Assertion (A): The Western Ghats receive significantly higher annual precipitation than the Eastern Ghats during the southwest monsoon season. Reason (R): The Western Ghats act as a continuous, high continuous topographic barrier that forces moist maritime air masses to ascend and undergo rapid adiabatic cooling.

💡 Solution & Explanation

The Western Ghats form an unbroken, high mountain wall aligned parallel to the Arabian Sea coast, intercepting the moisture-laden southwest monsoon winds and forcing heavy orographic rainfall along the windward western slopes. In contrast, the Eastern Ghats are discontinuous, lower in elevation, and lie parallel to the path of monsoon winds after they have traversed the peninsula, resulting in considerably lower and more scattered rainfall. Orographic uplift determines precipitation totals in peninsular relief profiles.