Monsoons and Global Warming

1
Monsoons and Global Warming

• Dalia Bach
• Orals Presentation

2
WHAT IS MONSOON?

• Monsoon a wind system that reverses its
  prevailing direction seasonally
• Seasonal wind changes are associated with
  alternate rainy/dry seasons (usually wet summer
  and dry winter)
• In India, monsoon is often applied to the summer
  monsoon and the heavy rainfall that it brings
• About 60 of the world population are affected by
  monsoons. Most of them are in developing
  countries
• Anomalous monsoon fluctuations may bring natural
  and social disasters (droughts, floods,
  landslides, agriculture failures etc)

3
GLOBAL PRECIPITATION CLIMATOLOGY
4
Monsoons
5
Monsoon Glorified sea breeze
6
SEASONAL PRECIPITATION DISTRIBUTION(DELHI v.s.
NEW YORK)
New York (mid-latitude temperate climate)
Delhi, India Monsoon climate
7
MONSOON SYSTEMS

• Indian monsoon
• India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Indochina
• East Asian monsoon
• China, Korea, Japan
• Australian monsoon
• Northern Australia, Indonesia
• West African monsoon
• West Africa (Sahel between the Sahara and the
  tropical rain forests)
• North American monsoon
• Southwest US, Northern Mexico
• South American monsoon

8
MONSOON SYSTEMS
Northern hemisphere summer
Southern hemisphere summer
9
BASIC DRIVING MECHANISMS OF A MONSOON

• Differential heating between land and ocean
• Different heat capacity (specific heat of water
  gtgt dry land)
• Different opacity to solar radiation (Land
  surface opaque to SR while ocean absorbs
  radiation to 10m)
• Heat mixing and storage within oceanic mixed
  layer
• Moist processes
• Brings moist air from ocean to land
• Rotational effects
• Coriolis Force
• Topography effects
• Brings elevated heating (Himalayas in summer)

10
Man-Made Climate ChangeHow is Man influencing
the climate?

• Emissions
• Greenhouse Gases Aerosols
• Fossil fuels (Personal Industry)
• Land use
• Land use changes
• Agriculture
• Deforestation
• Urbanization
• Water management reservoirs

11
Greenhouse Gases
12
(No Transcript)
13
Q Is the current CO2 level higher than in past
interglacials? A Yes much!
14
IPCC 2007
15
CO2
Methane
Nitrous Oxide
16
(No Transcript)
17
(No Transcript)
18
IPCC 2007 http//www.ipcc.ch/SPM2feb07.pdf