Trends of moisture regime and intensity of droughts in three agro climatic zone of Chattisgarh state

Abstract

Three set of data collected from representative three agro climatic zone of Chhattisgarh state viz., Chhattisgarh Plain (Raipur), Northern hills (Ambikapur) and Bastar plateau (Jagdalpur) were analyzed to obtained trend of moisture regime and intensity of drought in the respective zone. Results of present investigation revealed that significant increasing trend has been observed in aridity index especially since 1981 onwards. In case of moisture index, negative trend was observed in all the three stations, during the three periods (1951-80, 1981-2010 and 1951-2010) except at Jagdalpur station where slight rising trend is observed during 1981-2010 period which indicates that the climate of these stations are slowly moving towards drier climate. Chhattisgarh State experienced water deficiency during November-May of normal years and surplus water condition was observed during June to September months of wet year at Raipur and Ambikapur and up to October month at Jagdalpur station. Occurrence of disastrous drought was not experienced in all three stations during the past five decades (1951 – 2000) but in the most recent decade (2001 – 2010) disastrous drought is being observed.