What are 3 characteristics of monsoons?
Monsoons are regional scale wind systems that predictably change direction with the passing of the seasons. Like land/sea breezes, these wind systems are created by the temperature contrasts that exist between the surfaces of land and ocean. However, monsoons are different from land/sea breezes both spatially and temporally. Monsoons occur over distances of thousands of kilometers, and their two dominant patterns of wind flow act over an annual time scale. During the summer, monsoon winds blow from the cooler ocean surfaces onto the warmer continents. In the summer, the continents become much warmer than the oceans because of a number of factors. These factors include: * Specific heat differences between land and water. * Greater evaporation over water surfaces. * Subsurface mixing in ocean basins which redistributes heat energy through a deeper layer. Precipitation is normally associated with the summer monsoons. Onshore winds blowing inland from the warm ocean are very high in humidi
