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Trends in major and minor meteorological variables and their influence on reference evapotranspiration for mid Himalayan region at east Sikkim, India

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Abstract

Estimation of evapotranspiration (ET) for mountain ecosystem is of absolute importance since it serves as an important component in balancing the hydrologic cycle. The present study evaluates the performance of original and location specific calibrated Hargreaves equation (HARG) with the estimates of Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Penman Monteith (PM) method for higher altitudes in East Sikkim, India. The results show that the uncalibrated HARG model underestimates ET o by 0.35 mm day−1 whereas the results are significantly improved by regional calibration of the model. In addition, this paper also presents the variability in the trajectory associated with the climatic variables with the changing climate in the study site. Nonparametric Mann-Kendall (MK) test was used to investigate and understand the mean monthly trend of eight climatic parameters including reference evapotranspiration (ET o) for the period of 1985 – 2009. Trend of ET o was estimated for the calculations done by FAO PM equation. The outcomes of the trend analysis show significant increasing (p ≤ 0.05) trend represented by higher Z-values, through MK test, for net radiation (Rn), maximum temperature (T max) and minimum temperature (T min), especially in the first months of the year. Whereas, significant (0.01 ≥ p ≤ 0.05) decreasing trend in vapor pressure deficit (VPD) and precipitation (P) is observed throughout the year. Declining trend in sunshine duration, VPD and ET o is found in spring (March – May) and monsoon (June – November) season. The result displays significant (0.01≤ p ≤ 0.05) decreasing ET o trend between (June – December) except in July, exhibiting the positive relation with VPD followed by sunshine duration at the station. Overall, the study emphasizes the importance of trend analysis of ET o and other climatic variables for efficient planning and managing the agricultural practices, in identifying the changes in the meteorological parameters and to accurately assess the hydrologic water balance of the hilly regions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Water Engineering and Management, Asian Institute of Technology, Pathumthani, 12120, Thailand

    Shweta Yadav

  2. Centre for Water, Climate and Land-Use (CWCL), Faculty of Science and Information Technology, School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, Newcastle, 2308, Australia

    Proloy Deb

  3. Department of Agricultural Engineering, Northeastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology, Nirjuli, Arunachal Pradesh, 791109, India

    Sonn Kumar & Pankaj Kumar Pandey

  4. Department of Soil and Water Engineering, College of Agricultural Engineering and Post Harvest Technology, Ranipool, Sikkim, 737135, India

    Vanita Pandey

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  1. Shweta Yadav
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Correspondence to Proloy Deb.

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Yadav, S., Deb, P., Kumar, S. et al. Trends in major and minor meteorological variables and their influence on reference evapotranspiration for mid Himalayan region at east Sikkim, India. J. Mt. Sci. 13, 302–315 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-014-3238-3

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