32 INDIA : PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT UNIT III CLIMATE, VEGETATION AND SOIL This unit deals with • Weather and climate – spatial and temporal distribution of temperature, pressure, winds and rainfall; Indian monsoons: mechanism, onset and variability – spatial and temporal; climatic types • Natural vegetation – forest types and distribution; wild life conservation; biosphere reserves • Soils – major types and their distribution, soil degradation and conservation 2021-22 CLIMATE 33 CHAPTER CLIMATE e drink more water during summers. the weather and climate of different regions of Your uniform during the summer is India. For example, the climate of Kerala and Wdifferent from the winters. Why do Tamil Nadu in the south are so different from you wear lighter clothes during summers and that of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the north, heavy woollen clothes during winters in north and yet all of these have a monsoon type of India? In southern India, woollen clothes are climate. The climate of India has many regional not required. In northeastern states, winters variations expressed in the pattern of winds, are mild except in the hills. There are variations temperature and rainfall, rhythm of seasons in weather conditions during different seasons. and the degree of wetness or dryness. These These changes occur due to the changes in the regional diversities may be described as elements of weather (temperature, pressure, sub-types of monsoon climate. Let us take a wind direction and velocity, humidity and closer look at these regional variations in precipitation, etc.). temperature, winds and rainfall. While in the summer the mercury Weather is the momentary state of the occasionally touches 55°C in the western atmosphere while climate refers to the Rajasthan, it drops down to as low as minus average of the weather conditions over a 45°C in winter around Leh. Churu in longer period of time. Weather changes Rajasthan may record a temperature of quickly, may be within a day or week but 50°C or more on a June day while the climate changes imperceptively and may mercury hardly touches 19°C in Tawang be noted after 50 years or even more. (Arunachal Pradesh) on the same day. On a December night, temperature in You have already studied about the Drass (Ladakh) may drop down to minus monsoon in your earlier classes. You are also 45°C while Thiruvananthapuram or Chennai aware of the meaning of the word, “monsoon”. on the same night records 20°C or 22°C. These Monsoon connotes the climate associated with examples confirm that there are seasonal seasonal reversal in the direction of winds. variations in temperature from place to place India has hot monsoonal climate which is the and from region to region in India. Not only prevalent climate in south and southeast Asia. this, if we take only a single place and record the temperature for just one day, variations are UNITY AND DIVERSITY IN THE MONSOON CLIMATE no less striking. In Kerala and in the Andaman The monsoon regime emphasises the unity of Islands, the difference between day and night India with the rest of southeast Asian region. temperatures may be hardly seven or eight This view of broad unity of the monsoon type degree Celsius. But in the Thar desert, if the of climate should not, however, lead one to day temperature is around 50°C, at night, it ignore its regional variations which differentiate may drop down considerably upto 15°-20°C. 2021-22 34 INDIA : PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT Now, let us see the regional variations in experiences extreme climate with high daily precipitation. While snowfall occurs in the and annual range of temperature. Himalayas, it only rains over the rest of the country. Similarly, variations are noticeable not The Himalayan Mountains : The lofty Himalayas only in the type of precipitation but also in its in the north along with its extensions act as an amount. While Cherrapunji and Mawsynram effective climatic divide. The towering mountain in the Khasi Hills of Meghalaya receive rainfall chain provides an invincible shield to protect over 1,080 cm in a year, Jaisalmer in Rajasthan the subcontinent from the cold northern winds. rarely gets more than 9 cm of rainfall during These cold and chilly winds originate near the the same period. Arctic circle and blow across central and eastern Tura situated in the Garo Hills of Asia. The Himalayas also trap the monsoon Meghalaya may receive an amount of rainfall winds, forcing them to shed their moisture in a single day which is equal to 10 years of within the subcontinent. rainfall at Jaisalmer. While the annual Distribution of Land and Water : India is precipitation is less than 10 cm in the north- flanked by the Indian Ocean on three sides in west Himalayas and the western deserts, it the south and girdled by a high and exceeds 400 cm in Meghalaya. continuous mountain-wall in the north. As The Ganga delta and the coastal plains of compared to the landmass, water heats up or Odisha are hit by strong rain-bearing storms almost every third or fifth day in July and cools down slowly. This differential heating of August while the Coromandal coast, a land and sea creates different air pressure thousand km to the south, goes generally dry zones in different seasons in and around the during these months. Most parts of the country Indian subcontinent. Difference in air pressure get rainfall during June-September, but on the causes reversal in the direction of monsoon coastal areas of Tamil Nadu, it rains in the winds. beginning of the winter season. Distance from the Sea : With a long coastline, In spite of these differences and variations, large coastal areas have an equable climate. the climate of India is monsoonal in rhythm Areas in the interior of India are far away from and character. the moderating influence of the sea. Such areas have extremes of climate. That is why, FACTORS DETERMINING THE CLIMATE OF INDIA the people of Mumbai and the Konkan coast India’s climate is controlled by a number of have hardly any idea of extremes of factors which can be broadly divided into two temperature and the seasonal rhythm of groups — factors related to location and relief, weather. On the other hand, the seasonal and factors related to air pressure and winds. contrasts in weather at places in the interior of the country such as Delhi, Kanpur and Factors related to Location and Relief Amritsar affect the entire sphere of life. Latitude : You already know the latitudinal and Altitude : Temperature decreases with height. longitudinal extent of the land of India. You Due to thin air, places in the mountains are also know that the Tropic of Cancer passes cooler than places on the plains. For example, through the central part of India in east-west Agra and Darjiling are located on the same direction. Thus, northern part of the India lies latitude, but temperature of January in Agra in sub-tropical and temperate zone and the is 16°C whereas it is only 4°C in Darjiling. part lying south of the Tropic of Cancer falls in the tropical zone. The tropical zone being Relief : The physiography or relief of India also nearer to the equator, experiences high affects the temperature, air pressure, direction temperatures throughout the year with small and speed of wind and the amount and daily and annual range. Area north of the distribution of rainfall. The windward sides of Tropic of Cancer being away from the equator, Western Ghats and Assam receive high rainfall 2021-22 CLIMATE 35 during June-September whereas the southern up in the lower troposphere, about three km plateau remains dry due to its leeward above the surface of the earth, a different pattern situation along the Western Ghats. of air circulation is observed. The variations in the atmospheric pressure closer to the surface Factors Related to Air Pressure and Wind of the earth have no role to play in the making of upper air circulation. All of Western and Central To understand the differences in local climates Asia remains under the influence of westerly of India, we need to understand the winds along the altitude of 9-13 km from west mechanism of the following three factors: to east. These winds blow across the Asian (i) Distribution of air pressure and winds continent at latitudes north of the Himalayas on the surface of the earth. roughly parallel to the Tibetan highlands (ii) Upper air circulation caused by factors (Figure 4.1). These are known as jet streams. controlling global weather and the inflow Tibetan highlands act as a barrier in the path of of different air masses and jet streams. these jet streams. As a result, jet streams get (iii) Inflow of western cyclones generally bifurcated. One of its branches blows to the north known as disturbances during the winter of the Tibetan highlands, while the southern season and tropical depressions during branch blows in an eastward direction, south of the south-west monsoon period into the Himalayas. It has its mean position at 25°N India, creating weather conditions in February at 200-300 mb level. It is believed favourable to rainfall. that this southern branch of the jet stream The mechanism of these three factors can exercises an important influence on the winter be understood with reference to winter and weather in India. summer seasons of the year separately. Mechanism of Weather in the Winter Season Surface Pressure and Winds : In winter months, the weather conditions over India are generally influenced by the distribution of pressure in Central and Western Asia. A high pressure centre in the region lying to the north of the Himalayas develops during winter.