2. What time of the year do monsoons occur?

Monsoons occur primarily in Asia. Smaller monsoons take place in equatorial Africa, northern Australia, and to a lesser extent, in the southwestern United States.

Yes, they supply almost 90 percent of India's water supply. Almost half of the world's population lives in areas affected by the monsoons of Asia. Most of these people are subsistence farmers, so the coming and going of the monsoons are vital to their livelihood. Too much or too little rain from the monsoon can mean disaster in the form of famine or flood.

In summer, a high pressure area lies over the Indian Ocean, while a low exists over the Asian continent. The air masses move from the high pressure over the ocean to the low over the continent, bringing rain to south Asia.

1. Monsoon is a term originally coined by Arab mariners in reference to the seasonally shifting winds in the Indian Ocean and surrounding regions, including the Arabian Sea. These winds blow from the southwest during one half of the ye

A monsoon seasonal change is characterized by a variety of physical mechanisms which produce strong seasonal winds, a wet summer and a dry winter. All monsoon share three basic physical mechanisms: differential heating between the land and oceans; Coriolis forces due to the rotation of the Earth; and the role of water which stores and releases energy as it changes from liquid to vapor and back (latent heat). It is the combined effect of these three mechanisms which produces the monsoon's characteristic reversals of high winds and precipitation. In the case of the Indian Ocean Monsoon the first and third mechanisms produce more intense effects than any other place in the world. Of particular interest is the "wet summer" phase from June to September with prevailing winds from the southwest and heavy rainfall.

Even though the term monsoon was originally defined for the Indian subcontinent, monsoon circulations exist in other locations of the world as well, such as in Europe, Africa, and the west coasts of Chile and the United States. Arizona happens to be located in the area of the United States that experiences a monsoonal circulation. During the summer months, winds shift from a west or northwest direction to a south or southeasterly direction. This allows moisture from the Gulf of California and the Gulf of Mexico to stream into the state. This shift in the winds, or monsoonal circulation, produces a radical change in moisture conditions statewide.

By the way, the term "monsoons" as typically used in the phrase "when the monsoons arrive...", or "we had some monsoons move through town last night..." is wrong. There is no such thing as monsoons. The word should be used the same way that the word "summer" is used. Thus, the proper terminology is "monsoon thunderstorms" not "monsoons". Remember, the monsoon is just a seasonal shift in wind direction, the thunderstorms occur because of the moisture moving over the state from the south.

Some topics in this essay:
North South, June September, Pacific Ocean, Arabian Sea, Occasionally Bermuda, Gulf Mexico, Eastern Pacific, Indian Ocean, Mohave Desert, Rajasthan Desert, indian ocean, monsoons occur, gulf mexico, wind shift, monsoonal circulation, eastern pacific, indian subcontinent, term monsoon, mausim means season, western india, change moisture, desert western india, summer winds shift, monsoon derived arabic, wind shift precipitation,