EVER since Halley' formulated his monsoon theory in 1686, the Indian monsoon has been regarded as a circulation cell resulting from differential heating between land and ocean. Although this explanation is basically correct, it needs qualification and amplification on three counts. First, the heating and cooling that cause a seasonal reversal of wind direction are not merely surface phenomena. In central and southern India the highest surface temperatures are observed in May. Yet the southwest monsoon does not hold sway over the subcontinent until after mid-June, when the imbalance in the energy budget through a great depth of the atmosphere, coupled with the reorganization of momentum, has drastically changed the upper-air circulation.
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Jen-Hu Chang (1967) studied this question.