Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Rainfall and Temperature Trends in Maharashtra State, India (Asia)
Prakash Goraksha Athare *
Division of Agricultural Economics, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi-110012, India.
Dharam Raj Singh
Division of Agricultural Economics, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi-110012, India.
Nalini Ranjan Kumar
ICAR-National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research, New Delhi -110012, India.
Girish Kumar Jha
Division of Agricultural Economics, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi-110012, India.
P. Venkatesh
Division of Agricultural Economics, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi-110012, India.
Bidisha Chakrabarti
Division of Environment Science, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi-110012, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Examining the manifestations and effects of climate change is critically dependent on the spatiotemporal analysis of meteorological variables, particularly in areas where agriculture depends on rainfall. The present study analyses the change in temperature and rainfall using Mann-Kendall and Sen's slope estimator and also identifies the variations in rainfall by using Rainfall Anomaly Index (RAI). The main purpose of this study is to assess the variation in climatic variable (temperature and rainfall) across the regions of Maharashtra over 50 years (1968-2017) which might be helpful to identify strategies that can aid in addressing the consequences of extreme climate events in the future and in formulating appropriate region-specific strategies. The trend of rainfall and temperature series for the kharif and rabi season revealed a significant increasing trend for maximum and minimum temperature, however nonsignificant decreasing trend for kharif and rabi rainfall. The RAI value indicates a relatively a greater number of dry periods in Marathwada and Vidarbha region in comparison to the Konkan, Western Maharashtra and Khandesh. The findings of the study can be useful in developing plans to manage water resources effectively and reduce the adverse impacts of droughts basically in the Marathwada and Vidarbha regions.
Keywords: Agriculture, drought, trend, temperature, rainfall, rainfall anomaly index, Mann-Kendall test, Sen’s slope