monsoon
Sign in to savethumb|upright=1.2|Advancing monsoon clouds and showers in Aralvaimozhy, near Nagercoil, [[Tamil Nadu, India]] thumb|upright=1.2|Monsoon clouds arriving at Port Blair, Andaman, India
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A monsoon is a seasonal wind pattern that brings heavy rains to certain regions, particularly in tropical and subtropical areas. Monsoons are important because they deliver much of the annual rainfall that millions of people depend on for agriculture, drinking water, and freshwater ecosystems.
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Article
21 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- History
- Asian monsoon
- Australian monsoon
- South American monsoon
- Process
- Global monsoon<!-- Other articles link here-->
- Summary table
- Africa (West African and Southeast African) {{anchor|Africa}}
- North America
- Asia
- South Asian monsoon
- Southwest monsoon
- Northeast monsoon
- East Asian monsoon
- Australia
- Europe
- See also
- References
- Further reading
- External links
thumb|upright=1.2|Advancing monsoon clouds and showers in Aralvaimozhy, near Nagercoil, [[Tamil Nadu, India]] thumb|upright=1.2|Monsoon clouds arriving at Port Blair, Andaman, India
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscillation of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) between its limits to the north and south of the equator. Usually, the term monsoon is used to refer to the rainy phase of a seasonally changing pattern, although technically there is also a dry phase. The term is also sometimes used to describe locally heavy but short-term rains.