Spatio-Temporal Distribution of Extreme Weather Events in India

Alteration in characteristics of extreme weather events is projected in most part of the world, in changing climate due to increase in greenhouse gases and aerosols in the atmosphere. The changes in patterns in extreme weather events would lead to issues including energy, water and food securities. Therefore, it is important to study pattern in the events. In the study, we have selected ten key climate extreme events namely, flood, tropical cyclone, heat wave, cold wave also gale, squall, lightning, dust-storm, hailstorm and thunderstorm to study their recent past spatio-temporal pattern over India. Data on the occurrence have been acquired from India Meteorological Department and other relevant government agencies. Flood constitutes major share of the events. Cyclonic events with negligible share in occurrence have sizeable impact on socio-economic system. Regression analysis on the annual total number of occurrences of the combined events reveals a significant increasing trend. Except cyclone, all the events show increasing trend. Leading states by event category has also been computed and found that few states are relatively more prone to the repeated occurrence of particular events. Finally, we have concluded with the suggestions for the improvement in data collection and key recommendations for further study. (C) 2012 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B. V. Selection and/or peer review under responsibility of Asia-Pacific Chemical, Biological & Environmental Engineering Society