3.1 Science Questions
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If boundary
forcing of the monsoon is dictated simply by El Niño, why is the
correlation between El Niño and the monsoon not stronger?
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Are there sources of internal variability?
Is the monsoon chaotic?
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Perhaps there also exist other modes
of boundary forcing aside from El Niño?
Here we
investigate question #2 in the context of the hydrologic cycle,
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How should
the causal relationship between the supply of latent energy and monsoon
strength be interpreted?
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Are the
processes which transport moisture to the monsoon environment purely DRIVEN
BY the strength of the monsoon or can variability of hydrologic processes
external to southeast Asia influence the monsoon? [note: the importance
of processes external to the monsoon environment is already demonstrated
by the observed ENSO-monsoon relationship. Is ENSO the only relevant mode
of boundary forcing?]
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From a
diagnostic perspective, are distinct modes of large-scale, low-frequency
monsoon variability apparent in observations?
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