The seasonal reversal of winds is the typical characteristic of:

The correct answer is C. A monsoon is, in the classical sense, a seasonal reversal of the prevailing winds, driven by differential heating of land and ocean. In India, the south-west monsoon blows from the sea onto the land during June to September, and the north-east winter monsoon reverses this flow, moving from the land towards the sea.

Why the others fail:

• Equatorial climate (A): The winds here are persistently easterly trade winds converging at the ITCZ. The ITCZ shifts north and south with the sun, but the prevailing wind direction does not reverse.
• Mediterranean climate (B): Winters bring westerlies that carry cyclonic rain, while summers are dry under the subtropical high. This is a shift of pressure belts and rainfall, not a reversal of the wind system that defines a monsoon.
• Option D: Since A and B are wrong, D cannot be correct.

Core concept: the monsoon as a thermal and pressure-belt phenomenon. Mains link: GS-I geography on the Indian monsoon, its onset over Kerala, the role of the Tibetan plateau and the jet streams, and GS-III on agriculture's dependence on monsoon rainfall.

Trap: Seeing seasonal change in the Mediterranean and equatorial descriptions and marking D. Ask whether the wind direction itself reverses, not just whether rainfall or pressure changes with the season.