Using gridded and station-wise daily precipitation data obtained from
collaborators at the Center, and some obtained from the Indian Meteorological Department we are exploring dry and wet rainfall spells
over India. Specifically, we are looking at high rainfall events (defined
as daily rainfall in excess of 5 cm), and low rainfall events (defined as
daily rainfall below a threshold of 1mm) during the monsoon season (120
days from June 1 to September 30). While there have been a number of
analyses of extreme rainfall events at individual stations, we are interested in the larger-scale (national) patterns of such events, obtained by aggregating over individual station data. Preliminary analysis suggests some interesting and consistent periodicity's in the annual counts of heavy rainfall events. We will subsequently tie these events to specific impacts processes - for example, for a particular crop, dry spell in excess of a certain number of days at a particular point in the cropping season may lead to failure.

The baseline characterization of the historical variability in extreme weather events (cyclones, dry and wet spells), when subsequently coupled with the associated impacts, will be critical for developing an understanding of the climate - economy / society linkages, and be essential input to vulnerability and adaptation studies.