Rainfall Profile of Cauvery Delta Zone of Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Thanjavur and Nagapattinam districts of Cauvery Delta Zone (CDZ) depend on canal irrigation for agriculture and are subjected to the vagaries of monsoon. This creates water crisis and affects agriculture of the region considered as rice bowl of Tamil Nadu. This necessitated the study of rainfall to plan and mitigate water scarcity. Rainfall data from Adhirampattinam, Aduthurai stations of Thanjavur district (Inland) and Nagapattinam station (Coastal area of Nagapattinam district) were utilized for the study. Normal rainfall of CDZ is 956 mm; Nagapattinam receives highest (1350 mm) and aduthurai (994 mm) recorded lowest. November is the wettest month for all locations while driest month differs among locations. Northeast monsoon (NEM) was considered as stable monsoon for CDZ as could be seen from the seasonal mean of 641 mm, 620 mm and 919 mm recorded by Adhirampattinam, Aduthurai and Nagapattinam, respectively. Trend analysis of seasons revealed that Adhirampattinam and Nagapattinam follow a decreasing trend for rainfall and rainydays during NEM and Southwest monsoon (SWM), with an increasing trend for Hot weather period (HWP) and Cold weather period (CWP). An interesting deviation is that Aduthurai recording an increasing trend for NEM while it followed same trend for HWP and SWM.