Monsoon

monsoon, a major wind system that seasonally reverses its direction—such as one that blows for approximately six months from the northeast and six months from the southwest. The most prominent monsoons occur in South Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Pacific coast of Central America. Monsoonal tendencies also are apparent along the Gulf Coast of the United States and in central Europe; however, true monsoons do not occur in those regions.

For further information on prominent monsoon regions, see Indian monsoon, West African monsoon, Malaysian-Australian monsoon, and North American monsoon.

The primary cause of monsoons lies in different warming trends over land and sea, though other factors may be involved. Seasonal changes in temperature are large over land but small over ocean waters, and monsoons blow from atmospheric heat sinks (that is, cold regions with high atmospheric pressure) toward heat sources (warm regions characterized by low atmospheric pressure). Consequently, monsoon winds typically travel from sea to land in summer and from land to sea in winter. For example, the heat source involved in the Indian summer monsoon resides over the Plateau of Tibet and the eastern foothills of the Himalayas, while the heat sink occurs over the southern Indian Ocean and Madagascar, a region where relatively cloud-free air cools by emitting infrared, or “long-wave,” radiation into space. Likewise, the heat source for the Australian summer monsoon resides over the area in which many meteorologists call the “Maritime Continent,” a region made up of parts of Southeast Asia and the islands of Indonesia and the Philippines, while the heat sink resides over Siberia.

Most summer monsoons have a dominant westerly component and a strong tendency to ascend and produce copious rainfall, which occurs as a result of the condensation of water vapour in the rapidly rising air. The intensity and duration of these rains, however, are not uniform from year to year. Conversely, the winds of winter monsoons have a prevailing easterly component and a strong tendency to diverge, subside, and cause drought.

The poleward limits of monsoon systems are often sites of sharp changes in wind direction. In India, for example, the monsoon blows from the southwest in July and August, and north of India the winds are from the east. In northern Australia the monsoon arrives from the northwest during January-February. At the southern limit of the Australian monsoon, the winds turn easterly.

Climatic patterns reminiscent of monsoons also occur in areas outside of the prominent monsoon regions. In central Europe, where the average wind direction in summer differs some 30° to 40° from that of the Atlantic, there are monsoonal tendencies that occur not as a continuous flow but rather intermittently within frontal depressions, bringing cool, cloudy weather, rain, and thunderstorms. Some see in this climatic pattern a true monsoon, but it is obvious that it is only an “embryo monsoon” that results in weather singularities. The latitude is too high for a true monsoon to arise. In addition, the Gulf Coast of the United States is prone to climatic patterns with monsoonal tendencies; however, the seasonally consistent winds characteristic of true monsoons do not emerge.