On the Variability and Increasing Trends of Heat Waves over India

Over India, heat waves occur during the summer months of April to June. A gridded daily temperature data set for the period, 1961–2013 has been analyzed to examine the variability and trends in heat waves over India. For identifying heat waves, the Excess Heat Factor (EHF) and 90 th percentile of ma...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2016-05, Vol.6 (1), p.26153-26153, Article 26153
Main Authors: Rohini, P., Rajeevan, M., Srivastava, A. K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
704/106
704/106/35
El Nino
Heat
Heat waves
Humanities and Social Sciences
multidisciplinary
Science
Soil moisture
Temperature
Temperature effects
Trends
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Summary:Over India, heat waves occur during the summer months of April to June. A gridded daily temperature data set for the period, 1961–2013 has been analyzed to examine the variability and trends in heat waves over India. For identifying heat waves, the Excess Heat Factor (EHF) and 90 th percentile of maximum temperatures were used. Over central and northwestern parts of the country, frequency, total duration and maximum duration of heat waves are increasing. Anomalous persistent high with anti-cyclonic flow, supplemented with clear skies and depleted soil moisture are primarily responsible for the occurrence of heat waves over India. Variability of heat waves over India is influenced by both the tropical Indian Ocean and central Pacific SST anomalies. The warming of the tropical Indian Ocean and more frequent El Nino events in future may further lead to more frequent and longer lasting heat waves over India.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/srep26153