Spatiotemporal Rainfall Dynamics in Kosi Basin Using Wavelet Analysis

Abstract

Spatial and temporal analysis of rainfall data were carried out along with wavelet analysis for seven rain gauge sites of Kosi basin, India during the time period from 1985 to 2017. Wavelet spectrum analysis and wavelet coherence analysis were performed to fully characterize the time-frequency rainfall variability of the rain gauge data in these areas. For all the selected gauge stations during the study period, the peak value of the wavelet power spectrum was identified for the 8-16 month band. The results of wavelet spectrum analysis reveal a good correlation of rainfall data in the rain gauge sites lying in the southwest of the Kosi basin. The spectrum analysis also differentiates the wet and dry periods and it was observed that in the majority of the selected sites, a dry period occurred from the year 2005 onwards. This was again confirmed with breakpoint analysis. The wavelet coherence analysis explicit is a good correlation between the rain gauges in the study area. Overall, the variability of the rainfall parameters was more vivid with the wavelet analysis and this can be extended to other climatological parameters.