Attribution of Delayed Revival of the Indian Summer Monsoon Rainfall

The Northern Hemisphere monsoon system as a whole has been reversed from drying trend between 1950s and mid-1980s to wetting trend afterwards. However, the revival of the Indian summer monsoon was much delayed to 2002. This delayed revival has been attributed to strong warming over the Indian subcontinent and the slowdown of warming over the northern part of the Indian Ocean in the pre-monsoon season, resulting in a strengthened land–ocean thermal contrast. The strong land surface warming in the pre-monsoon could be attributed to multiple factors, such as changes in clouds, soil moisture, aerosols, and so on. This presentation will address these potential factors and shed light over the delayed revival of the Indian summer monsoon rainfall.