PROJECT 2 REFLECTION

It was rather easy for me to pick between the onset of this year's Asian monsoon and the subtropical jet associated with 

El Nino, especially when I realized the reason the monsoon way delayed: Cyclone Gonu.  Even though El Nino is quite 

interesting, it usually suppresses tropical activity, at least in the Atlantic and its main U.S. impact is in the winter; therefore, 

I thought the onset of the monsoon was the way to go, after all, this is a course on tropical forecasting and hurricanes
(cyclones), in my opinion, are the most fascinating part of the tropics.  Also, India's monsoon is a topic I knew very little 

about, so I was anxious to learn all I could, whereas El Nino is something the media overhypes, here in this part of the 

world.  

I learned how critical the Somali Low level Jet is to India's monsoon.  This is something I never even heard of until it was 

introduced in our course material.  Through researching this assignment, I realized that without this jet, which directs super 

moist air into the region, India would barely receive rainfall all year long which would be devastating for farmers as well as 

water supplies for a billion people.  Little did I know that this year's onset vortex, a subtropical storm over the Arabian Sea 

that starts the monsoon, turned into huge Cyclone Gonu.  The storm was so powerful that it diverted the Somali Low level 

Jet into its own circulation, delaying India's monsoon for about two weeks.  Although I learned a great deal more about what 

causes the monsoon, I realized I'm no expert.  For example, the asymmetry of the gyre and the subsequent flow around the               Mascarene High was something I had a hard time understanding and explaining.

Not only did I learn a great deal more about the onset vortex and the Somali Low level Jet, this assignment also forced me 

to master the Earth Systems Research Laboratory (ESRL) plotting page and Ultimate Paint.  I only dabbled with these things 

a little bit before.  I was amazed at all the maps that can be created using ESRL.  I can create anything from jet stream images 

to sea level pressure maps, just to name a few.  Then, I can use Ultimate Paint to make any image more reader friendly by 

adding text, lines and even cropping them.  I'm sure it'll be important for me to understand these programs for future 

assignments and for my own meteorological interests.

Our project was only to be about what caused the delay of the northward progression in this year's monsoon; however, there's

so many other fascinating topics that I'd like to learn more about when it comes to the Asian monsoon, for example, monsoon 

breaks and monsoon depressions.  While researching, I found links on these topics that I can read more about.  I know very 

little about these topics, so anything I find will be fun to explore.