The Monsoon Year—A New Concept of the Climatic Year in the Tropics

Abstract

The concept of ?monsoon year? is proposed as a unit year of climatic anomalies (i.e., the climatic year) in the tropics. This monsoon year is defined as one year starting just before the northern summer monsoon season. It is also argued that this climatic year in the tropics is physically based upon the characteristic nature of the coupled ocean/land/atmosphere system over the Asian monsoon/Pacific Ocean sector.