Open AccessSpatio-temporal variability of climatic parameters across different altitudes of North- Western Himalaya
Author(s) -
Pankaj Panwar,
Sharmistha Pal,
Nancy Loria,
Med Ram Verma,
N. M. Alam,
V. K. Bhatt,
N. K. Sharma
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of agrometeorology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.295
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 2583-2980
pISSN - 0972-1665
DOI - 10.54386/jam.v21i3.252
Subject(s) - altitude (triangle) , monsoon , effects of high altitude on humans , environmental science , climate change , climatology , atmospheric sciences , seasonality , precipitation , physical geography , geography , meteorology , biology , ecology , geology , mathematics , geometry
Climate change impact varies across different altitudinal ranges and demands local specific management strategies for water resource and farming system management. The present study analyses spacio-temporal climate parameters across different altitudes of Himachal Pradesh a hilly state of India. Analysis shows that annually, minimum temperature has significantly decreased by -0.09°C at altitude I (350 - 400 m) while maximum temperature has significantly increased by 0.05°C at altitudes I and II (1400-1500 m) and decreased significantly by -0.08°C at altitude III (2000- 2100 m). Higher regions Altitude – IV (2900-3000 m) received lowest rainfall (746.1 mm) with 30.2 % variation. Seasonal rainfall variability was higher in post monsoon (102 - 174%) and least in monsoon (21 - 57%). Annual rainfall at altitude I is strongly irregular (PCI 20.1 to 22.3), followed by altitude – IV (PCI 15-25); altitude – II irregular (PCI 15-20) and altitude – III moderate to irregular (PCI 12 -19) rainfall. Seasonal Index values for four altitudes fall between 0.91-0.96 revealed that rainfall is irregular and markedly seasonal with longer drier season. Higher wavelet powers in altitude - I and II after 2005 suggests frequency of extreme rainfall occurrence had increased.