A kaleidoscopic research memoir on Indian summer monsoon rainfall

Comprehending the governing mechanism of Indian summer monsoon rainfall (ISMR) and its fate under changing climatic conditions is extremely important. ISMR is the key input required for robust policy formulations, without which the agriculture-based Indian economy and high population density regions may face severe reparations. However, ISMR is one of the most complex phenomena involving different forcings. The complexity of ISMR lies in the spatio-temporal variability of the external factors influencing it. These factors involve global forcings such as different teleconnections and regional forcings such as land-use change and land-surface feedback processes. Despite all odds, understanding different aspects of ISMR and foresee the possible alterations under changing climatic conditions are of paramount importance. Here, we initiate a discussion on ISMR to provide a brief review of different research problems pertaining to ISMR and summarize a few important findings to draw attentions towards existing research gaps. The premise behind this memoir on ISMR is to provide the readers with an overall picture that will form bedrock for the further research.