Monsoonal rainfall is a key source of water for South Asia, affecting not only surface water availability but also groundwater renewal. Droughts during the summer monsoon can be more severe with climate change, but the degree to which these affect groundwater resources is not well understood.

Vimal Mishra from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar, India, and colleagues from India, the USA and Saudi Arabia assessed how changes in monsoon rainfall have affected groundwater resources in India between 1951 and 2021. They find that groundwater has rapidly depleted after 2022, especially in northern India. This was mainly caused by the combination of summer monsoon drying followed by winter warming, which increased the pumping of groundwater for irrigation.

季风降雨是南亚的重要水源，不仅影响地表水的供应，还影响地下水的更新。随着气候变化，夏季季风期间的干旱可能会更加严重，但干旱对地下水资源的影响程度尚不清楚。

印度甘地讷格尔印度理工学院 (IIT) 的维马尔·米什拉 (Vimal Mishra) 和来自印度、美国和沙特阿拉伯的同事评估了 1951 年至 2021 年间季风降雨的变化对印度地下水资源的影响。他们发现，在季风降雨之后，地下水迅速枯竭。 2022 年，尤其是在印度北部。这主要是由于夏季季风干燥和冬季变暖相结合，增加了地下水用于灌溉的抽水量。