The Indian Summer Monsoon - Past, Present and Future - A presentation

The history of the United Kingdom’s interest in the Indian monsoon is discussed as also the challenges of climate change for India. Some basic facts regarding the Indian socio-economic context are presented to underline the importance of rainfed agriculture and hence the dependence on monsoons.

‘Monsoon’ means ‘season’, and describes a complete reversal of wind regimes during the seasonal cycle. Monsoons are characterised by a pronounced rainy season. Monsoons are driven by changes in the distribution of heating driven primarily by the seasonal cycle of the sun. A thermal contrast between land and sea is required to set up a monsoon. The Indian Monsoon is part of a much larger circulation, the Asian Monsoon.

The United Kingdom's fascination with the meteorology of India is presented. India appeared to offer an ideal natural laboratory for the science, and an ideal space in which to demonstrate the political importance of science in a global age. The British meteorologist Henry Francis Blanford had commented that "Order and regularity are as prominent characteristics of our (India’s) atmospheric phenomena, as are caprice and uncertainty those of their European counterparts."

From the political economy angle the British were of the view that the control of famine through climate prediction would mean that India could be governed more effectively. The presentation thereafter dealt with the changing nature of Indian rainfall and scientific challenges like:

• How will the mean monsoon behave?
• How will climate change affect the stability of the monsoon?
  
  • Will it become more variable?
  • Will it be less predictable?
• What will climate change mean for extreme events?
• How will changes in atmospheric composition affect the monsoon?

The IPCC’s 4th Assessment Report has projections of likely shifts in rainfall patterns by 2080. The changing nature of Indian rainfall with climate change is mainly due to the impact of 2xCO2 on the number of rain days and rainfall intensity. There will be a decrease in number of rain days and an increase in rain intensity on days when raining.

According to Slingo et al there will be changes in the intensity of extreme Indian daily rainfall with climate change. But not all models agree with this simple hypothesis. The impact of aerosols on the monsoons is highlighted viz., the pre-monsoon build up of absorbing aerosol from Arabian and Saharan dust, Thar dust and local black carbon sources. 

The presentation finally concludes with the thought that there is much still to learn about what controls the monsoon and its variability. Model improvements are vital for making progress in monsoon prediction and impacts of climate change remain hugely uncertain for those reasons.

India Water Portal thanks Julia Slingo for making this presentation available to our users.

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