Hindi English Translation || Editorial || Capturing the monsoon: its variance and the message

Capturing the monsoon: its variance and the message

India needs all-weather insurance (बीमा, सुरक्षा) against vagaries of global climate

For the first time since 2018, India has reported a deficit (कमी, घाटा) monsoon. From June to September this year, India received 82 cm of rainfall, nearly 6% lower than the 89 cm that is considered ‘normal’. Beginning April, there were enough indications that the monsoon would be subdued (moderate, diminish, lessen, mute) with an El Niño (an unusual/abnormal warming of the waters across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific that lies closer to the Americas). La Niña means abnormal cooling) on the horizon. This cyclical (चक्रीय, आवर्ती) warming of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean usually corresponds (अनुरूप होना) to a decline in rainfall over India, particularly the north-west. Between 2019 and 2022, the Indian monsoon was significantly impacted by the converse phenomenon (घटना) – a cooling La Niña — that sometimes is associated with above normal rainfall. By those metrics (measures of quantitative assessment used for comparing, and tracking performance), the expectations of a normal monsoon in 2023 were muted (lower, reduce, diminish, decrease). However, the experience of the monsoon this year was far from (not, not at all; nowhere near, a long way from) the ordinary. About 9% of the country received ‘excess’ rainfall with 18% getting ‘deficient’ and the rest of the country, ‘normal’ rainfall. While on one hand, August — the second-most important monsoon month — posted a third less than its normal, several States in north India, which were expecting minimal rainfall, were deluged (बाढ़ आना, डूबा हुआ) following multiple episodes (spell, phase, period) of record rainfall. July, for instance (उदाहरण के लिए), saw exceptionally (ख़ासकर, विशेषकर) heavy rainfall in Chandigarh, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, resulting in (परिणाम होना) floods and landslides (भूस्खलन). Several cities were left grappling with serious flooding over several days. Cloudbursts (a sudden and very heavy rainfall) were reported in Himachal Pradesh in August. It is worthwhile to note here that these episodes of intense (severe, extreme, high) rain were due to so-called (तथाकथित) western disturbances (अशांति) that are extra tropical storms (उष्णकटिबंधीय तूफान) from the Mediterranean region and normally not expected to play a major part in the monsoon. Thus, these are fingerprints (impression; impact, effect, influence) of the wide-ranging (comprehensive, extensive, broad-ranging) impacts of anthropogenic (मानवजनित, नृजातीय) warming.

At the other end of the spectrum (wide range, gamut, ambit) were drought (सुखा)-like conditions in Maharashtra. Extreme water stress was also reported out of (from) Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Karnataka, where in the case of Karnataka, matters came to a head with neighbouring (adjacent, bordering, abutting, surrounding; nearby) Tamil Nadu over the sharing of water from the Cauvery river. The India Meteorological Department (an agency under the Ministry of Earth Sciences of the Government of India which is responsible for meteorological observations, weather forecasting and seismology. It has the responsibility for forecasting, naming and distributing warnings for tropical cyclones in the Northern Indian Ocean region, including the Malacca Straits, the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf) has also forecast (predict, foresee, estimate, foretell) a ‘normal’ north-east monsoon (The northeasterly winds blow from the northeast to the southwest. During their movement, these winds pick up moisture from the Bay of Bengal and dump it over the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and even south Telangana and Karnataka during the three-month period between October and December. It is also referred to as the winter monsoon, retreating monsoon, or reverse monsoon. It offers a mere 11% contribution to India’s annual rainfall, as opposed to the 75% offered by the southwest monsoon) from October to December and ‘normal to above-normal rainfall’ over large parts of north-west India and south peninsular (describing a part of land surrounded by water on its three sides, but connected to the mainland) India. The signs are there of increased rains in several parts of south India. The spatial (relating to space; occupying space) and temporal variance of the monsoon reiterates (repeat, say again, restate) the need to invest in (to put in one’s time, effort, money & energy to a specific task (in order to get an advantage)) more resilient infrastructure (the basic physical or organisational structure or framework that a country or organization needs in order to function properly. For a whole nation, it includes all the physical systems such as buildings, roads & railways networks, utilities, etc) that can be an all-weather insurance against the increasingly (more and more, steadily more, continuously more, gradually more) unpredictable (uncertain, varying, erratic, irregular, fluctuant, unreliable) vagaries of the global climate. The pattern in recent years is to improve forecast (prediction, estimation, calculation, reckoning, expectation) models that are better able to warn of significant changes in weather a week or two ahead than having approaches that fail to capture the dynamics (basic/fundamental cause or force that triggers change within a system) of the Indian monsoon. More money and expertise (skill, knowledge, competence, proficiency, capability) should be directed towards this.

Courtesy: The Hindu

Important Word List With Meaning

1.insurance (noun)

Hindi Meaning - बीमा, सुरक्षा
English Meaning - protection, defence, safeguard, safety measure.

2.deficit (noun)

Hindi Meaning - कमी, घाटा
English Meaning - shortfall, deficiency, shortage.

3.cyclical (adjective)

Hindi Meaning - चक्रीय, आवर्ती
English Meaning - regular, frequent, repeated, periodic, sporadic, recurrent.

4.correspond (verb)

Hindi Meaning - अनुरूप होना
English Meaning - represent, signify, indicate.

5.phenomenon (noun)

Hindi Meaning - घटना
English Meaning - situation, circumstance, occurrence, event, happening.

6.deluge (verb)

Hindi Meaning - बाढ़ आना, डूबा हुआ
English Meaning - flood, inundate, submerge, engulf, swamp, immerse.

7.for instance (phrase)

Hindi Meaning - उदाहरण के लिए
English Meaning - as an example.

8.exceptionally (adverb)

Hindi Meaning - ख़ासकर, विशेषकर
English Meaning - very, extremely, exceedingly, abnormally.

9.result in (verb)

Hindi Meaning - परिणाम होना
English Meaning - cause, lead to, bring on, bring about, give rise to.

10.landslide (noun)

Hindi Meaning - भूस्खलन
English Meaning - a landslide is defined as the movement of a mass of rock, debris, or earth down a slope. Landslides are a type of “mass wasting,” which denotes any down-slope movement of soil and rock under the direct influence of gravity; landslip, rockfall, mudslide, earthfall/slip.

11.so-called (adjective)

Hindi Meaning - तथाकथित
English Meaning - supposed, alleged, claimed, professed, reported, ostensible.

12.disturbance (noun)

Hindi Meaning - अशांति
English Meaning - it means an area of “disturbed” or reduced air pressure.

13.tropical storm (noun)

Hindi Meaning - उष्णकटिबंधीय तूफान
English Meaning - hurricane, typhoon, cyclone; depression.

14.anthropogenic (adjective)

Hindi Meaning - मानवजनित, नृजातीय
English Meaning - human-caused, human-influenced, human-induced, man made, artificial.

15.drought (noun)

Hindi Meaning - सुखा
English Meaning - dry spell/period, lack of rain, shortage of water.

16.capture (verb)

English Meaning - record or store (data)accurately.

17.variance (noun)

English Meaning - difference, variation, deviation, inconsistent, discrepancy.

18.vagary (noun)

English Meaning - peculiarity, oddity, eccentricity, unpredictability.

19.vagaries (plural noun)

English Meaning - oddity, peculiarity, unpredictability, fluctuation.

20.subdue (verb)

English Meaning - moderate, diminish, lessen, mute.

21.El Nino (noun)

English Meaning - an unusual/abnormal warming of the waters across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific that lies closer to the Americas). La Niña means abnormal cooling.

22.on the horizon (phrase)

English Meaning - imminent, impending, approaching, coming, on the way, forthcoming, about to happen, in the wings, on the cards, in the pipeline/offing, just around the corner.

23.converse (adjective)

English Meaning - opposite, reverse, inverse, contrary.

24.metric (noun)

English Meaning - measures of quantitative assessment used for comparing, and tracking performance.

25.mute (verb)

English Meaning - lower, reduce, diminish, decrease.

26.far from (phrase)

English Meaning - not, not at all; nowhere near, a long way from.

27.deficient (adjective)

English Meaning - inadequate, insufficient, meagre, scanty, lacking.

28.on the one hand (phrase)

English Meaning - it is used to introduce the first of two contrasting different, points, facts, or ways of looking at something. It is always followed later by “on the other hand” or ‘on the other’.

29.episode (noun)

English Meaning - spell, phase, period.

30.grapple with (phrasal verb)

English Meaning - struggle, deal with, cope with, face, confront, withstand, stand firm against, stand up to.

31.cloudburst (noun)

English Meaning - a sudden and very heavy rainfall.

32.worthwhile (adjective)

English Meaning - significant, important, relevant, effective, meaningful.

33.intense (adjective)

English Meaning - severe, extreme, high.

34.Western Disturbances (WD) (noun)

English Meaning - it is an extra-tropical storm which originates in the Mediterranean region. The disturbance travels from the “western” to the eastern direction. A WD is associated with rainfall, snowfall and fog in northern India. Upon its arrival in northern India, clouds along with rain and snow also arrive. The moisture which WDs carry with them comes from the Mediterranean Sea and/or from the Atlantic Ocean.

35.storm (noun)

English Meaning - it refers to low pressure.

36.tropical storm/cyclone (noun)

English Meaning - a very powerful low-pressure weather system which results in strong winds (over 120 km/h) and heavy rainfall (up to 250 mm in one day). Tropical cyclones have different names depending on where they occur in the world. In the US and the Caribbean they are known as hurricanes, in South Asia - cyclones, in East Asi - typhoons and in Australia they are known as willy-willies. They all develop in the same way and have the same characteristics.

37.play a role or play a part (phrase)

English Meaning - contribute to, be instrumental in, be a factor in.

38.fingerprint (noun)

English Meaning - impression; impact, effect, influence.

39.wide-ranging (adjective)

English Meaning - comprehensive, extensive, broad-ranging.

40.spectrum (noun)

English Meaning - wide range, gamut, ambit.

41.water stress or water scarcity (noun)

English Meaning - it occurs when the demand for water exceeds the available amount during a certain period or when poor quality restricts its use.

42.out of (phrase)

English Meaning - from.

43.come to a head (phrase)

English Meaning - if something comes to a head, it reaches a critical point/state where you have to take action to deal with it; reach a crisis, come to a climax, reach a critical point.

44.neighbouring (adjective)

English Meaning - adjacent, bordering, abutting, surrounding; nearby.

45.meteorological (adjective)

English Meaning - relating to the branch of science that deals with phenomena (events) of the atmosphere or weather.

46.India Meteorological Department (IMD) (noun)

English Meaning - an agency under the Ministry of Earth Sciences of the Government of India which is responsible for meteorological observations, weather forecasting and seismology. It has the responsibility for forecasting, naming and distributing warnings for tropical cyclones in the Northern Indian Ocean region, including the Malacca Straits, the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf.

47.forecast (verb)

English Meaning - predict, foresee, estimate, foretell.

48.north-east monsoon (NEM) (noun)

English Meaning - The northeasterly winds blow from the northeast to the southwest. During their movement, these winds pick up moisture from the Bay of Bengal and dump it over the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and even south Telangana and Karnataka during the three-month period between October and December. It is also referred to as the winter monsoon, retreating monsoon, or reverse monsoon. It offers a mere 11% contribution to India’s annual rainfall, as opposed to the 75% offered by the southwest monsoon.

49.south-west monsoon (SWM) (noun)

English Meaning - The southwesterly wind flow occurring over most parts of India and Indian Seas gives rise to southwest monsoon over India from June to September. The four-month long summer Monsoon season brings 70% of the country’s annual rainfall. It holds a Long Period Average (LPA) of 89 cm of rain but never behaves in a normal manner. In fact, rainfall distribution mostly remains uneven both in space and time.

50.long period average (LPA) (noun)

English Meaning - LPA is the average rainfall received by the country as a whole during the south-west monsoon, for a 50-year period. The current LPA is 88 cm, based on the mean (average) rainfall over the years 1951 and 2000.

51.peninsular (adjective)

English Meaning - describing a part of land surrounded by water on its three sides, but connected to the mainland.

52.spatial (adjective)

English Meaning - relating to space; occupying space.

53.reiterate (verb)

English Meaning - repeat, say again, restate.

54.invest in (verb)

English Meaning - to put in one’s time, effort, money & energy to a specific task (in order to get an advantage).

55.resilient (adjective)

English Meaning - strong, sturdy, stout/well built, durable.

56.infrastructure (noun)

English Meaning - the basic physical or organisational structure or framework that a country or organization needs in order to function properly. For a whole nation, it includes all the physical systems such as buildings, roads & railways networks, utilities, etc.

57.increasingly (adverb)

English Meaning - more and more, steadily more, continuously more, gradually more.

58.unpredictable (adjective)

English Meaning - uncertain, varying, erratic, irregular, fluctuant, unreliable.

59.forecast (noun)

English Meaning - prediction, estimation, calculation, reckoning, expectation.

60.dynamics (noun)

English Meaning - basic/fundamental cause or force that triggers change within a system.

61.expertise (noun)

English Meaning - skill, knowledge, competence, proficiency, capability.