『Abstract
　The interplay between topography and Indian summer monsoon circulation profoundly controls precipitation distribution, sediment transport, and river discharge along the Southern Himalayan Mountain Front (SHF). The Higher Himalayas from a major orographic barrier that separates humid sectors to the south and arid regions to the north. During the Indian summer monsoon, vortices transport moisture from the Bay of Bengal, swirl along the SHF to the northwest, and cause heavy rainfall when colliding with the mountain front. In the eastern and central pats of the Himalaya, precipitation measurements derived from passive microwave analysis (SSM/I) show a strong gradient, with high values at medium elevations and extensive penetration of moisture along major river valleys into the orogen. The end of the monsoonal conveyer belt is near the Sutlej Valley in the NW Himalaya, where precipitation is lower and rainfall maxima move to lower elevations. This region thus comprises a climatic transition zone that is very sensitive to changes in Indian summer monsoon strength. To constrain magnitude, temporal, and spatial distribution of precipitation, we analyzed high-resolution passive microwave data from the last decade and identified a abnormal monsoon year (AMY) in 2002. During the 2002 AMY, violent rainstorms conquered orographic barriers and penetrated far into otherwise arid regions in the northwest Himalaya at elevations in excess of 3 km asl. While precipitation in these regions was significantly increased and triggered extensive erosional processes (i.e., debris flows) on sparsely vegetated, steep hillslopes, mean rainfall along the low to medium elevations was not significantly greater in magnitude. This shift may thus play a important role in the overall sediment flux toward the Himalayan foreland. Using extended precipitation and sediment flux records for the last century, we show that these events have a decadal recurrence interval during the present-day monsoon circulation. Hence, episodically occurring AMYs control geomorphic processes primarily in the high-elevation arid sectors of the orogen, while annual recurring monsoonal rainfall distribution dominates erosion in the low- to medium-elevation parts along the SHF.

Keywords: Asian monsoon; precipitation; Himalayas; debris flows; landscape evolution.』

1. Introduction
2. The Indian summer monsoon (ISM)]
　2.1. Determining precipitation from passive microwave data
　2.2. Moisture transport and precipitation gradients during the ISM
　2.3. Precipitation patterns, erosional hillslope processes, and sediment flux in the northwest Himalaya
3. Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Appendix A. Supplementary data
References