Southwest monsoon makes onset over Nicobar Islands: IMD

Sub: Geography

Sec: Climatology

Tags: Southwest monsoon makes onset over Nicobar Islands, Onset of Southwest monsoon

Context:

Southwest monsoon made its onset over the Nicobar Islands, the southernmost region of the country, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

Details:

Southwest monsoon has advanced into some parts of the Maldives, and the Comorin area and some parts of the South Bay of Bengal, Nicobar Islands and South Andaman Sea.

Date of Monsoon arrival:

The date of monsoon onset over Kerala has varied widely over the last 150 years, the earliest being May 11 in 1918, and the most delayed being June 18 in 1972.
It arrived in the southern state on June 8 last year, May 29 in 2022, June 3 in 2021 and June 1 in 2020.

Significance:

The monsoon is critical for India’s agricultural landscape, with 52% of the net cultivated area relying on it.
It is also crucial for replenishing reservoirs critical for drinking water, apart from power generation across the country.
June and July are considered the most important monsoon months for agriculture because most of the sowing for the Kharif crop takes place during this period.

Factors influencing Monsoon:

Natural factors	Climate change-induced factors
El-Nino and La-Nina Indian Ocean Diploe (IOD) Western Disturbances Land-Surface conditions	Rising sea surface temperature Changing aerosol levels due to rising pollution Melting of Himalayan snow cover due to global warming Changing atmospheric circulation patterns

For details of Monsoon

Source: TH