Summer Monsoon Rainfall Variability Over Maharashtra, India

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an analysis of the daily rainfall of 329 rain gauge stations data over Maharashtra, a state in India, during the summer monsoon season, June to September, for the 11 year period from 1998 to 2008. Mesoscale analysis of the daily rainfall data is performed by converting the station rainfall data into gridded format with 15 km resolution. Various statistics have been carried out over 35 districts of four meteorological subdivisions of the Maharashtra state to understand the spatio-temporal variability of rainfall. Variation of monthly mean rainfall for the four monsoon months and a season as whole is analyzed for different rainfall statistics such as mean rainfall, rainfall variability, rainy days, maximum daily rainfall and classification of rainy days. Seasonal rainfall is maximum over the Konkan region followed by the eastern Vidharbha region whereas Madhya Maharashtra as a rain shadow region receives less rainfall. The rainfall is highly variable over all of Maharashtra with the coefficient of variability of the daily rainfall varying between 100 and 300%. Seasonal distribution of the number of rainy days shows 90–100 over southern Konkan, 80–90 over northern Konkan, 50–60 over eastern Vidharbha, and the southeast Madhya Maharashtra has the lowest number of about 15–20 rainy days. The highest values of maximum daily rainfall are located over the Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Raigadh, Mumbai and Thane districts of the Konkan region followed by that over eastern Vidharbha. The rainfall data have been divided into three categories (moderate rainfall, heavy rainfall and extreme heavy rainfall) based upon seven categories used by the India Meteorological Department. Heavy rainfall zones lie over the southern Konkan region, whereas extreme heavy rainfalls occur over northern latitudes. The data used in this study is having high resolution and district wise analysis over Maharashtra state is extremely beneficial

Agricultural Drought Modeling Using Remote Sensing

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“…The fluctuation in the above graph also indicates the health of the crops during the period. As the rainfall strengthens in the months of July and August [19], the NDVI value of the adjacent fortnights is also having the peak at those periods. The high sensitivity of NDVI to rainfall is reflected, as the NDVI value is less compared to non-drought years in both assured rainfall zone and in the scarcity zone.…”

Multi-temporal Land Use Land Cover (LULC) change analysis of a dry semi-arid river basin in western India following a robust multi-sensor satellite image calibration strategy

“…The basin is under Sub-tropical Deccan Plateau Hot Semi-Arid Eco-Region 6.2 of Agro Ecological Sub Region (Indian Council of Agricultural Research) and Western Plateau and Hills Region (IX) and Western Maharashtra Scarcity Zone (MH-6) of Agro Climatic Region (by National Agricultural Research Project) receiving reasonable to low rainfall. The rainy season begins from June and lasts until the end of September (Ratna, 2012). Most of the area i.e.…”

“…The field area chosen for this study is one of the critical climate vulnerable hot semi-arid zones of India (approximately 1/4 th of the Aurangabad district, which is part of the Maharashtra State in western India). The study area is semi-arid in nature and is marked by very low summer monsoon rainfall (2012–2015), with low ground water table and water-stressed agricultural activity (Ratna, 2012). Studies have indicated that semi-arid regions are particularly stressed due to the combined effects of a burgeoning population and climate change (Mukherjee et al., 2009).…”

Constraints in the Adoption of Farm Pond in Drought Regions of Maharashtra

“…Maharashtra is classified as having medium to moderate water stress in the country with regard to water supply. The southwest monsoon rain shadow area, which receives less rainfall than the western half, includes the Marathwada and Vidarbha regions of Maharashtra (Ratna, 2012). They frequently experience water scarcity, thus effective rainwater gathering and management are required to raise water production and safeguard the region's natural resource base (Deshmukh, 2016).…”