Vol. 12, Issue 6 (2023)

Author(s):
Almaszabeen Badekhan and Mahantesh R Nayak

Abstract:
Climate change has been the biggest global threat of the 21^st century. As Earth’s climate continues to warm, extreme temperatures, floods, droughts, and heat waves are expected to become more intense. The Northern Dry Zone (NDZ) of Karnataka was purposively selected for the study because of its largest area (i.e., 4.81 m.ha.) and was found affected by changing climate, especially droughts. Data on climatic parameters like Precipitation (PCPN), Maximum Temperature (TMAX), Minimum Temperature (TMIN) and Relative Humidity (RH), were collected from NASA power from the year 1981-2021 for 35 NDZ taluks. Belagavi Dry Zone taluks received the highest PCPN (i.e., 676.96 mm) whereas Koppal Dry Zone taluks received the lowest (521.26 °C) and highest (35.80 °C) PCPN and annual mean TMAX respectively. Harappanahalli taluk received the lowest annual mean (34.65 °C) and highest RH (62.05%). Dharwad and Raichur Dry Zone taluks had the lowest 16.99 °C and highest 17.80 °C annual mean TMIN Vijayapura Dry Zone taluks had lowest annual mean RH. The highest variability was observed in PCPN (29.64%) compared to other climatic parameters. The TMIN parameter’s CAGR value was found to be significant.