Indian monsoon derailed by a North Atlantic wavetrain

Abstract

Season of the drought The Indian monsoon is a critical source of water for hundreds of millions of people, and when it fails to deliver its normal quantity of rain, enormous human, economic, and ecological costs can be incurred. Monsoon droughts are not always seasonal, however. Borah et al. found that nearly half of all monsoonal droughts were subseasonal and characterized by a steep decline in late-season rainfall. Moreover, this type of subseasonal drought appears to be related to a distinct cold anomaly in the North Atlantic Ocean, raising the possibility that monsoon droughts may be more predictable. Science , this issue p. 1335