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Uttarakhand; rainfall; topography; trends

Uttarakhand, one of the Himalayan foot-hill states of India, covers an area of $51,125 \rm{km}^{2}$. This region is enriched with bio-diversity and is one of the highly potential regions in the Central Himalayas for agroclimate, hydro power generation, food-processing, tourism, etc. Present study investigates the spatio-temporal rainfall distribution over the state during Indian summer monsoon period. Observational and modelled (under different Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) at radiative forcing 2.6, 4.5 and $8.5 \rm{W/m}^{2}$) rainfall distribution is studied to assess the present and future trends. Study uses standard observational rainfall estimates from APHRODITE, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM 3B42) and India Meteorological Department (IMD) gridded rainfall datasets and inter-compare these products in order to Bnd out orographic responses during the monsoon months and elevation dependent mean rainfall pattern changes. It is found that rainfall pattern breaks near 3100 m elevation. Comparative analysis reflects that with respect to IMD, TRMM 3B42 rainfall underestimates more than 3 mm/day rainfall whereas, APHRODITE overestimates rainfall below 4.5 mm/day. Future trends in modelled monsoon rainfall are examined and mixed results are found and discussed with possible explanation.

ARKADEB BANERJEE¹ A P DIMRI¹ KIREET KUMAR²

1. School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
2. G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable Development, Kosi-Katarmal, Almora, Uttarakhand, India.

Published

1 January 2020

Manuscript received

1 March 2019

Manuscript revised

7 August 2019

Accepted

7 September 2019

Early published

Unedited version published online

Final version published online

20 December 2019