Drought Characterization Over Periyar Vaigai Command Area in Tamil Nadu

Abstract

India encountered numerous drought years in the decades. It is a matter of concern with increased frequency as well as intensity, mainly due to factors related to changing climate in recent years. In India livelihoods of more than 75% of the population are directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture sectors. The strong and recurrent link between drought and farmer's livelihoods has highlighted the importance to understand the drought scenario of a place for designing coping strategies. To address the issue, this paper was formulated to characterize the drought scenario over Periyar Vaigai Command (PVC) area. To summarize the results, the locations Edayapatti and Periaaruvi had the highest number of annual drought occurrence (8) while the location Madurai airport had the lowest (2) based on the analysis of 30 years. On comparing the monsoons, there are no wide variations in drought characteristics between Southwest monsoon (SWM) and Northeast monsoon (NEM). Anomalies in rainfall during the monsoon seasons were studied through SPI, consecutive drought years were well presented through SPI, which gives relevant information for crop planning. In both the monsoons, the locations Viraganur, Pulipatti and Usilampatti witness consecutive droughts. The highest of three consecutive years (1999, 2000 and 2001) were witnessed in Usilampatti during the major NEM season.