Spatial analysis of temperature trends during Rabi and Kharif seasons in India

Abstract

The current manuscript presents the spatial analysis of the temperature trends during India’s Rabi and Kharif cropping seasons. We investigated the district-level temperature trends from 1966 to 2015 using Climate Research Unit data. All the 666 Indian districts showed significant upward temperature trends for the Rabi season. This upward trend was contributed by a significant rise in monthly temperatures during November (645 districts), December (664 districts), February (659 districts), and March (626 districts). January had the minimum number of Indian districts with a significant upward temperature trend during the Rabi season (322 districts). For the Kharif season, 640 Indian districts showed significant upward temperature trends. Significant rise in monthly temperatures during August (622 districts), September (595 districts), and October (627 districts) contributed to this upward trend. June (296 districts) and July (411 districts) had fewer districts with significant upward temperature trends. The results reflect a severe challenge of rising temperatures during India’s cropping seasons.