MOMSEI: exploring the monsoon onset and its social and ecosystem impacts. An IOC/WESTPAC Regional Cooperation Effort

摘要

1 Why monsoon onset matters? It is well known that most Asian countries (which include over two thirds of the world’s population) are under the regime of the Asian Monsoon, as it is reflected by the dominant rainfall pattern over a wide region of Asia and its nearby oceans with its most intensive centers over the west coast of India, the northern Bay of Bengal (BoB), the western Philippines and over the northwestern Pacific Ocean (Fig.1). The Monsoons are one of the largest climate systems on earth. The inextricable relationship between the human beings and the monsoon climate persists throughout a long history and in the evolution of the local societies, cultures, religions and civilizations. Such a remarkable linkage between people and the monsoon climate attracts much attention, not only from the point of view of scientific research, but also of the human-nature interactions, particularly in the context of sustainable development. For example, Fu and Manton (2018) recently reviewed the 10-yr progress of the Monsoon Asia Integrated Regional Study (MAIRS) project, which is significantly characterized by its human-monsoon focus.