Determination of Spatio-Temporal changes in Rainfall and its relationship with Vegetation cover, Land Surface Temperature over Cuddalore

district of Tamilnadu.
J.Janiel*, Mrs.S.S.Revathy**, S.Suresh Babu*** *Student, M.Tech Remote Sensing, **Lecturer, ***Professor and Head of the Department Department of Civil Engineering Adhiyamaan college of Engineering, Hosur-635109, Tamilnadu, India. Email:*jani.engine2@gmail.com,**revathy_er@yahoo.co.in, ***sunisurp@gmail.com

Abstract: Climate change refers to the relatively abrupt shift in the weather patterns over
an area or the whole earth. In other words it is the statistical aggregate of weather conditions over a period of Time, Precipitation, Temperature, Wind, Cloudiness, Storms, etc. Among these climatic events Rainfall is the primary index ever thought by farmers and climatic analyzers as it determines the cropping pattern of an area. Rainfall is greatly influenced by Vegetation cover and Land surface temperature. In this study an attempt has been made to understand rainfall variation and its relationship with vegetation cover, Land surface temperature over Cuddalore district of Tamilnadu. The study is based on twelve years 2000-2011 of monthly rainfall data for 18 rain gauge stations. NDVI technique has been used for observing vegetation cover. Thermal bands of LANDSAT TM, ETM+ have been used for retrieving surface temperature values.

Keywords:
ERDAS 9.1

Remote Sensing, GIS, Climate change, Rainfall variability, Arc GIS 10,

Introduction:
Rainfall variation analysis helps in identifying the spatial and temporal distribution of rainfall over the study area. In this study an attempt has been made to analyze relationship between vegetation cover and land surface temperature. Rainfall is a crucial agroclimatological factor in the seasonally arid parts of the world and its analysis is an important perquisite for agricultural planning in India, Alak Gadgil (1986).The study of rainfall pattern is very important for the agricultural planning of any region. Monsoon depressions and cyclonic storms are the most important synoptic scale disturbances which play a vital role in the Space- time distribution of rainfall over India (Sikka, 1977). Normalized Difference Vegetation index (NDVI) is found to be well correlated with physical climate variables including rainfall, temperature and evapotranspiration in a wide range of environmental conditions (Cihlar et al.,) 1992. Climate, Soil, Topography are the factors that control the growth and vigor of vegetation cover.

In general climatic factors are the most influential among the above factors. Climatic factors such as rainfall and Surface temperature determine the availability of moisture for physical, biological and chemical activities occur in plants that ultimately lead to a healthy plant (Houghton et al ., 2001). Ishappa Munniyappa Rathod et al., have done a study on the spatial analysis of rainfall variation in Coimbatore district of Tamilnadu using GIS. They have analyzed long time average of monthly and annual rainfall for 33 rain gauge stations for a period of 49 years. Similarly High/low rainfall domain mapping using GIS at Salem district, Tamilnadu, India have been made by B.Gurugnanam et al .,.In this study GIS is effectively used to interpolate rainfall for various analyses and prepare thematic maps.

district during North East monsoon (OctDec), South West monsoon (July-Sep), Winter and Summer are 651, 410, 3.4 and 160.8. Cuddalore district falls under Zone II East coast plains and hills is the AgroClimatic region & zone.

Study area:
The area under study is Cuddalore district of Tamilnadu, India. Cuddalore district is bounded on the north by Villupuram district, on the east by Bay of Bengal, on the south by Nagapattinam district and Perambalur district on the west. The geographical extent of the district is between 1111 and 1235 Northern latitudes and 7838 and 8000 Eastern longitudes. Cuddalore is predominantly an agricultural district with the coastline stretching from Pondicherry Union territory in the North to the mouth of river Coleroon in the south. Economy of Cuddalore district is dependent on agriculture whose total cultivable area is around 2,72,159 hectares. The total geographical area of the district is 4283 sq.km with a coastline of 68 kms. The average summer and winter temperatures of Cuddalore is 41C, 20C.The annual normal rainfall (in mm) for Cuddalore

Figure 1: Study area with Rain gauge stations.

Data used:
1. Rainfall data of 18 rain gauge stations for a period of 12 years were obtained from District Statistical office, Cuddalore. 2. LANDSAT TM, ETM+ images for the study area during 2001 April, 2010 March. 3. Toposheet of Tamilnadu from SOI, for extracting boundary of Cuddalore.

Software used:
1. Arc GIS 10 2. ERDAS 9.1 3. Microsoft Excel.

Methodology:

Figure 3: Mean annual Standard deviation.

rainfall

and

Figure 2: Methodology Tamilnadu toposheet was collected from the Survey of India and was geo referenced in order to extract the boundary. Monthly Rainfall data for a period of 12 years (2000-2011) were obtained from District Statistical office, Cuddalore. The trend of Rainfall was calculated and was represented by Mean, Standard deviation, Coefficient of variability. The rainfall variability thematic map was done using Kriging interpolation technique.

Table 1: C.V and Annual mean data. Interpolation technique known as Kriging was employed for analyzing the long term mean annual rainfall of Cuddalore district. Result showed that Lalpet has received the highest amount of rainfall of about 1651 mm and Kattumylore has received the lowest amount of rainfall of about 874.69 mm. Chidambaram, Annamalai nagar, Bhuvanagiri, Kattumanarkoil, Cuddalore, Pantruti, Keelacheruvai, Toluthur, Sethiathope have received mean annual rainfall of more than 1400 mm.

Vanamadevi anaicut, Veppur, Lakkur have received rainfall less than 1200 mm.

Fig 5: Coefficient of variation in rainfall over Cuddalore district (2000-2011).

Figure 4: Spatial distribution of mean annual rainfall over Cuddalore district (2000-2011). The coefficient of variation in Rainfall over Cuddalore district was interpolated as thematic map using Kriging technique from the spatial analysis tool module of Arc GIS software. The thematic map obtained clearly showed that Pantruti, Toluthur, Sethiathope, Srimushnam, Cuddalore, Vanamadevi anaicut are highly subjected to rainfall fluctuation. Areas such as Chidambaram, Bhvanagiri, Lalpet, Kattumylore, Veppur, Pelandurai experience less rainfall fluctuation.

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI):

The study is based on determining the relationship between Rainfall, Vegetation cover and Land surface temperature. In this paper the Normalized Difference Vegetative Index (NDVI) which is a simple numerical indicator is used. It helps to analyze remote sensing measurements, and access whether the target being observed contains live green vegetation. NDVI analyses for 2001 and 2010 were done. The change in vegetation cover was limited only at some areas and that too was very low. Analysing the NDVI of 2001 and 2010, the results clearly showed that areas such as Pantruti, Srimushnam, Vanamadevi anaicut, Cuddalore have high vegetation cover. Lalpet, Kattumanarkoil, Bhuvanagiri, Chidambaram, Annamalai

nagar, Sethiathope are the areas that are under less vegetation cover.

Land Surface Temperature (LST):

Temperature is an important climatological factor which influences both rainfall and Vegetation cover of an area. LANDSAT TM, ETM+ images are provided with thermal bands. Temperature is stored as DN values in this band. Converting DN values to degree Celsius has been achieved by using a Model developed in ERDAS 9.1.

Conversion of Digital number to Temperature:

L = LMIN + (LMAX - LMIN) * DN / 255 Where L = Spectral radiance LMIN =3.200 (Spectral radiance of DN value 1) LMAX =12.650 (Spectral radiance of DN value 255) DN = Digital Number Figure 6: NDVI district,May 2001 image of Cuddalore

Conversion of Spectral radiance to Temperature in Kelvin:

TB=K2/ln[(K1/L)+1] Where, K1= Calibration Constant 1 K2= Calibration Constant TB = Surface Temperature

Conversion of Kelvin to Celsius:

TB = TB -273 Temperature in Celsius was extracted for the year 2001 and 2010.The results obtained from the thermal bands of LANDSAT images showed that areas such as Lalpet, Kattumanarkoil, Chidambaram, Annamalai nagar, Tholuthur experience high Land Surface Temperature and areas such as Cuddalore, Pantruti and

Figure7: NDVI image of Cuddalore district, March 2010.

Vanamadevi anaicut experience surface temperature.

low land

The thematic map obtained through Kriging analysis clearly showed that Pantruti, Toluthur, Sethiathope, Srimushnam are highly subjected to rainfall fluctuation. Analyzing the long term mean average rainfall of Cuddalore district, Lalpet has received the highest amount of rainfall of about 1651 mm and Kattumylore has received the lowest amount of rainfall of about 874.69 mm. Chidambaram, Annamalai nagar, Bhuvanagiri, kattumanarkoil, Cuddalore, Pantruti, Keelacheruvai, Toluthur, Sethiathope have received mean annual rainfall more than 1400 mm. Vanamadevi anaicut, Veppur, Lakkur have received rainfall less than 1200 mm.

Conclusion:
Figure 8: LST of Cuddalore district during May 2001 Results obtained from Rainfall, NDVI, Land Surface Temperature were visually interpreted. The NDVI results obtained showed that areas under high vegetation cover such as Pantruti, Vanamadevi anicut, Cuddalore were most prone to rainfall fluctuation and experienced low Land surface temperature. Areas under less vegetation cover such as Sethiathope, Bhuvanagiri, Ananmalai nagar and Chidambaram receive high mean annual precipitation and experienced high Land surface temperature. This may be due to convective precipitation. Convective rainfall showers when the area is heated more than its surroundings. They are highly intense and shower for a relatively short period of time. Using correlation techniques such as Geographic Weightage regression can give more accurate results in case of the studying relationship between these three climatic factors.

Figure 9: LST of Cuddalore district during March 2010

Results:

References:
1] Alaka Gadagil, weekly analysis 1986. Annual of rainfall and and

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