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Climate dynamics

Land warming revives monsoon

Nature Climate Change volume 7, pages 549–550 (2017)Cite this article

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A weakening land–ocean temperature difference, owing to a rapidly warming Indian Ocean, has seen the Indian monsoon trending downward since the 1950s. New research gives hope for a revival in monsoon rainfall as land warming catches up with, and exceeds, ocean warming.

Downward trends of monsoon rainfall over the last half century have raised grave concerns for the Indian subcontinent, which relies heavily on seasonal rains for its predominantly agriculture-based economy1. This reduction in monsoon rainfall has been attributed to the comparatively larger warming of the Indian Ocean compared to the subcontinent, thus reducing the land–sea temperature difference1, a key factor that determines the strength of the summer monsoon. Writing in Nature Climate Change, Qinjian Jin and Chien Wang2 reveal that the landmass has warmed strongly compared to the ocean since 2002, with the monsoon showing signs of revival.

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Figure 1: Schematic illustration of changes in the Indian summer monsoon.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Centre for Climate Change Research, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, 411008, India

    Mathew Koll Roxy

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  1. Mathew Koll Roxy
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Correspondence to Mathew Koll Roxy.

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Roxy, M. Land warming revives monsoon. Nature Clim Change 7, 549–550 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3356

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