The Asian Monsoon: Causes, History and Effects

The Asian monsoon is one of the most dramatic climatic phenomena on Earth, with far reaching environmental and societal effects. Almost two thirds of humanity lives within regions influenced by the monsoon. With the emerging Asian economies, the importance of the region to the global economy has never been more marked. The Asian Monsoon describes the evolution of the monsoon, and proposes a connection between the tectonic evolution of the solid Earth and monsoon intensity. The authors explain how the monsoon has been linked to orbital processes and thus to other parts of the global climate system, especially glaciation. Finally, they summarize how monsoon evolution since the last Ice Age has impacted human societies, as well as commenting on the potential impact of future climate change. This book presents a multi-disciplinary overview of the monsoon for advanced students and researchers in atmospheric science, climatology, oceanography, geophysics, and geomorphology.

Peter Clift is Kilgour Professor in the School of Geosciences at the University of Aberdeen, a Research Affilliate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a visiting professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou. His research focuses on the integration of marine and terrestrial data sets to understand how the monsoon changes with time. He has authored over 100 peer reviewed papers and has acted as lead editor on two other books, as well as a special collection concerning the monsoon for Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. He is co-leader of IGCP 476 'Monsoons and Tectonics'.

Alan Plumb is Professor of Meteorology and Director of the Program in Oceans, Atmospheres, and Climate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been an editor of Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences and of Pure and Applied Geophysics and has published approximately 100 peer reviewed papers, as well as co-editing one previous book and co-authoring an undergraduate textbook on The Circulation of the Atmosphere and Ocean (in press).