Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeNewsLead StoryHistory of Monsoon

History of Monsoon

Monsoon is a type of Seasonal wind that blows over the Indian ocean in a particular period of the year. In 45 AD Hippalus, a Greek Geographer discoverd the Monsoon winds. But he had little to discover, because the Arabian people had earlier discovered it. So the monsoon word is derived from the Arabic word ‘Mausam’ which means weather. The Mughal emperor Babur disliked everything of India except Monsoon – the south west monsoon which bring prosperity to India. Many Geologists state that the Monsoon first became strong around & million years ago.

Recently studies of plant fossils in china indicate the time of Monsoon beginning 15-20 million years ago and linked to early Tibetan uplift. It is believed that the increase in sea surface temperatures in the Indian Ocean increased the intensity of Monsoons. A better understanding of EL Nino, western pacific warm pool, Indonesian through flow, wind pattern of western Australia and ice volume expansion and contraction assist us to understand the Monsoon better.

The impact of Monsoon on the local weather is different from place to place. The Indian Monsoon turns large parts of India from a kind of semi desert into green lands. It is mainly July and August that waves of low pressure appear in the body of Monsoons appear once or twice per month. They travel from east to west concurrently with high level easterly waves and bursts of speed from the easterly jet, causing a local strengthening of the low level Monsoonal flow.

Consequently the rainfall increases and evenly distributed. Some of the deeper depressions become tropical cyclones before they reach the land. Those bring torrential rains and disastrous floods. A totally different development arises when the easterly jet moves farther north than usual. The Monsoonal wind rising over the southern slopes of the Himalayas brings heaving rains and local floods.

The weather over the central and southern districts becomes suddenly dry and remains so for as long as the abnormal shift lasts. The Monsoon withdraws by the end of September. Now a days the Monsoon has become erratic. Because there is global warming, deforestation and other causes. Man is destroying Nature. So Nature is reciprocating in negative.

Now there is talk of climate change all over the world. So the Monsoon is getting affected. Moreover there is talk of morality also. Man is going on wrong path. So he is witnessing less rain fall. Now it is high time to make amendments in man’s behaviour towards Nature and towards his fellow human beings. This world is somehow built on moral foundation. In the long run, it is good with the good and bad with the bad.

(The views expressed are the writer’s own.)

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is radhakanta-seth-1-793x1024.jpg

Radhakanta Seth is a former Income tax officer in Sambalpur.  He is a freelance writer and his articles have been published in some Oriya dailies like Sambad, Samaj, Dharitri, and English dailies like The Telegraph and in a sociological journal ‘Folklore’ published from Kolkata.

He can be reached at [email protected]

RELATED ARTICLES
- Advertisment -

Most Popular