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ANSWER WRITING- GS-1

Q. The vagaries of Indian monsoon are not only a product of meteorological factors but also anthropogenic causes. Illustrate.

 

Ans: Monsoons are seasonal winds (Rhythmic wind movements, Periodic Winds) which reverse their direction with the change of season. 60% of Indian agriculture remains rain-fed, and agriculture employs about half of India’s population. Thus, Indian economy is dependent on the monsoon to a large extent.

                                        Fig-1:- INDIAN MONSOON


There are many meteorological/natural factors affecting Indian monsoon:

●      The shift of the position of Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ)

●      The differential heating and cooling of land and water

●      The presence of the high-pressure area, east of Madagascar

●      Intense heating of the Tibetan plateau

●      Westerly jet stream

●      Tropical Easterly Jet

●      Southern Oscillation (SO)

●      El Nino & La Nina

●      ENSO: El Nino + SO

 

In recent years, it has been seen that the Indian monsoon is becoming more and more erratic. After the hottest summer in recorded history, India endured a delayed monsoon and widespread floods in 2019. There are many anthropogenic factors contributing to it along with natural ones:

●      Climate change: The most fundamental forces driving the monsoon are the thermal contrast between the land and the ocean and the availability of moisture. Climate change affects both of these drivers of wind and rain.

●      Global Warming: “Wet gets wetter” and “Dry gets drier” as a result of greenhouse-gas emissions.

●      Pollution:

➔   Emission of aerosols: from vehicles, crop burning, and domestic fires. Aerosols absorb solar radiation, allowing less of it to reach Earth’s surface, thus weakening the atmospheric circulation.

➔   Other emissions:

◆    Black carbon produced by domestic burning of biomass

◆    Open crop burning

◆    Sulphur, carbon, and nitrogen-dioxide emissions that accompany energy-intensive growth

●      Rapid changes in land use:

➔   Deforestation: The forest cover has declined drastically due to expansion in industrialization, agriculture, infrastructure, etc.

➔   The intensification of agricultural production in India, and the use of more water for irrigation, has affected the moisture of the soil & its capacity to absorb or reflect heat.

➔   Crops reflect more solar radiation than forests(which tend to absorb it) once again weakening the temperature differentials that drive circulation and rainfall.

 

Though other reasons like El-Nino, Cloud cover, Differential heating patterns of Tibetan plateau and Indian Ocean also causes the monsoon change, but man-made factors are affecting the Indian monsoon badly. So, its high time that we reduce our ecological footprints/carbon emissions and start an era of afforestation.


Article by SANJIT RAJ

 


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