Monsoons have always been a focus of great interest to WCRP, and this was further enhanced with the efforts of its core projects CLIVAR and GEWEX under a joint Monsoons Panel. The importance of monsoon prediction for socio-economic applications was recognized quite early but understanding its variability across a wide range of time and space scales and providing reliable predictions remains a challenge even today, despite many scientific and technological advances. 

India has launched an ambitious and well-resourced research programme called the Monsoon Mission. Recognizing the broader interest of the Monsoon Mission activities to the WCRP community, the CLIVAR/GEWEX Monsoons Panel has coordinated a special issue of CLIVAR Exchanges on India’s Monsoon Mission, highlighting the results achieved so far under Monsoon Mission.

Simultaneously published, a special issue of GEWEX Quarterly, also coordinated by the CLIVAR/GEWEX Monsoons Panel, highlights the global challenges in monsoon research. The topics covered in this issue include monsoon rainfall metrics, diurnal precipitation simulation in the global monsoon system, North and South American Monsoons, West African Monsoon and the intersection between global monsoon regions and GEWEX's Regional Hydroclimate Projects.

This fits very well with the joining of forces by CLIVAR and GEWEX in coordinating monsoon research, through their joint Monsoons Panel.