Climatic Changes and Variability in Punjab State, North-West, India Sukhdev Singh Hundal, Prabhjyot-Kaur, Nozar Ghahreman

Historical weather data for the past 30 years were analyzed from different locations (Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala and Bathinda) in Punjab (India) for changes and variability in temperatures and rainfall. Besides annual trends, two distinct crop growth seasons namely kharfseason (May to October) and rabi season (November to April) were also characterized for seasonal trends. Analysis of data on a nnual as well as seasonal basis revealed changes in temperature and rainfall in this northwest part of India. The rainfall exhibited high standard deviation and coefficient of variation indicating large variations at all the stations. However, the rainfall has invariably shown an increasing trend at all the locations (Ludhiana: 10.5 inmlyear; Patiala: 12.3 mm/year; Jalandhar: 11.3 mdyear and Bathinda: 16.8 midyear). The maximum and minimum temperatures exhibited small standard deviation and coefficient of variation at all stations indicating minor variations in temperatures. The maximum temperatures have generally decreased and the magnitude of decrease also varied with the location (Amritsar: 0.03 OC/year; Ludhiana: 0.02 'Clyear; Bathinda: 0.06 'Clyear). On the contrary, the minimum temperatures have generally increased, and the magnitude of increase varied with the location (Ludhiana: 0.07 'Clyear; Patiala: 0.02 OC/year; Bathinda: 0.02 "Clyear).

Keywords:

Climate change , Temperature , Rainfall , Variability