Research Projects

The study aims to understand the moisture source for precipitation in the Indian subcontinent, which is crucial for agricultural, domestic, and industrial production. The summer rainfall is influenced by atmospheric moisture transport and regional land-surface feedback, with the land surface altering the biophysical characteristics of the land surface. The Principal Investigator has shown that atmospheric transport of water vapor from different terrestrial and oceanic sources strongly governs rainfall variability. However, it is unclear how anthropogenic global warming in the 21st century affects regional circulation by modulating moisture transport from different evaporative sources. The climate change impacts on India from 1990-2014 will be projected using the coupled-Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, version 4.0, driven by the Global 6-Hourly Bias-corrected Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, Phase-6 (CMIP6), Community Earth System Model dataset under three Shared Socioeconomic Pathways. The contribution of terrestrial feedback will be analyzed using altered land-use scenarios, answering key questions about the regional effects of land-use landcover change on climate through terrestrial feedback. The contribution of terrestrial moisture sources to future rainfall variability will also be assessed using the recycling model. The study will also utilize statistical downscaled CMIP6 projections for developing diagnostic products for water resources applications. The statistically downscaled product will be used to assess droughts and extremes under different climate scenarios for future time windows 2020-2050, 2051-2080, and 2081-2100.