Discuss the influence of El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on Northeast monsoon in India and its connection with rocks in Meghalaya.(200 Words)
Refer - Indian Express
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 6 years
KEY POINTS
· A new study led by researchers from a US university, on the rock formations in a cave near Cherrapunji in Meghalaya, has found new evidence to suggest that India’s winter rainfall could be influenced by the state of the ocean waters in the faraway Pacific and the rocks provide evidence of it.
· This relationship is not so strongly established with the winter monsoon, also called as the northeastern monsoon, which occurs during the months of October, November and December and is vital for several regions in the Northeast and India’s eastern coast.
· ENSO is known to have an impact on the winter monsoon as well but is weaker and opposite.
· The warming of sea-surface waters, for example, is seen to help winter rainfall rather than suppressing it. The impact varies in time and space.
· The influence is weaker in October and stronger in November and December. Similarly, the rainfall over southeastern peninsular India and Sri Lanka is strengthened with warming ocean, but is diminished over Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.
· Their findings are based on more than three years of research on stalagmites (mineral deposits, mainly limestone, in caves) of the Mawmluh Cave, near Cherrapunji, in the East Khasi Hills district.
· These solid stalagmite structures, or mineral deposits, are the result of slow but steady water dripping in the caves, and contain several thin layers of different kinds of minerals that that get picked up while the water is flowing.
· From a careful study of the composition of these stalagmites, scientists can deduce the amount of rainfall that could have happened over the caves in the past, or even whether the water was a result of local rainfall, or had flown in from a different place.
· The researchers in this case were able to estimate local variations in rainfall in the past, and then correlate it with old ocean records of the Pacific Ocean.
· Stalagmite records from monsoon regions, including India, are vital to understanding past variability in the global climate system and the underlying reasons for this variability.
Raj 6 years
Kindly Review. Thanks!!
IAS Parliament 6 years
Try to discuss the influence of El nino on Northeast monsoon in India. Keep Writing.
