Resource detail

Researchers from IIT Madras and IIT Bombay tracking monsoon rainfall pattern in India over the past century have come out results which they described as “intriguing and contradictory to common belief.” These insights are critical not only for understanding geographic variations in seasonal rainfall, but also for framing long-term water management policies of the country, they said. The work has been published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS. Supported by the Max Planck Partner Group at IIT Madras, Department of Science and Technology, and Union Ministry of Earth Sciences, it analysed countrywide rainfall data over the past century to find trends and variations. The team warned that recent observations that monsoon has grown more unpredictable than before bodes ill for a country whose societal and economic well-being is critically linked to seasonal rains.