How are monsoons formed?
The word moonsoon means seasonal winds/rain or changing winds/rain. Every year the seasonal wind/rain that drench the countryside with water that destroys and heals.This is cause by land-sea temperature differences due to heating by the sun’s radiation that bring torrential rain in summer and sunny dry weather in the winter.The moonsoon influence the climates of India, Southeast Asia and some parts of the world. Some example of seasonal winds/rain are tropical storms, hurricanes, tornadoes.
No one fully understand the causes of moonsoon but researchers have clues. These are some of the basic facts or clues how moonsoons are formed; 1) Land tends to absorb while the ocean tends to reflect it; 2) Warm air rises; 3) Air always flow from cool place to warm place; and 4) Cool air cannot hold too much moisture.
I will cite an example from the basic clues mentioned above: During summer in India, the air above the land is drier and warmer than the air above the ocean. As the dry warm air rises, the cool, moist air over the ocean rushes inland to replace it then gradually the cool air warms and rises too. It continues to move inland as it rises and slowly cooling as it goes. When the air reaches the Himalayan mountians this air is forced even higher and even cooler. Before the air continues over the Himalayas wind, the moisture in it condense and falls to the ground as air.
Moonsoons are difficult to predict because the changes in air flow occur at different time of each year. By studying satellite images and other weather forcasting equipments, scientists have also learned that there are many storms right before the beginning of the moonsoon season. Now researchers can at least watch for these storms and help predict the moonsoons.
