture and economy of this region. The demand for prediction of seasonal monsoon rainfall, therefore, is overwhelming. A number of attempts to predict the seasonal mean monsoon have been made over a century, but neither dynamical nor empirical models provide skillful forecasts of the extremes of the monsoon such as the unprecedented drought of 2002. This study investigates the problems and prospects of extended range monsoon prediction. An evaluation of the potential predictability of the ISM with the aid of an ensemble of Atmospheric General Circulation Model (AGCM) simulations indicates that the interannual variability (IAV) of ISM is contributed equally by the slow boundary forcing (‘externally’ forced variability) and the inherent climate noise (‘internal’ variability) in the atmosphere. Success in predicting the ISM would depend on our ability to extract the predictable signal from a background of noise of comparable amplitude. This would be possible only if the ‘external’ variability is separable from the ‘internal’ variability. A serious effort has been made to understand and isolate the sea surface temperature (SST) forced component of ISM variability that is not strongly influenced by the ‘internal’ variability. In addition, we have investigated to unravel the mechanism of generation of ‘internal’ IAV so that the method of isolating it from forced variability may be found. Since the primary forcing mechanism of the monsoon is the large-scale meridional gradient of deep tropospheric heat sources, large-scale changes in tropospheric temperature (TT) due to the boundary forcing can induce interannual variations of the timing and duration of the monsoon season. The concept of interannually varying monsoon season is introduced here, with the onset and withdrawal of monsoon definitions based on the reversal of meridional gradient of TT between north and south. This large scale definition of the monsoon season is representative of the planetary scale influence of the El Ni˜no Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on monsoon through the modification of TT and the cross equatorial pressure gradient over the ISM region. A sig- nificant relationship between ENSO and monsoon, that has remained steady over the decades, is discovered by which an El Ni˜no (La Ni˜na) delays (advances) the onset, advances (delays) the withdrawal and suppresses (enhances) the strength of the monsoon. The integral effect of the meridional gradient of TT from the onset to withdrawal proves to be a useful index of seasonal monsoon which isolates the boundary forced signal from the influence of internal variations that has remained steady even in the recent decades. However, consistent with the estimates of potential predictability, the boundary forced variability isolated with the above definitions explains only about 50% of the total interannual variability of ISM. Detailed diagnostics of the onset and withdrawal processes are performed to understand how the ENSO forcing modifies the onset and withdrawal, and thus the seasonal mean monsoon. It is found that during an El Ni˜no, the onset is delayed due to the enhanced adiabatic subsidence that inhibits vertical mixing of sensible heating from the warm landmass during pre-monsoon months, and the withdrawal is advanced due to the horizontal advective cooling. This link between ENSO and monsoon is realized through the advective processes associated with the stationary waves in the upper troposphere set up by the tropical ENSO heating. The remaining 50% of the monsoon IAV is governed by internal processes. To unravel the mechanism of the generation of internal IAV, we perform another set of AGCM simulations, forced with climatological monthly mean SSTs, to extract the pure internal IAV. We find that the spatial structure of the intraseasonal oscillations (ISOs) in these simulations has significant projection on the spatial structure of the seasonal mean and a common spatial mode governs both intraseasonal and interannual variability. Statistical average of ISO anomalies over the season (seasonal ISO bias) strengthens or weakens the seasonal mean. It is shown that interannual anomalies of seasonal mean are closely related to the seasonal mean of intraseasonal anomalies and explain about 50% of the IAV of the seasonal mean. The seasonal mean ISO bias arises partly due to the broadband nature of the ISO spectrum, allowing the intraseasonal time series to be aperiodic over the season and partly due to a non-linear process where the amplitude of ISO activity is proportional to the seasonal bias of ISO anomalies. The later relationship is a manifestation of the binomial character of the rainfall time series. The remaining part of IAV may arise due to the complex land-surface processes, scale interactions, etc. We also find that the ISOs over the ISM region are not significantly modulated by the Pacific and Indian Ocean SST variations. Thus, even with a perfect prediction of SST, only about 50% of the observed IAV of ISM could be predicted with the best model in forced mode. Even so, prediction of all India rainfall (AIR) representing the average conditions of the whole country and the season may not always serve the purposes of monsoon forecasting. One reason is the large inhomogeneities in the rainfall distribution during a normal seasonal monsoon. Agriculture and hydrological sector could benefit more if provided with regional scale forecasts of active/break spells 2-3 weeks ahead. Therefore, we advocate an alternative strategy to the seasonal prediction. Here, we present a method to estimate the potential predictability of active and break conditions from daily rainfall and circulation from observations for the recent 24 years. We discover that transitions from break to active conditions are much more chaotic than those from active to break, a fundamental property of the monsoon ISOs. The potential predictability limit of monsoon breaks (∼20 days) is significantly higher than that of the active conditions (∼10 days). An empirical real- time forecasting strategy to predict the sub-seasonal variations of monsoon up to 4 pentads (20 days) in advance is developed. The method is physically based, with the consideration that the large-scale spatial patterns and slow evolution of monsoon intraseasonal variations possess some similarity in their evolutions from one event to the other. This analog method is applied on NOAA outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) pentad mean data which is available on a near real time basis. The elimination of high frequency variability and the use of spatial and temporal analogs produces high and useful skill of predictions over the central and northern Indian region for a lead-time of 4-5 pentads. An important feature of this method is that, unlike other empirical methods to forecast monsoon ISOs, this uses minimal time filtering to avoid any possible end-point effects, and hence it has immense potential for real-time applications.

This thesis examines the structure of the Tropical Easterly Jet (TEJ) in a General Circulation Model (GCM). The TEJ is observed only during the Indian summer monsoon period and is strongest during July and August. The jet structure simulated by an atmospheric GCM (CAM-3.1) in July has been compared with reanalysis data. The simulated TEJ was displaced westward by ~ 25◦ when compared to observations. The removal of orography had no impact on the jet structure. This demonstrated that the Tibetan Plateau did not play an important role in the location and structure of the jet. The changes in cumulus scheme in the GCM had a large influence on the location of the jet maxima. To examine the factors which control the location and structure of the jet, a series of experiments were conducted using an aqua-planet version of the model. The impact of different sea surface temperature (SST) profiles was studied. The rainfall in the GCM was primarily in the regions where the SST attained a maximum. By altering the location of SST maximum (and hence the rainfall maximum), the impact of location of rainfall maximum on the location and structure of the jet was studied. When the rainfall maximum was located close to the equator, it did not generate a strong jet but had an influence on the vertical structure of the jet. A large number of simulations were conducted with multiple rainfall maxima and the need for these was demonstrated since only then was the observed jet structure well simulated. Based on the simulations, it was concluded that the simulation of the TEJ by CAM-3.1 was unrealistic because of large unrealistic rainfall over Saudi Arabia in this GCM. Equatorial heating has been shown to be important to simulate proper jet structure. The zonal structure of the jet was also influenced by rainfall in the Pacific Ocean. Although the aqua-planet configuration of the CAM-3.1 GCM provided several useful insights, the simulation was not perfect on account of errors in the simulation of the temperature profile in the lower troposphere. An ideal-physics configuration of the GCM was used. This removed the cumulus physics and instead imposed the observed heating pro-files. Both upper tropospheric friction and radiative-convective atmospheric temperatures were required to simulate the TEJ. The problems with the simulation of structure in the jet exit region was corrected by using radiative-convective atmospheric temperatures that were qualitatively similar to those observed in northern hemisphere summer time. The ideal-physics configuration reconfirmed that the Saudi Arabian rainfall was responsible for the westward shift of the TEJ in the simulations. The ideal-physics simulations showed that the simple analytical model proposed by Gillin1980 was not suitable for the simulation of TEJ. The above the simulations indicate that a shift in the location of the jet is related to a shift in the rainfall pattern. Based on this insight one would expect that the jet location will be different in good and bad monsoon periods. This is indeed the case. In July 2002 the Indian monsoon failed after beginning well in June. In June the TEJ is consequently located west ward compared to July. The same situation prevails even in good and poor monsoon years. In a good monsoon year (July 1988) the jet maximum is located westward when compared to a bad monsoon year (July 2002). In this thesis we have clearly demonstrated the role of anomalous rainfall on the location of the TEJ. This thesis has shown that an accurate simulation of the TEJ depends upon the accurate simulation of various rainfall centers that act as multiple heat sources in the atmosphere. The rainfall in the equatorial region does not influence the strength of the TEJ but alters the vertical structure of the jet. The strength the jet is dependent on the intensity of rainfall and the latitudinal distance from the equator. The complex vertical structure of the jet is not simulated by simple analytical models of the jet.