Top Careers & You Climate of India

General Studies
Climate of India

Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, precipitation, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods. Climate can be contrasted to weather, which is the present condition of these elements and their variations over shorter periods. A region's climate is generated by the climate system, which has five components: atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, land surface, and biosphere. Definition Climate in a narrow sense is usually defined as the "average weather," or more rigorously, as the statistical description in terms of the mean and variability of relevant quantities over a period ranging from months to thousands or millions of years. The classical period is 30 years, as defined by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). These quantities are most often surface variables such as temperature, precipitation, and wind. Climate in a wider sense is the state, including a statistical description, of the climate system. The difference between climate and weather is usefully summarized by the popular phrase "Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get." Over historical time spans there are a number of nearly constant variables that determine climate, including latitude, altitude, proportion of land to water, and proximity to oceans and mountains. These change only over periods of millions of years due to processes such as plate tectonics. Other climate determinants are more dynamic: the thermohaline circulation of the ocean leads to a 5 C (9 F) warming of the northern Atlantic Ocean compared to other ocean basins. Other ocean currents redistribute heat between land and water on a more regional scale. The density and type of vegetation coverage affects solar heat absorption, water retention, and rainfall on a regional level. Alterations in the quantity of atmospheric greenhouse gases determine the amount of solar energy retained by the planet, leading to global warming or global cooling. The variables which determine climate are numerous and the interactions complex, but there is general agreement that the broad outlines are understood, at least insofar as the determinants of historical climate change are concerned. Climate of India Analyzed according to the Kppen system, the climate of India resolves into six major climatic subtypes; their influences give rise to desert in the west, alpine tundra and glaciers in the north, humid tropical regions supporting rain forests in the southwest, and Indian Ocean island territories that flank the Indian subcontinent. Regions have starkly differentyet tightly clusteredmicroclimates. The nation is largely subject to four seasons: winter (January and February), summer (March to May), a monsoon (rainy) season (June to September), and a post-monsoon period (October to December). India's geography and geology are climatically pivotal: the Thar Desert in the northwest and the Himalayas in the north work in tandem to effect a culturally and economically break-all monsoonal regime. As Earth's highest and most massive mountain range, the Himalayan system bars the influx of frigid katabatic winds from the icy Tibetan Plateau and northerly Central Asia. Most of North India is thus kept warm or is only mildly chilly or cold during winter; the same thermal dam keeps most regions in India hot in summer. Though the Tropic of Cancer, the boundary between the tropics and subtropics, passes through the middle of India, the bulk of the country can be regarded as climatically tropical. As in much of the tropics, monsoonal and other weather patterns in India can be wildly unstable: epochal droughts, floods, cyclones, and other

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natural disasters are sporadic, but have displaced or ended millions of human lives. Ongoing and future vegetative changes and current sea level rises and the attendant inundation of India's low-lying coastal areas are other impacts, current or predicted, that are attributable to global warming. Factors affecting the climate of India Latitude The tropic of cancer passes through the middle of the country from Rann of Kuchchh in the west to Mizoram in the east. Almost half of the country, lying south of the tropic of cancer, belongs to the tropical area. All of the remaining area, north of the tropic, lies in the sub-tropics. Therefore, India's climate has characteristics of tropical as well as subtropical climates. Altitude India has mountains to the north, which have an average height of about 600 metres. India also has a vast coastal area where the maximum elevation is about 30 metres. The Himalayas prevent the cold winds from Central Asia from entering the subcontinent. It is because of these mountains that this subcontinent experiences comparatively milder winters as compared to central Asia. Pressure and Winds The climate and associated weather conditions in India are governed by the following atmospheric conditions: ~Pressure and Surface winds ~Upper air circulation; and ~Western cyclonic disturbances and tropical cyclones. The Monsoon Winds The monsoon winds which blow from south-west during summer and from the north-easterly direction during winter influence Indian climate, by affecting rainfall, humidity and temperature. Onset and intensity of monsoon depends upon: (i) Thermal contrast; (ii) Inter-tropical Convergence (ITC)-ITC shifts northward and it results in the formation of Equatorial Westerlies which blow towards ITC; (iii) Upper air currents or jet-streams. Relief Relief features, particularly the Himalayas, the Western Ghats and the Purvanchal Hills, influence the climate by affecting temperature and rainfall. The Himalayas check the cold and dry polar air coming from Antarctica region and direct the summer monsoons towards northwest. Climatic regions of India India is home to an extraordinary variety of climatic regions, ranging from tropical in the south to temperate and alpine in the Himalayan north, where elevated regions receive sustained winter snowfall. The nation's climate is strongly influenced by the Himalayas and the Thar Desert. The Himalayas, along with the Hindu Kush mountains in Pakistan, prevent cold Central Asian katabatic winds from blowing in, keeping the bulk of the Indian subcontinent warmer than most locations at similar latitudes. Simultaneously, the Thar Desert plays a role in attracting moisture-laden southwest summer monsoon winds that, between June and October, provide the majority of India's rainfall. India has a large variation in climate from region to region, due to its vast size. India experiences climate from four major climate groups. These can be further subdivided into seven climatic types.

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A. Tropical rainy climatic group

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Climate of India

The regions belonging to this group experience persistent high temperatures which normally do not go below 18C even in the coolest month. There are two climatic types which fall under this group. 1. Tropical monsoon rain forest The west coastal lowlands, the Western Ghats, and southern parts of Assam have this climate type. It is characterized by high temperatures throughout the year, even in the hills. The rainfall here is seasonal, but heavy and is above 78 cm in a year. Most of the rain is received in the period from May to November, and is adequate for the growth of vegetation during the entire year. December to March are the dry months with very little rainfall. The heavy rain is responsible for the tropical wet forests in these regions, which consists of a large number of species of animals. Evergreen forests are the typical feature of the region. 2. Tropical wet and dry or savanna climate Most of the plateau of peninsular India enjoys this climate, except a semi-arid tract to the east of the Western Ghats. Winter and early summer are long dry periods with temperature above 18C. Summer is very hot and the temperatures in the interior low level areas can go above 45C during May. The rainy season is from June to September and the annual rainfall is between 75 and 150 cm. Only central eastern Tamil Nadu falls under this tract and receives rainfall during the winter months of late November to January. B. Dry climate group This group consists of regions where the rate of evaporation of water is higher than the rate of moisture received through precipitation. It is subdivided into three climate types. 3. Tropical semi-arid steppe climate A long stretch of land situated to the south of Tropic of Cancer and east of the Western Ghats and the Cardamom Hills experiences this climate. It includes Karnataka, interior and western Tamil Nadu, western Andhra Pradesh and central Maharashtra. This area receives minimal rainfall due to being situated in the rain shadow area. This region is a famine prone zone with very unreliable rainfall which varies between 40 and 75 cm annually. Towards the north of Krishna River the summer monsoon is responsible for most of the rainfall, while to the south of the river rainfall also occurs in the months of October and November. The coldest month is December but even in this month the temperature remains between 20C and 24C. The months of March to May are hot and dry with mean monthly temperatures of around 32C. The vegetation mostly comprises grasses with a few scattered trees due to the rainfall. Hence this area is not very well suited for permanent agriculture. 4. Tropical and sub-tropical desert Most of western Rajasthan falls under this climate type characterized by scanty rainfall. Cloud bursts are largely responsible for the all the rainfall seen in this region which is less than 30 cm. These happen when the monsoon winds penetrate this region in the months of July, August and September. The rainfall is very erratic and a few regions might not see rainfall for a couple of years. The summer months of May and June are very hot with mean monthly temperatures in the region of 35C and highs which can sometimes reach 50C. During winters the temperatures can drop below freezing in some areas due to cold wave. There is a large diurnal range of about 14C during summer which becomes higher by a few more degrees during winter. This extreme climate makes this a sparsely populated region of India.

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5. Tropical and sub-tropical steppe

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Climate of India

The region towards the east of the tropical desert running from Punjab and Haryana to Kathiawar experiences this climate type. This climate is a transitional climate falling between tropical desert and humid sub-tropical, with temperatures which are less extreme than the desert climate. The annual rainfall is between 30 and 65 cm but is very unreliable and happens mostly during the summer monsoon season. Maximum temperatures during summer can rise to 40C. The vegetation mostly comprises short coarse grass. Some crops like jowar and bajra are also cultivated. C. Humid sub-tropical climate group The temperature during the coldest months in regions experiencing this climate falls between 18 and 0C. 6. Humid sub-tropical with dry winters The foothills of the Himalayas, Punjab-Haryana plain adjacent to the Himalayas, Rajasthan east of the Aravalli range, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and northern part of West Bengal and Assam experience this climate. The rainfall is received mostly in the summer and is about 65 cm in the west and increases to 250 cm annually to the east and near the Himalayas. The winters are mainly dry due to the land derived winter winds which blow down the lowlands of north India towards the Bay of Bengal. The summers are hot and temperatures can reach 46C in the lowlands. May and June are the hottest months. Winter months are mostly dry with feeble winds. Frost occurs for a few weeks in winter. The difference in rainfall between the east and the west gives rise to a wide difference in the natural vegetation and c D. Mountain climate In the Himalayan mountains the temperature falls by 0.6C for every 100 m rise in altitude and this gives rise to a variety of climates from nearly tropical in the foothills to tundra type above the snow line. One can also observe sharp contrast between temperatures of the sunny and shady slopes, high diurnal range of temperature, inversion of temperature, and variability of rainfall based on altitude. The northern side of the western Himalayas also known as the trans-Himalayan belt is arid, cold and generally wind swept. The vegetation is sparse and stunted as rainfall is scanty and the winters are severely cold. Most of the snowfall is in the form of snow during late winter and spring months. The area to the south of the Himalayan range is protected from cold winds coming from interior of Asia during winter. The leeward side of the mountains receives less rain while the well exposed slopes get heavy rainfall. The places situated between 1070 and 2290 m altitudes receive the heaviest rainfall and the rainfall decreases rapidly above 2290m. The great Himalayan range witnesses heavy snowfall during winter months of December to February at altitudes above 1500m. The diurnal range of temperature is also high. The states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, and Sikkim experience this kind of weather. Monsoon Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea. Usually, the term monsoon is used to refer to the rainy phase of a seasonally-changing pattern, although technically there is also a dry phase. The term was first used in English in British India (now India, Bangladesh and Pakistan) and neighbouring countries to refer to the big seasonal winds blowing from the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea in the southwest bringing heavy rainfall to the area. The south-west monsoon winds are called 'Nairutya Maarut' in India.

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Strengthening of the Asian monsoon has been linked to the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau after the collision of the Indian sub-continent and Asia around 50 million years ago. Many geologists believe the monsoon first became strong around 8 million years ago based on records from the Arabian Sea and the record of windblown dust in the Loess Plateau of China. More recently, plant fossils in China and new long-duration sediment records from the South China Sea led to a timing of the monsoon starting 1520 million years ago and linked to early Tibetan uplift. Testing of this hypothesis awaits deep ocean sampling by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program. The monsoon has varied significantly in strength since this time, largely linked to global climate change, especially the cycle of the Pleistocene ice ages. Timing of the monsoon strengthening of the Indian Monsoon of around 5 million years ago was suggested due to an interval of closing of the Indonesian Seaway to cold thermocline waters passage from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean which is believed to have resulted in an increased sea surface temperature in the Indian Ocean, which increased gyral circulation and then caused an increased intensity of the monsoon. Monsoons may be considered as large-scale sea breezes, due to seasonal heating and the resulting development of a thermal low over a continental landmass. They are caused by the larger amplitude of the seasonal cycle of land temperature compared to that of nearby oceans. This differential warming happens because heat in the ocean is mixed vertically through a "mixed layer" that may be fifty metres deep, through the action of wind and buoyancy-generated turbulence, whereas the land surface conducts heat slowly, with the seasonal signal penetrating perhaps a metre or so. Additionally, the specific heat capacity of liquid water is significantly higher than that of most materials that make up land. Together, these factors mean that the heat capacity of the layer participating in the seasonal cycle is much larger over the oceans than over land, with the consequence that the air over the land warms faster and reaches a higher temperature than the air over the ocean. The hot air over the land tends to rise, creating an area of low pressure. This creates a steady wind blowing toward the land, bringing the moist near-surface air over the oceans with it. Similar rainfall is caused by the moist ocean air being lifted upwards by mountains, surface heating, convergence at the surface, divergence aloft, or from storm-produced outflows at the surface. However the lifting occurs, the air cools due to expansion in lower pressure, which in turn produces condensation. In winter, the land cools off quickly, but the ocean retains heat longer. The cold air over the land creates a high pressure area which produces a breeze from land to ocean. Monsoons are similar to sea and land breezes, a term usually referring to the localized, diurnal (daily) cycle of circulation near coastlines, but they are much larger in scale, stronger and seasonal. Most summer monsoons have a dominant westerly component and a strong tendency to ascend and produce copious amounts of rain (because of the condensation of water vapor in the rising air). The intensity and duration, however, are not uniform from year to year. Winter monsoons, by contrast, have a dominant easterly component and a strong tendency to diverge, subside and cause drought. Even more broadly, it is now understood that in the geological past, monsoon systems likely accompanied the formation of super continents such as Pangaea, with their extreme continental climates. South Asian monsoon Southwest monsoon The southwestern summer monsoons occur from June through September. The Thar Desert and adjoining areas of the northern and central Indian subcontinent heats up considerably during the hot summers, which causes a low pressure area over the northern and central Indian subcontinent. To fill this void, the moistureladen winds from the Indian Ocean rush in to the subcontinent. These winds, rich in moisture, are drawn towards the Himalayas, creating winds blowing storm clouds towards the subcontinent. The Himalayas act like

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a high wall, blocking the winds from passing into Central Asia, thus forcing them to rise. With the gain in altitude of the clouds, the temperature drops and precipitation occurs. Some areas of the subcontinent receive up to 10,000 mm (390 in) of rain annually. The southwest monsoon is generally expected to begin around the start of June and fade down by the end of September. The moisture-laden winds on reaching the southernmost point of the Indian Peninsula, due to its topography, become divided into two parts: the Arabian Sea Branch and the Bay of Bengal Branch. The Arabian Sea Branch of the Southwest Monsoon first hits the Western Ghats of the coastal state of Kerala, India, thus making the area the first state in India to receive rain from the Southwest Monsoon. This branch of the monsoon moves northwards along the Western Ghats(Konkan and Goa) with precipitation on coastal areas, west of the Western Ghats. The eastern areas of the Western Ghats do not receive much rain from this monsoon as the wind does not cross the Western Ghats. The Bay of Bengal Branch of Southwest Monsoon flows over the Bay of Bengal heading towards North-East India and Bengal, picking up more moisture from the Bay of Bengal. The winds arrive at the Eastern Himalayas with large amounts of rain. Mawsynram, situated on the southern slopes of the Khasi Hills in Meghalaya, India, is one of the wettest places on Earth. After the arrival at the Eastern Himalayas, the winds turn towards the west, travelling over the Indo-Gangetic Plain at a rate of roughly 12 weeks per state, pouring rain all along its way. June 1 is regarded as the date of onset of the monsoon in India, as indicated by the arrival of the monsoon in the southernmost state of Kerala.IMD has forecast the onset of Moonson in Kerela on June 6, 2012. The monsoon accounts for 80% of the rainfall in India. Indian agriculture (which accounts for 25% of the GDP and employs 70% of the population) is heavily dependent on the rains, for growing crops especially like cotton, rice, oilseeds and coarse grains. A delay of a few days in the arrival of the monsoon can badly affect the economy, as evidenced in the numerous droughts in India in the 1990s. The monsoon is widely welcomed and appreciated by city-dwellers as well, for it provides relief from the climax of summer heat in June. However, the condition of the roads takes a battering each year. Often houses and streets are waterlogged and the slums are flooded in spite of having a drainage system. This lack of city infrastructure, coupled with changing climate patterns, causes severe economical loss including damage to property and loss of lives, as evidenced in the 2005 flooding in Mumbai that brought Mumbai to a standstill. Bangladesh and certain regions of India like Assam and West Bengal, also frequently experience heavy floods during this season. And in the recent past, areas in India that used to receive scanty rainfall throughout the year, like the Thar Desert, have surprisingly ended up receiving floods due to the prolonged monsoon season. The influence of the Southwest Monsoon is felt as far north as in China's Xinjiang. It is estimated that about 70% of all precipitation in the central part of the Tian Shan Mountains falls during the three summer months, when the region is under the monsoon influence; about 70% of that is directly of "cyclonic" (i.e., monsoondriven) origin (as opposed to "local convection"). Northeast monsoon Around September, with the sun fast retreating south, the northern land mass of the Indian subcontinent begins to cool off rapidly. With this air pressure begins to build over northern India, the Indian Ocean and its surrounding atmosphere still holds its heat. This causes the cold wind to sweep down from the Himalayas and Indo-Gangetic Plain towards the vast spans of the Indian Ocean south of the Deccan peninsula. This is known as the Northeast Monsoon or Retreating Monsoon.

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While travelling towards the Indian Ocean, the dry cold wind picks up some moisture from the Bay of Bengal and pours it over peninsular India and parts of Sri Lanka. Cities like Chennai, which get less rain from the Southwest Monsoon, receive rain from this Monsoon. About 50% to 60% of the rain received by the state of Tamil Nadu is from the Northeast Monsoon. In Southern Asia, the northeastern monsoons take place from December to early March when the surface high-pressure system is strongest. The jet stream in this region splits into the southern subtropical jet and the polar jet. The subtropical flow directs northeasterly winds to blow across southern Asia, creating dry air streams which produce clear skies over India. Meanwhile, a low pressure system develops over South-East Asia and Australasia and winds are directed toward Australia known as a monsoon trough. Seasons The India Meteorological Department (IMD) designates four official seasons: Winter, occurring from December to early April. The year's coldest months are December and January, when temperatures average around 1015 C (5059 F) in the northwest; temperatures rise as one proceeds towards the equator, peaking around 2025 C (6877 F) in mainland India's southeast. Summer or pre-monsoon season, lasting from April to June (April to July in northwestern India). In western and southern regions, the hottest month is April; for northern regions, May is the hottest month. Temperatures average around 3240 C (90104 F) in most of the interior. Monsoon or rainy season, lasting from June to September. The season is dominated by the humid southwest summer monsoon, which slowly sweeps across the country beginning in late May or early June. Monsoon rains begin to recede from North India at the beginning of October. South India typically receives more rainfall. Post-monsoon season, lasting from October to December. In northwestern India, October and November are usually cloudless. Tamil Nadu receives most of its annual precipitation in the northeast monsoon season. The Himalayan states, being more temperate, experience an additional two seasons: autumn and spring. Traditionally, Indians note six seasons, each about two months long. These are the spring (vasanta), summer (grma), monsoon season (var), early autumn (arada), late autumn (hemanta), and winter (iira). These are based on the astronomical division of the twelve months into six parts. The ancient Hindu calendar also reflects these seasons in its arrangement of months.

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