Tropical Monsoon Climate

Tropical monsoon climates have monthly mean temperatures above 18 °C (64 °F) in every month of the year and a dry season. Tropical monsoon climates is the intermediate climate between the wet (or tropical wet climate) and the drier (or tropical savanna climate).

Distribution of Tropical Monsoon Climate

Occur within 5° to 30° N and S of the equator.
On-shore [sea to land] tropical monsoons occur in the summer and off-shore [land to sea] dry monsoons in the winter.
They are best developed in the Indian sub-continent, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, parts of Vietnam and south China and northern Australia.

Climate

In the summer, when the sun is overhead at the Tropic of Cancer, a low pressure is created in Central Asia.
The seas, which warm up much slower, remain comparatively at high pressure.
At the same time, the southern hemisphere experiences winter, and a region of high pressure is set up in the continental interior of Australia.
Winds blow outwards as the South-East Monsoon, to Java, and after crossing the equator are drawn towards the continental low pressure area
reaching the Indian sub-continent as the South-West Monsoon (Coriolis force).
In the winter, conditions are reversed.

Temperature

Monthly mean temperatures above 18 °C.
Temperatures range from 30-45° C in summer. Mean summer temperature is about 30°C.
In winters, temperature range is 15-30° C with mean temperature around 20-25° C.

Precipitation

Annual mean rainfall ranges from 200-250 cm. In some regions it is around 350 cm.
Places like Cherrapunji & Mawsynram receive an annual rainfallof about 1000 cm.
They lie on the windward side of the Meghalaya hills, so the resulting orographic lift (orographic rainfall) enhancesprecipitation.

The Retreating Monsoon

The amount and frequency of rain decreases towards the end of the rainy season.
It retreats gradually southwards after mid-September until it leaves the continent altogether.
The skies are clear again and the cool, dry season returns in October, with the out blowing North-East Monsoon.
The role of monsoons in India is vital for its economy.

Tropical Monsoon Forests

Drought-deciduous forest, dry forest, dry-deciduous forest, tropical deciduous forest.
Broad-leaved hardwood trees. Well developed in southeast Asia.
Trees are normally deciduous, because of the marked dry period, during which they shed their leaves to withstand the drought [They shed their
leaves to prevent loss water through transpiration].
The forests are more open and less luxuriant than the equatorial jungle and there are far fewer species.

Shifting Cultivation

This most early form of farming is widely practiced.
Instead of rotating the crops in the same field to preserve fertility, the tribesmen move to a new clearing when their first field is exhausted.
Maize, dry padi, sweet potatoes and some beans are the most common crops.
Farming is entirely for subsistence i.e. everything is consumed bythe farmer’s family it is not traded or sold.
As tropical soils are rapidly leached and easily exhausted, the first crop may be bountiful but the subsequent harvests deteriorate.
Shifting cultivation is so widely practiced amongst indigenous peoples that different local names are used in different countries.