monsoon on my desk

Posted during my research work at Hokkaido University, 2004-’07  😎

monsoon asterix

Monsoon, oh how thy rule the daily life of petty Indians!!

The minds, the economy, the agriculture, the life and prosperity and happiness of Indian subcontinent heavily depend on the ups and downs of the monsoon. Those rains bring mixed feelings. Oh the picture of the students running with uniforms and school bags drenched in water, the rushing vehicles splashing muddy water on the pedestrians, tiny paper boats sailing thru, these are some of the daily shots from my part of the world in kerala. Everyone but are unanimous in heartily welcoming the first spell of rains, as they bring a relief from the hot summer days. When it rains every day and for long time but it used to give nightmares to daddy cuz if it rained too much, our rubber trees can’t be milked and poor me won’t be able to buy new pants n shirts n shoes hehe. That is how monsoon used to affect me other than the several nights when the power went off for days [when the winds n the rain throw the trees n branches over the electric lines or when the water level in the dams are low], several days when the thunderstorms warned me not to come out, several days when coming from school or college my shoes weighed a ton from the water soaked in. Ya it affected me too as a change of season and daily routine of taking umbrellas but not as much as some other small farmers whose daily bread depended on it. Our part of India was mostly blessed with plenty rain during the monsoons.

Rains all over India, dances in different proportions, giving variabilities in space and time. Some parts of India like western ghats[southwest India] and the ganges mahanadi basin [central east India] receives rain in plenitude while other parts like tamil nadu in the south east and the north western parts of India receive weak rainfall. Droughts, floods happen at the same time at different corners of the subcontinent. Agricultural sector, Indian economy, daily life all listen to the rhythm of rain. The peacock’s dance or the curves of the eyebrows of a farmer on his field used to give signals on the monsoon. Now here lying around on my desk are so many plots and charts and I’m trying to find out such signals and curves which can write out some of the short paragraphs out of the epic called monsoon.

To put it simply, I’m having a look at the subseasonal variability of air sea interaction over the Indian Ocean and how it influences the subseasonal and spatial variability of monsoon over India.

Reference:
Mathew Roxy and Youichi Tanimoto, 2007: Role of SST over the Indian Ocean in influencing the intraseasonal variability of the Indian summer monsoon. Journal of Meteorological Society of Japan, 85(3) [pdf].

Oceanographer CTD launch at Sagar Kanya, Arabian Sea

Thatz me at the ARMEX (ARabian sea Monsoon EXperiment) cruise on ORV Sagar Kanya, during Mar-Apr 2003. Instrument in view contains Nansen bottles [for water sampling at different depths], CTD [measures conductivity (salinity), temperature, pressure (depth)], ADCP [current profiler] etc. These are lowered to the deep ocean, collecting data all the way and sending it back to a computer terminal.

16 Responses

  1. hema says:

    wow! beauty captured and spread. this made me recall my trip on sagarkanya. thanks buddy.

  2. sarah says:

    Actually, when I read this, at times, it reminds me of the time 20 years back when rains were the best season. I can remember how it used to saturate the narrow lanes I used to take to school and play, forcing hundreds of earthworms onto the surface. It was fun to scare my brother saying they were snakes. Splishing and splashign the water and takign in the fresh after rain air was really soul filling. The monsoon winds used to tell how alive I am when each inch of my skin felt it.
    I still don’t know if it was my age or the magic of monsoon…

  3. rocksea says:

    helo Sree, nowadays I am using a Nikon D80 with different kind of lenses.

  4. Sree Menon says:

    Which camera you are using brother. Fabulous photos.

  5. Sree Menon says:

    Which camera you are using brother. Fabulous photos

  6. m.sadegh yavari says:

    heloo

  7. rocksea says:

    sarah dear, hehe.. i gave a simple detailed description and a technical description in one line after that 😉

  8. sarah says:

    To put it simply, even that seem a technically rich description! 😀 Oh! this is nice.

  9. nirmal says:

    hello,
    what is the timelimit you expect, some body to serch this site to find out something worth.(am sorry , just to irritate you.)

    nirmal varghese

    there is no chance to remember me.but we had some little talks in our childhood on a walk from vilangupara till your house .
    am from idamattom
    & was your junior in vincent pala
    find your site accidently when i serched for idamattom
    take care

  10. rocksea says:

    archu, great to see you here 🙂 have a nice time.

  11. archu says:

    Hi Rock Sea looks like u have a lot of research.Good website and specially i liked the family tree.

  12. rocksea says:

    hey rijesh, thanks n cheerz 😉

  13. rijesh says:

    hi
    its nice,u done one lovley work!

    warm regards

  14. rocksea says:

    Chandy, angane marakkaan pattumo??!!!
    how did you get into this site, am surprised. very happy to see this comment. and ya, i found out your blog as well 😀

    then, have a look at the family tree. your grandfather is also there. it would be good if you help to grow the tree on your side 🙂

  15. Chandy Thomas says:

    Hey Roxy,
    Nice Site. I dont know if U remember me. We R Cousins and Schoolmates. Just came across ur site accidentally.

    Cheers….

  16. Ally says:

    Wow, I don’t understand it all, and I have about no clue what your job is, but then it seems very interesting. I wish I could work near the ocean, I am a water person.
    Take Care!
    **hugs**
    Ally.

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