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Monsoon Winds
The word 'monsoon' is derived from Mausim, an Arabic word which denotes season. Monsoon is a
wind shift which takes place seasonally over an area or region and is accompanied by dramatic
precipitation increase. The Indian-Asian monsoons bring heavy rains during late summer across parts
of India and Southeast Asia. The rains are essential for agriculture and the economy even though
they do tend to cause major and often life-threatening floods. Monsoons are vital to the $100 region
as a considerable percentage of the world's population lives in this area and the results of a weak
monsoon season spell devastation and disaster on the livelihood of the people.
Monsoon winds are extensive sea breezes which occur when the land temperature is considerably
warmer or colder than the ocean temperature. As land and the oceans tend to absorb heat in
different ways, it results in temperature imbalance. The air temperature over the ocean remains by
and large stable because water has a comparatively higher heating capacity and also because this is
an equilibration of the hot or cold surface with deeper water due to both conduction and convection.
Dirt, sand and rocks, by contrast, have lower heat capacity and heat from them can be transmitted
into the earth by conduction and not convection. Land temperatures are more variable than water
bodies that have a more even temperature.
Sunlight heats the surfaces of the land and the oceans during the warmer months, but temperatures
tend to rise faster. As the surface of the land gets warmer, the air above it expands, developing a low-
pressure area. In the meantime, however, the ocean temperature remains lower than that of the
land, and higher pressure is retained in the air above it. Sea breezes are the direct result of the
difference in pressure, and they blow from the water body to the land, carrying moist air inland. The
cycle is completed when this moist air rises to a higher altitude over the landmass and then goes
back to the ocean. When the air rises over the land, however, the air cools. The air’s capacity to hold
water, therefore, decreases, causing precipitation over land. That is why there is so much rain over
land during the summer monsoon.
Geographically, the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau after the collision of the Indian subcontinent and
Asia about 50 million years ago caused the strengthening of the Asian monsoon. Many geologists
believe that as a climatic occurrence, the monsoon became stronger 8 million years ago. There has
been a significant change in the strength of the monsoon since that time, mainly due to global
warming and climate change.
According to a 2004 NOAA study, 75% of the annual rainfall in India and 50% of the monsoon in
North America arrives during the summer monsoon. The dry monsoon occurs between October and
April. The winds during this time come from drier and warmer climates such as northwestern China
and Mongolia into India. “The land cools off faster than water, and a high pressure develops over
land, blocking any ocean from preventing” explains Edward Gudevals land, blocking any ocean air
from penetrating," explains Edward Guinn, astrology and meteorology professor at Villanova
University. Consequently, a dry period follows.
There can be a potentially devastating effect of global warming on the monsoon due to frequent
shifts in time and precipitation levels, says a study conducted by Yen Yi Loo, Lawal Billa, and Ajit
Singh, a group of Malaysian scientists. It is predicted by World Monsoons that within the next 50 to
100 years, the rainfall during the summer monsoon season is expected to increase. It is because
greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide allow the warm air to retain more water which is then
released as rain over areas that are already soaked. It is perceived that the land will get drier with
evaporation increasing during warm temperatures, during the dry winter monsoon According to
studies conducted by the University of Colorado in Boulder, El Nino in the Pacific Oceans can also
have effects on the monsoon in India. It was believed that the main influence on strong monsoon
aing seasons was the strength of the El Nino warming. It has now been deduced that it is the location
of th, the warming and not the strength that is the deciding factor.
Many features, including El Nino, can factor in the intensity of the monsoon. For a better
understanding of these factors, there is a lot of ongoing research. With greater understanding and
knowledge, the onset and intensity of the monsoon can be predicted more accurately.

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Monsoon Winds

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