Assessment of Long Term Spatio-temporal Climatic Changes Over the Central India: A GIS Approach

The climatic data of 107 meteorological stations of Central India were collected and maps of various climatic parameters were generated by using ArcGIS 10.5 software. Potential evapotranspiration (PET), rainfall, water deficit and moisture index trends were analyzed for 30 years (1988-2018). PET was computed by using Modified Penman-Monteith method as recommended by FAO. It concludes that though the amount of mean annual rainfall is moreover same but the variation in duration and distribution exists. The analysis shows that number of rainy days has decreased in this long period, which led to increase the PET. High water deficit resulted in shifting of bio-climate towards arid condition. The results indicates that Maximum mean annual rainfall was observed in Mahabaleswar station of Maharashtra (6098 mm) and minimum mean annual rainfall also reported in Malegaon (545 mm) of Maharashtra, in Central India. It was observed that western districts of Madhya Pradesh (Barwani, Alirajpur) are shifting significantly towards drier side during the period of 30 years. Thus, information of long term spatial climatic changes can be effectively used for contingent crop planning, irrigation scheduling and diversification of crops.