Rainfall and other forms of Precipitation

Featured Articles
September 13, 2022
Chaos in a concrete jungle
Heavy rains and floods have battered Bengaluru yet again. Uncontrolled and unregulated development and concretisation of the city that pays no heed to the ecology and hydrology of the region needs to stop!
Urban flooding in Bangalore (Image Source: Thejas via Wikimedia Commons)
March 29, 2022
India, in the hot seat!
The intensity and duration of heat waves is predicted to increase in India and human induced anthropogenic changes are to blame.
A man sits under the scorching heat of the sun in front of Amer fort in Jaipur (Picture courtesy: Prabhu B Doss, Flickr Commons: CC-By-NC-ND-2.0)
February 10, 2022
87% of India's districts vulnerable to droughts: IMD
47% of India’s population is vulnerable to floods, says IMD's Climate Hazards Atlas
(Image: J Surya, CC-SA-4.0 International)
July 4, 2021
Did the moody monsoon shrink forests in peninsular India?
A study finds that while forests existed in peninsular India, they were replaced by savanna grasslands over time. And the weakening monsoon was the culprit!
Savanna grasslands at Nannaj Bustard Sanctuary, Solapur, Maharashtra (Image Source: Raju Kasambe via Wikimedia Commons)
June 30, 2021
Climate change likely to affect agricultural productivity in Maharashtra
Climate analysis predicts mismatch in rainfall and temperature patterns with crop phenology: Soybean, Cotton, Wheat and Gram crops at risk, finds Institute for Sustainable Communities study across three major regions of Maharashtra.
Maharashtra faces an increasing risk from climate change which is likely to impact the production of four major crops - Soybean, Cotton, Wheat and Gram. (Image: BAIF Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
December 13, 2019
Trading in virtual water
A study highlights the need to scale down the export of rice, maize, buffalo meat and other items to conserve groundwater in India.
A farmer uses a hosepipe to irrigate crops at her farm in Nilgiris mountains, Tamil Nadu (Image: Hamish John Appleby for IWMI, Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
A critical assessment of climate change impacts, vulnerability and policy in India - Paper published in Present Environment and Sustainable Development
This paper published in the Present Environment and Sustainable Development critically analyses the impacts and vulnerability of Indian economy to climate change and analyses India’s efforts in addressing and reducing the vulnerability of its natural and socioeconomic systems to climate change and enhancing the adaptive capacity of the same under uncertainty.
Vijaya Gupta
Posted on 09 Mar, 2012 05:40 PM

There is considerable disagreement on the extent of the changes in the variables of climate.
Does it ever rain at this time? Poignant, short film capturing the story of the after-effects of unexpected heavy rain in Akola
This film by Voice WOTR captures the story of the after-effects of unexpected heavy rain in Akola
Voice WOTR
Posted on 06 Mar, 2012 06:17 PM

Video Courtesy: Voice WOTR
GIS mapping of wetlands: Strengthening indigenous peoples response to multiple-use water services (MUS)
The project 'Strengthening indigenous people’s response to multiple-use water services', supported by ARGHYAM takes people’s multiple water needs as the starting point in identifying opportunities within the water limitations & changing environment, in planning and design of existing cropping and water resource systems for up-gradation.
Resources Centre for Sustainable Development
Posted on 05 Mar, 2012 11:04 AM

Article Courtesy : Resources Centre for Sustainable Development

The interactive GIS mapping of wetlands and MUS intervention sites is one of the outputs of the project. 

Interactive layers are present on the left panel of the pdf file.
Climate variability and change in the Himalayas: Community perceptions and responses - An ICIMOD study
This document by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) presents the findings of a study that was designed to investigate the impact of climate and socioeconomic change on the vulnerability and livelihoods of mountain people and their coping and adaptation strategies. ICIMOD conducted a community-based vulnerability and adaptive capacity assessment in four different areas that included Uttarakhand in northwestern India (two districts), Nepal (two districts), Eastern Bhutan (two districts), and North East India (one district in Assam and one in Meghalaya). The overall aim was to contribute to enhancing the resilience of vulnerable mountain communities in the Hindu-Kush Himalayan (HKH) region to change.
Amanda Manandhar Gurung
Brigitte Hoermann
Dhrupad Choudhury
Mirjam Macchi
Posted on 22 Feb, 2012 05:30 PM

The general objectives of the assessments were:
The status of glaciers in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region - A report by the ICIMOD
This study by ICIMOD provides a comprehensive account of the number and status of glaciers across the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region.
Basanta Shrestha
Samjwal Ratna Bajracharya
Posted on 17 Feb, 2012 03:00 PM

The HKH region is one of the most dynamic, fragile, and complex mountain systems in the world as a result of tectonic activity and the rich diversity of climates, hydrology, and ecology. The high Himalayan region is the freshwater tower of South Asia and has the highest concentration of snow and glaciers outside the polar regions giving it the name Third Pole.

Balati glacier at sunset

Balati glacier, Pithoragarh district, Uttarakhand (Source: Uttarakhand and I)

Climate change in the Hindu Kush-Himalayas -The state of current knowledge - A book by ICIMOD
This book by ICIMOD presents an analyses of the available data on climate change in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region, and identifies persisting insufficiencies in the data.
Bhaskar Singh Karky
Eklabya Sharma
Isabella Bassignana Khadka
Surender P Singh
Posted on 16 Feb, 2012 01:10 PM

The Hindu Kush-Himalayan region has had very few resources to develop a detail scientific understanding needed to assess climatological, environmental, and other data in the past and there is very little information upon which a baseline for comparison with the present can be formed and future impacts can be anticipated.
Climate: Observations, projections and impacts - India - A report by the Met Office (UK)
This report by the Met Office, UK describes the findings of a study that aimed at compiling observations, projections and impacts of climate change in the context of India
Met Office (UK)
Posted on 15 Feb, 2012 03:25 PM

This was done as a part of a project that aimed at compiling scientifically robust and impartial information on the physical impacts of climate change for more than 20 countries.
Adaptation to climate change with a focus on rural areas and India - A document by GTZ (India)
This document is an outcome of ongoing project by GTZ and MoEF to devise ways of dealing with the inevitable impacts of climate change.
GTZ (India)
Posted on 15 Feb, 2012 01:59 PM

It aims to strengthen the capacities of rural communities in India to live with climate variability and change. The work includes supporting governments of four partner states of Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, local communities and other relevant stakeholders in identifying, developing and carrying out adaptation measures in pilot regions.
Cold wave in North India claims several lives, disrupting normal conditions, heavy snowfall in Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir
Chicu presents an update on floods, disasters, extreme weather events (1 to 15 January 2012).
chicu
Posted on 17 Jan, 2012 09:12 AM

A western disturbance caused a cold wave to sweep across the northern part of the country, claiming several lives and disrupting normal conditions. Reports of water pipes freezing, roads becoming unmotorable have come in from several parts of the country. This might affect crops this winter. 

satellite map of India showing the western disturbance

Examining the storm protection services of mangroves of Orissa during the 1999 cyclone – A special article in EPW
Mangroves are tropical and subtropical coastal forests that grow in inter-tidal saline areas and estuary mouths between the land and the sea.
Saudamini Das
Posted on 06 Jan, 2012 11:03 PM

These ecosystems provide a bunch of direct and indirect services to humankind. This special article in Economic and Political Weekly (EPW) by Saudamini Das examines whether the mangrove forests in Kendrapada district of Orissa played any protective role during the severe cyclone that hit the state in October 1999. 

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