Interannual Variability and Seasonality of Precipitation in the Indus River Basin

Abstract

Abstract The Indus River basin is highly vulnerable to water scarcity due to increasing population, unsustainable management practices, and climate change. Yet the regional hydroclimate and precipitation dynamics remain poorly understood. Using running trend and spectral analysis with multiple gauge-based, remote sensing, and reanalysis precipitation datasets, this study analyzes precipitation temporal variability, its subregional variations, and the main seasonal drivers, particularly the South Asian monsoon. The results uncover remarkable alternation of long-term positive and negative interdecadal precipitation trends in the basin over the past half century. These trends have led to substantial changes in water input over the region at the time scales comparable to climate assessment periods (30 years), and therefore this high intrinsic variability must be accounted for in climate change adaptation studies. This study also reconstructs onset and withdrawal dates of the South Asian monsoon that exhibit interdecadal variability, but their dominant modes differ from that of annual precipitation. The findings hypothesize that higher-frequency variability in El Niño–Southern Oscillation is likely to have a pronounced impact on monsoon onset and duration in the studied region.