Investigation of Climate Variability Over High Rainfall Zone of Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

Rainfall is one of the most important climatic variables that determine the spatial and temporal patterns of climate variability of a region, which also provides useful information for the planning of water resources, agricultural production, and others. Climate change is one of the most significant worldwide issues talked among scientists and researchers, and one of the consequences of climate change is the alteration of rainfall patterns. 'India's population and the economy is linked to climate-sensitive activities, including rainfed agriculture and excess climate anomalies, deficient and flooded rainfall years have a dramatic impact on the economy as well as on the living conditions of the inhabitants of the affected region. An understanding of current and historical trends and variation is inevitable to her future development, especially in agricultural and hydrological sectors. In the present study, historical weather data for 33 years (1981-2013) was analyzed for rainfed cropping season (September - December) to understand the climatic variability in the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. The maximum daily air temperature increased on average by 0.02°C per year, whereas minimum daily air temperature remained constant during the rainfed cropping season. The high rainfall zone receives an annual and rainfed cropping average rainfall of 1307and 672 mm, respectively. Analysis of rainfall during rainfed cropping period over 33 years showed ten years had standard RF, nine years had deficit rainfall, six years had below standard RF, one year had above standard RF and seven years had excess RF. Analysis indicates that the deficit condition prevailed in every alternate year in recent decades. The onset of rainfed cropping season varied over the years (1981-2013), 13 years had onset in the slot from 1st to 5th September, and in others, years onset occurred between 6 and 30th September. Cessation also had a variation over 33 years and 16 years had cessation from 26 to 31st December while remaining years had cessation in the period of 1-25th December. LGP ranged from 57 to 143 days, with an average LGP of 106 days. Dry spell varied from 3 to 12 days with the mean of 6 days, and wet spell varied from 2 to 8 days with an average of 5 days.