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Measuring the degree of rainfall alteration and eco-deficit/eco-surplus of rainfall using indicators of rainfall alteration approach

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Abstract

The present study explored district-wise monthly rainfall of two climatic regimes (1960–1990 and 1991–2020) of the West Bengal state of India, which receives an annual rainfall of about 1500 mm with huge seasonal rainfall variability. A simple time series analysis does not show any noticeable trend. However, decomposing rainfall parameters into several indicators may explore the change. From this perspective, the present paper intends to explore the nature, degree, and direction of rainfall alteration. The range of variability approach (RVA) considered 29 indicators was adopted for unveiling it. RVA explored that in the 1991–2017 phase, the rainfall failure rate above the upper threshold (75th percentile) is 33% which is 10% greater than in 1961–1990. Seasonal variation in failure rate was detected, but overall larger area of the state recorded failure rate (FR) above the threshold. This result leads to increasing wetness conditions. Very low to moderate (< 0.4) degree of impact of rainfall alteration (DIRA) was found in the recent period. The areal occupation of moderate DIRA was considerable in pre-monsoon, post-monsoon, and winter seasons. Time series rainfall data-based flow duration curves (FDCs) indicated the dominance of the eco-surplus rainfall state over greater parts of the state (72–84%) in all the seasons except winter (49%). Such surplus rainfall may be beneficial to the ecological and agricultural perspective of the state.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to convey their gratitude to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) for delivering rainfall data. This study received no funding.

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No funding was received for the study to be conducted.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University of Gour Banga, Malda, India

    Swades Pal & Sandipta Debanshi

  2. Department of Geography, Kazi Nazrul University, Asansol, India

    Rumki Khatun

  3. Department of Geography, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, Delhi, 110007, India

    Rajesh Sarda

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  1. Swades Pal
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  2. Rumki Khatun
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RK was involved in methodology, software, formal analysis, visualization, data curation, writing—original draft preparation, and writing—reviewing and editing. SD was responsible for conceptualization, methodology, software, formal analysis, visualization, data curation, writing—original draft preparation, and writing—reviewing and editing. SP contributed to conceptualization, methodology, writing—original draft, investigation, writing—reviewing and editing, and supervision. RS assisted with software, and reviewing and editing. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Rajesh Sarda.

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Edited by Prof. Ewa Bednorz (ASSOCIATE EDITOR) / Prof. Theodore Karacostas (CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF).

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Pal, S., Khatun, R., Debanshi, S. et al. Measuring the degree of rainfall alteration and eco-deficit/eco-surplus of rainfall using indicators of rainfall alteration approach. Acta Geophys. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11600-024-01288-5

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