Context:
- Researchers from Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have found that frequency of heatwaves accompanied by drought has increased in magnitude and in area over past three decades in India.
- The increases in cocktail of drought and heatwaves were seen particularly in Maharashtra and Southern Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Central India.
Findings:
- Heatwaves (a prolonged period when temperatures approach record extremes) and droughts are destructive even when occurring in separate events, but their concurrence is far more serious.
- Both phenomena have a serious bearing on water resources, affecting agriculture and human settlements.
- The conclusion was based on analysis of rainfall and temperature data of 50 years.
- The increase may be due to intricate relationship of land surface processes, soil moisture, evapo-transpiration and local climate.
- The area affected by extreme of extreme incident has gone from almost nothing in 1951, to nearly 4% by 2010.
- Nearly 18% of country’s area on average has been facing at least three days of temperatures above 85th percentile.