The Role of the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau within the Asian Monsoon System

JULY 2004 AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY | T he key mission of the Coordinated Enhanced Observing Period (CEOP) is to understand water and energy cycles, document their physical processes, and simulate and predict water and energy fluxes. This involves a synergetic strategy integrating satellite data, in situ observations, assimilated data, and modeling simulations. A CEOP Monsoon Systems Working Group has been organized to address some of the main CEOP aims: documenting the seasonal march of the monsoon systems, assessing their driving mechanisms, and investigating the possible physical connections between such systems. In this context, the CEOP Inter-Monsoons Model Study (CIMS) was defined to validate and assess the capabilities of models in simulating monsoon processes. The objectives of this international project are to improve understanding of the fundamental physical processes underpinning the diurnal to annual cycles in the monsoons of Asia, Australia, North America, South America, and Africa, and to demonstrate the synergy and utility of the CEOP data integration strategy. Within the Asian monsoon system, it is well known that the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau exert profound thermal and dynamical influences on atmospheric circulation. Thus, at the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) CEOP workshop on the role of the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau within the Asian Monsoon System, held on 7–8 April 2003 in Milan, Italy, it was important to briefly review the current understanding of physical processes occurring in these high-altitude and extended regions, and to examine their relations with and the influence of the global monsoon circulation at different spatial and temporal scales. Within the THE ROLE OF THE HIMALAYAS AND THE TIBETAN PLATEAU WITHIN THE ASIAN MONSOON SYSTEM