The Mawmluh cave of Meghalaya has helped scientists to unlock the secrets of climate change.
Researchers from Vanderbilt University of USA and Ruhr University of Germany had studied the last fifty years of the growth of a stalagmite inside the cave, reports The Deccan Herald.
The findings of the study have been in the journal Scientific Reports, an open-access and multidisciplinary journal.
The researchers found an unexpected connection between quantity of water rainfall received in Northeast India and a set of climatic conditions seen in the Pacific.
They claimed that the new findings can help in understanding how the pattern of monsoon in the northeast can change in future.
The report quoted Vanderbilt University team leader Jessica L Oster as saying that their findings shows relationships between stalagmite chemistry and rainfall in Meghalaya and other aspects of climate system such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation.
Oster also said that the analysis can be useful for understanding how Meghalayan rainfall will change in the future.
The new research mainly gives information about the dry season rainfall that occurs between October and December.
From the analysis of trace elements (calcium and magnesium), scientists reconstructed the history of the stalagmite, providing information about local changes in hydrology.
Comparisons of cave records and nearby rainfall data show that variations in dry season rainfall rather than the monsoon rains govern variations in trace element concentrations in the stalagmite and how the amount of variation changes from year to year.
The researchers reported in the journal that understanding past dry season rainfall variability may help improve mediation strategies against drought before it impacts the rainiest place on earth.