STUDY ON WEATHER PARAMETERS AND PEOPLE’S PERCEPTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE IN KULLU DISTRICT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH
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Date
2014
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
UHF,NAUNI
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The present investigation entitled “Study on weather parameters and people’s perception on climate change in Kullu
District of Himachal Pradesh” was conducted during 2013-2014 in the Department of Environmental Science, Dr. Y. S. Parmar
University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan. Weather data for three stations (Bhunter, Katrain, Seobag) over the period
(1991-2005, 1972-2008, 1999-2013) respectively and data related to people’s perception about climate change of Banjar block of
Kullu district were analyzed. To know the trend of weather parameters on annually, seasonally, monthly, and weekly basis
various measures of central tendency and variation (mean, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis) were computed. To know
variability amongst three sites the Bartlett’s χ2 test was employed. Karl Person’s coefficient of correlation between all possible
pairs of weather parameters viz., maximum temperature (X
1), minimum temperature (X
2), relative humidity (X
3
), and rainfall
(X
4
) were worked out for three stations under study. Regression coefficient whereby different functions including quadratic,
cubic, compound, growth, exponential and logistic functions were fitted and the best fit equations wasselected on the basis of r
2
value. The results of variability analysis revealedno significant trends for selected weather parameters. The variability amongst
three sites revealed that there was significant variation in case of minimum temperature (X
2), relative humidity (X
3
) and rainfall
(X
4). However, no significant variation was found in case of maximum temperature (X
1
) among the selected sites. There is a
significant positive correlation between maximum temperature and minimum temperature (r = 0.66); relative humidity and
minimum temperature (r = 0.79); rainfall and minimum temperature (r = 0.73) and rainfall and relative humidity (r = 0.90) for
station Bhunter. The correlation studies for Katrain station revealed that there is significant positive correlation between relative
humidity and minimum temperature (r = 0.62). Similarly for Seobag correlation matrix revealed that there is a significant positive
correlation between maximum temperature and minimumtemperature (r = 0.73); relative humidity and rainfall (r = 0.43). In case
of regression analysis cubic function was found to be best fit for selected weather parameters. This indicated the non linear trend
between time and selected weather parameters over the study period. In regression analysis on annual basis the highest r
2
values
for maximum temperature amongst three stations was 0.57 for Seobag, whereas for minimum temperature the highest r
2
value
was 0.65 for Katrain, for relative humidity the highest r
2
value was 0.63 for Katrain and for rainfall the highest r
2
value was 0.44
for Bhunter. General perception of the people aboutthe climate change in the study area showed that climate change is affecting
significantly the area of production, soil, natural resources and vegetations etc. They perceived variations in temperature,
snowfall and rainfall, similarly the variation has been observed in actual weather data of three stations. The results from people’s
perception and actual data are hinting toward the change in weather parameters.
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