Tropical cyclones over the Arabian Sea in the pre-monsoon season (May–June) have intensified since 1997 owing to significant reductions in storm-ambient vertical wind shear (VWS) in the troposphere; these reductions have decreased on average by about 3 m s−1 from the pre-1997 epoch (1979–1997) to the recent epoch (1998–2010)1. The authors attribute the reduction of pre-monsoon VWS to the dimming effects of increased anthropogenic black carbon and sulphate emissions.

A central paradox of the global monsoon record involves reported decreases in rainfall over land during an era in which the global hydrologic cycle is both expected and observed to intensify. It is within this context that this work develops a physical basis for both interpreting the observed record and anticipating changes in the monsoons in a warming climate while bolstering the concept of the global monsoon in the context of shared feedbacks. The global-land monsoon record across multiple reanalyses is first assessed.

In this study, Gangotri glacier was monitored using Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) LISS-III sensor data in combination with field collected snow-meteorological data for a period of seven years (2001–2008). An overall decreasing trend in the areal extent of seasonal snow cover area (SCA) was observed. An upward