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Temperature over the Himalayan foothill state of Uttarakhand: Present and future

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Abstract

Uttarakhand, a hill state of India, covers an area of 51,125 km2. The geographic position is highly crucial with in the Central Himalayas (CH), for agro-climate, water resource management, food-processing, tourism, etc., having enriched bio-diversity and forest. Present study investigates the spatio-temporal characteristics and distribution of temperature of Uttarakhand state. Observation and model (under different Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) at radiative forcing 2.6, 4.5 and 8.5 W/m2) temperature fields are studied to assess the present and future trends. Standard temperature fields from AphroTemp, Climate Research Unit (CRU) and ECMWF Reanalysis-Interim (ERA-Interim) are used. Attempt is to find orographic responses on the surface temperature at seasonal scale. Elevation dependent warming (EDW) is higher at higher elevations as compared to lower elevations. In particular, it reaches to maximum during Indian summer monsoon months (JJAS) as estimated from AphroTemp during 1970–2007. Munsiyari region experiences highest warming rate by 0.038°C/decade. Elevational temperature trends show higher increase with statistical significance at 99% confidence level from <500 to 3000 m elevation belt during JJAS. For elevation >3000 m, highest warming trend is observed during MAM. Further, temperature trends analysed using one of the regional climate models REMO of the CORDEX-SA suite, depict an increase by 0.019°C/yr. Future temperature trends under RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 show warming trends by 0.008°, 0.022°, and 0.064°C/yr, respectively.

Research Highlights

  • Provide process information on temperature across and along the foothills of Himalayas during climate change

  • Elevation dependent changes in the temperature

  • Orographic interactions.

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Acknowledgements

The present study is a part of National Mission on Himalayan Studies (NMHS) project work and the authors convey thanks to the MoEF&CC for their support and encouragement. We are thankful to India Meteorological Department for providing high resolution gridded rainfall data for research purpose and COREDEX-SA for REMO data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India

    Arkadeb Banerjee & A P Dimri

  2. G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment & Sustainable Development, Kosi-Katarmal, Almora, Uttarakhand, India

    K Kumar

Authors
  1. Arkadeb Banerjee
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  2. A P Dimri
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  3. K Kumar
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Contributions

AKB and APD conceived this study; AKB did computation and prepared first draft of the manuscript; AKB, APD and KK discussed and finalized manuscript for submission.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A P Dimri.

Additional information

Communicated by Kavirajan Rajendran

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Banerjee, A., Dimri, A.P. & Kumar, K. Temperature over the Himalayan foothill state of Uttarakhand: Present and future. J Earth Syst Sci 130, 33 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-020-01527-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-020-01527-5

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