Our research links with India

Forecasting the Indian Monsoon

The Walker Institute is working with the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune, western India, in a four-year project to predict what will happen to the Indian monsoon as global warming begins to bite.

The project is one of only six major awards from the British Council UK India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) made in 2007.

See the press release >>

Read more about our work on the Indian monsoon >>

Monsoon rains - essential to India's economy and society

Professor Julia Slingo who leads the project says: "This is a vital project for India. The monsoon rains provide nearly 80% of the year's rainfall and they are critical for agriculture, for drinking water and for industry which often relies on hydroelectricity for power.

India's economy and societal infrastructures are finely tuned to the remarkable stability of the monsoon, and vulnerability to small changes in monsoon rainfall is very high.

In the future, the pressures of an increasing population will bring additional stresses on society and the environment, with serious implications for water resources, health and food security. So, the possibility that the monsoon may become less stable as a result of climate change has serious consequences for India."