East Asian monsoon

The East Asian monsoon is a monsoonal flow that carries moist air from the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean to East Asia. It affects approximately one-third of the global population, and the countries China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. It is driven by temperature differences between the Asian continent and the Pacific Ocean. The East Asian monsoon is divided into a warm and wet summer monsoon and a cold and dry winter monsoon. This cold and dry winter monsoon is responsible for the aeolian dust deposition and pedogenesis that resulted in the creation of the Loess Plateau.

In most years, the monsoonal flow shifts in a very predictable pattern, winds being southwesterly in late June to water the Korean peninsula and Japan. This leads to a reliable precipitation spike in July and August. However, this pattern occasionally fails, leading to drought and crop failure. In the winter, the winds are northeasterly and the monsoonal precipitation bands move back to the south, watering southern China and Taiwan.

The East Asian monsoon is known as "jangma" (장마) in Korea. In Japan the monsoon boundary is referred to as the "bai-u" as it advances northward during the spring, while it is referred to as the "shurin" when the boundary retreats back southward during the autumn months. [ [http://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/110001807677/en/ Numerical Study on the Baiu Front Genesis by Heating Contrast between Land and Ocean Vol.79, No.2(20010425) pp. 671-686 Meteorological Society of Japan ISSN:00261165] ] Over Japan and Korea, the monsoon boundary typically takes the form of a quasi-stationary front separating the cooler air mass associated with the Okhotsk High to the north from the hot, humid air mass associated with the subtropical ridge to the south. After the monsoon boundary passes north of a given location, it is not uncommon for daytime temperatures to exceed 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) with dewpoints of 75 degrees Fahrenheit (24 degrees Celsius) or higher.

There has been some speculation that climate change will disrupt or change the monsoonal pattern.

ee also

*East Asian rainy season
*List of Korea-related topics
*List of China-related topics
*List of Japan-related topics

References

External links

* [http://climate.snu.ac.kr/english/research/monsoon/monsoon-definition-en.html East Asian monsoon profile]
* [http://www.worldscibooks.com/environsci/5482.html East Asian Monsoon (book)]
* [http://csc.gallaudet.edu/monsoon/impact/drought01.html Paper on the 1994 monsoonal failure]
* [http://www.kma.go.kr/eng/climate/climate02.jsp Profile of South Korean climate]
* [http://eamex.iastate.edu/ East Asian Monsoon Experiment]