Giving Compass' Take:

• According to new research highlighted at Futurity, human-made air pollution is likely the reason for a drop in precipitation from the Asian summer monsoons. 

• How can countries prepare for shifting monsoon patterns? How else is pollution affecting Asia? 

• Here's how pollution in India is reshaping monsoon season. 

Rainfall from the Asian summer monsoon has been decreasing for the past 80 years, a decline unprecedented in the last 448 years, the researchers report.

The recent 80-year decline in the monsoon coincides with increases in particulate emissions from the post-World War II boom in industrial development in China and other parts of the northern hemisphere.

The Asian summer monsoon, which dumps a majority of the continent’s rainfall in a few short, torrential months, affects nearly half of the world’s population. Summer rainfall has been declining in recent decades, influencing water availability, ecosystems, and agriculture from India to Siberia.

The monsoon has been weakening since the 1940s, resulting in regional droughts, the team reports.

Read the full article about air pollution and monsoons by Mari Jensen at Futurity.