India-climate

India experiences Tropical Monsoon Climate

The coastal areas enjoy Equable climate.

The place that gets rain from western disturbance is Punjab.

The mountain which lie parallel to the south west monsoon wind is Aravali.

The local storm in the northeastern part of India during hot weather season are called Norwesters.

The factors which determine the climate of india are:

(a) Latitude

(b) Altitude

(c) Distance from the sea

(d) Wind

(e) Position of the mountains

The word monsoon basically refers to the seasonal reversal in the direction of winds over a large area during a year. In summer, it brings moist air from the oceans to the lands and in winter it blows dry air offshore.

The main features of tropical monsoon type of climate are:

(a) On the basis of the direction of winds the monsoon winds are classified into southwest monsoon and northeast monsoon.

(b) The reason for tropical monsoon climate is differential heating of land and sea.

(c) Change of season which determines the climate of India is the main feature of monsoon winds.

Jet stream refers to the air currents in the upper layers of the atmosphere. Jet streams can determine the arrival and departure of monsoon winds in India. The westerly flow of jet streams are responsible for the western disturbances experienced in the north and north-western parts of the country whereas the easterly jet streams cause tropical depressions during monsoon as well as October-November months.

The regions of heavy rainfall in India are those areas which have rainfall between 200 cm to 300 cm. these areas are the Middle Ganga Valley, Western Ghats, Eastern Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.

‘Monsoon Burst’ refers to the happening of wet and dry spells during the rainy season. The monsoon rain takes place only for a few days at a time.

Two factors determining the climate of India are:

(a) Distance from the sea: areas near the coast have equable or maritime climate. On the other hand, interior locations are not affected by the moderating influence of the sea and they experience extreme or continental climate. For example, the annual range of rainfall at Kolkata is 119 cm which falls to a low amount of 24 cm in Bikaner.

(b) Winds: the wind that blows from sea to land is called sea breeze and the wind that blow from land to sea is called land breeze. Sea breeze is cooler in comparison to land breeze which is warmer.

Two characteristic features of monsoon winds are:

(a) Uneven distribution of rainfall during the year: the southwest monsoon causes over 80 percent of the rainfall over the country during June to September. The duration of monsoon varies from two to four months. At some parts of the country there is very heavy rainfall whereas in other parts there is less or scanty rainfall.

(b) Influence of mountains: the rainfall is very much influence by the mountains. The wind brings very less rainfall over Gujarat and Rajasthan due to absence of mountains. Along the west coast, the winds strike the Western Ghats and bring heavy rainfall on the windward side.

There are two branches of southwest monsoon- ARABIAN SEA BRANCH AND BAY OF BENGAL BRANCH.

The Arabian Sea branch is explained as follows:

This branch of monsoon winds brings heavy rainfall. These winds blow from the Arabian Sea where the first part of the wind strikes the Western Ghats. These winds are moisture laden winds which gives heavy rainfall to western coastal region.

The second part of this wind blows through the Vindhya- Satpura ranges and strikes against the Rajmahal Hills which causes heavy rainfall in the Chotanagpur region.

The third part of the wind moves towards Rajasthan where the Aravalli Mountains stand parallel to the direction of the winds which results in no rain to Rajasthan.

The wind then reaches the Himachal Pradesh and gets combined with the winds of Bay of Bengal.

Rainwater harvesting is an activity of direct collection and storage of water for our purpose or it can be recharged into the ground for withdrawal later. Rainwater harvesting is an excellent way of making optimum use of rainwater.

Water management is the activity of planning, developing, distributing and managing the optimum use of water resources.

The basic requirements of water conservation are:

(a) Ensuring availability of water for future generations.

(b) Conservation of energy.

(c) Minimizing human water use to help preserve freshwater habitats for local wildlife.