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Researchers have made a detailed record of the last 50 years of growth of a stalagmite that formed in Mawmluh Cave in the East Khasi Hills district in the northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya, an area credited as the rainiest place on Earth. Studies of historical records in India suggest that reduced monsoon rainfall in central India has occurred when the sea surface temperatures in specific regions of the Pacific Ocean were warmer than normal.
When the researchers analyzed the Mawmluh stalagmite record, the results were consistent with the historical record. These naturally recurring sea-surface temperature “anomalies” are known as the El Niño Modoki, which occurs in the central Pacific and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, which takes place in the northern Pacific. Specifically, they found that during El Niño Modoki events, when drought was occurring in central India, the mineral chemistry suggested more localized storm events occurred above the cave, while during the non-El Niño periods, the water that seeped into the cave had traveled much farther before it fell, which is the typical monsoon pattern.Image credit: Chris Myers and Sebastian Breitenbach
