Linkage between global sea surface temperature and hydroclimatology of a major river basin of India before and after 1980

Pattanayak, Sonali and Nanjundiah, Ravi S and Kumar, D Nagesh (2017) Linkage between global sea surface temperature and hydroclimatology of a major river basin of India before and after 1980. In: ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS, 12 (12).

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Abstract

The frequent occurrence of flood and drought worldwide has drawn attention to assessing whether the hydroclimatology of major river basins has changed. The Mahanadi river basin (MRB) is the major source of fresh water for both Chattisgarh and Odisha states (71 million people approximately) in India. The MRB (141 600 km(2) area) is one of the most vulnerable to climate change and variations in temperature and precipitation. In recent years, it has repeatedly faced adverse hydrometeorological conditions. Large-scale ocean-atmospheric phenomena have a substantial influence on river hydroclimatology. Hence global sea surface temperature (SST) linkage with the precipitation and surface temperature of the MRB was analyzed over the period 1950-2012. Significant changes in seasonal correlation patterns were witnessed from 1950-1980 (PR-80) to 1981-2012 (PO-80). The correlation was higher during PR-80 compared to PO-80 between the El Nino region SST versus the maximum temperature (T-max) in all seasons except the pre-monsoon season and the minimum temperature (T-min) in all seasons except the monsoon season. However, precipitation correlation changes are not prominent. Like the SST, the correlation patterns of sea level pressure with precipitation, T-max and T-min shifted conspicuously from PR-80 to PO-80. These shifts could be related to change in Pacific decadal SST patterns and anthropogenic effects. Fingerprint-based detection and attribution analysis revealed that the observed changes in T-min (pre-monsoon and monsoon season) during the second half of the 20th century cannot be explained solely by natural variability and can be attributed to an anthropogenic effect.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
Additional Information:	Copy right for this article belongs to the IOP PUBLISHING LTD, TEMPLE CIRCUS, TEMPLE WAY, BRISTOL BS1 6BE, ENGLAND
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Divecha Centre for Climate Change Division of Mechanical Sciences > Civil Engineering
Date Deposited:	26 Dec 2017 06:04
Last Modified:	26 Dec 2017 06:04
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/58416

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