Abstract
The agro-climatic zoning provides valuable information for crop suitability mapping in order to optimize the yield. Despite its huge importance, such studies are extremely lacking in Nepal. This study attempts to classify the agro-climates of Nepal using a climate data of recent 30 years (1986–2015) period from a large number of meteorological stations distributed across the country (75 stations for the first time). Climate data at station location is interpolated in high spatial resolution considering elevation as one of the dominant factors controlling the spatial variability of climate fields in mountains. The agro-climatic classification includes modified Thornthwaite’s approach based on soil moisture index (SMI). The negative SMI values represent dry and arid whereas positive values represent the wet and humid environment. SMI > 100% represents perhumid agro-climate. Our results show the largely similar distribution of annual and monsoonal SMI, suggesting the dominance of monsoon SMI on annual. Based on the annual SMI indices, around 60% of areal coverage of the country falls under humid environment. The presented seasonal and spatial distribution maps of SMI can be helpful to assess the needs of the irrigational facility, choice of crops, and their rotations, and finally to design cropping calendar. The practitioners, researchers, and decision/policymakers can benefit from these tools.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aalto J, Pirinen P, Heikkinen J, Venäläinen A (2013) Spatial interpolation of monthly climate data for Finland: comparing the performance of kriging and generalized additive models. Theor Appl Climatol 112(1):99–111. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-012-0716-9
Aparecido LE d O, Rolim G d S, Richetti J, de Souza PS, Johann JA (2016) Köppen, Thornthwaite and Camargo climate classifications for climatic zoning in the State of Paraná, Brazil. Ciênc Agrotecnol 40(4):405–417. https://doi.org/10.1590/1413-70542016404003916
Basalirwa CPK (1995) Delineation of Uganda into climatological rainfall zones using the method of principal component analysis. Int J Climatol John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 15(10):1161–1177. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.3370151008
Camargo AP (1991) Classificação climática para zoneamento de aptidão agroclimática. Rev Bras Agrometeorol 8:126–131
DHM/GoN (2013) Agro-climatic atlas of Nepal. Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Kathmandu
DHM/GoN (2015) Study of Climate and climatic variation over Nepal. Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Kathmandu
Feddema JJ (1994) Evaluation of terrestrial climate variability using a moisture index. Publications in climatology. Charles Warren Thornthwaite Associates, Laboratory of Climatology XLVII(1)
Feddema JJ (2005) A revised Thornthwaite-type global climate classification. Phys Geogr 26(6):442–466. https://doi.org/10.2747/0272-3646.26.6.442
Flohn H (1950) Neue Anschauungen über die allgemeine zirkulation der atmosphareund ihre klimatische bedeutung. Erdkunde 4(141–162)
Forsythe N, Blenkinsop S, Fowler HJ (2015) Exploring objective climate classification for the Himalayan arc and adjacent regions using gridded data sources. Earth Syst Dyn 6(1):311–326. https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-6-311-2015
Geiger R (1954) Klassifikation der klimate nach W. Köppen. In: Bartels J and Bruggencate P (eds) Landolt- Börnstein – Zahlenwerte und Funktionen aus physik, chemie, astronomie, Geophysik und Technik, Alte Serie 3:603–607
Gnanadesikan A, Stouffer RJ (2006) Diagnosing atmosphere-ocean general circulation model errors relevant to the terrestrial biosphere using the Ko ¨ ppen climate classification. Geophys Res Lett 33:1–5. https://doi.org/10.1029/2006GL028098
Grundstein A (2009) Evaluation of climate change over the continental United States using a moisture index. Climate Change 93:103–115. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-008-9480-3
Gumma MK, Gauchan D, Nelson A, Pandey S, Rala A, Asia S (2011) Agriculture , ecosystems and environment temporal changes in rice-growing area and their impact on livelihood over a decade: a case study of Nepal Far-Western. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment.” Elsevier B.V. 142(3–4):382–392. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2011.06.010
Guofeng ZHU, Dahe QIN, Huali T, Yuanfeng LIU, Jiafang LI, Dongdong C, Kai W (2016) Variation of Thornthwaite moisture index in Hengduan Mountains, China. Chin Geogr Sci 26(5):687–702. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11769-016-0820-3
HMG (1975) Mechidekhi Mahakali (I-IV Volumes). Department of Information, Ministry of Communication
Holdridge LR (1967) Life zone ecology. Tropical Science Center, San Jose
Høst G (1999) Kriging by local polynomials. Comput Stat Data Anal 29(3):295–312
Huke RE (1982) Agroclimatic and dry-season maps of South, Southeast, and East Asia. Manila, Philippines
ICIMOD (1996) Climatic and hydrological atlas of Nepal. Kathmandu, Nepal
Jha S, Karn A (2001) Climatic analogues for the administrative districts of Nepal. Tribhuvan Univ J 55–64
Karki R, Talchabhadel R, Aalto J, Baidya SK (2016) New climatic classification of Nepal. Theor Appl Climatol 125(3–4):799–808. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-015-1549-0
Karki R, Hasson S, Schickhoff U, Scholten T (2017) Rising precipitation extremes across Nepal. Climate 5(4):1–25. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli5010004
Köppen W (1900) Versuch einer Klassifikation der Klimate, Vorzugsweise nach ihren Beziehungen zur Pflanzenwelt [Attempted climate classification in relation to plant distributions]. Geogr Z 6(593–611):657–679
Köppen W (1918) Klassifikation der Klimate nach Temperatur, Niederschlag und Jahresablauf (classification of climates according to temperature, precipitation and seasonal cycle). Petermanns Geogr Mitt 64(193–203):243–248
Köppen W (1936) Das geographische System der Klimate. Handb Klimatol (c):7–30. https://doi.org/10.3354/cr01204
Kottek M, Grieser J, Beck C, Rudolf B, Rubel F (2006) World map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification updated. Meteorol Z 15(3):259–263. https://doi.org/10.1127/0941-2948/2006/0130
Kyuma K (1971) Climate of south and Southeast Asia according to Thornthwaite’s classification scheme. Southeast Asian Stud 9(1):136–158
Li J, Sun X (2015) Valuation of changes of Thornthwaite moisture index in Victoria. Aust Geomech 50(3):39–49
Nayava JL (1975) Climates of Nepal. Himal Rev VII:9–12
Nayava JL (1980) Rainfall in Nepal. The Himalayan Review. Nepal Geological Society 12
Papadakis J (1975) Climates of the world and their agricultural potentialities. Eigenverl. D. Verf
Practical Action Nepal (2009) Temporal and Spatial Variabilty of Climate Change Over Nepal (1976–-2005). Practical Action Nepal, Kathmandu
R Development Core Team (2011) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna
Reddy SJ, Reddy RS (1973) A new method of estimation of water balance. International Symposium On tropical Meteoroligical Meeting. American Meteorological Society, Nairobi, pp 277–280
Roohi R, Ahmad S, Ashraf A (2002) Characterization and classification of agro-climates of Pakistan. Pak J Agric Res 245–254
Shrestha ML (2000) Interannual variation of summer monsoon rainfall over Nepal and its relation to southern oscillation index. Meteorog Atmos Phys 75:21–28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s007030070012
Stern H, DeHoedt G (1999) Objective classification of Australian climates. 8th Conf. on Aviation, Range and Aerospace Meteorology. American Meteological Society, Dallas, pp 87–91
Sun X (2015) The impact of climate as expressed by Thornthwaite moisture index on residential footing design on expansive soil in Australia. RMIT University
Talchabhadel R, Karki R, Parajuli B (2017) Intercomparison of precipitation measured between automatic and manual precipitation gauge in Nepal. Measurement 106:264–273. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.measurement.2016.06.047
Talchabhadel R, Karki R, Thapa BR, Maharjan M, Parajuli B (2018) Spatio-temporal variability of extreme precipitation in Nepal. Int J Climatol 38:4296–4313. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.5669
Thornthwaite CW (1931) The climates of North America according to a new classification. Geogr Rev XXXI:633–655
Thornthwaite CW (1948) An approach toward a rational classification of climate. Geogr Rev 38(1):55–94. https://doi.org/10.2307/210739
Wang X, Feng Y (2010) RHtestsV3 UserManual, Climate Research Division, Atmospheric Science and Technology Directorate Science and Technology Branch. Environment Canada
Zaman QU, Rasul G (2004) Agro-climatic classification of Pakistan. Q Sci Vis 9(1974):59–66
Zhang X, Yang F (2004) RClimDex (1.0) User Manual, Climate Research Branch. Environment Canada
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the DHM, Government of Nepal, for the permission to use meteorological data.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflicts of interests
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Talchabhadel, R., Karki, R., Yadav, M. et al. Spatial distribution of soil moisture index across Nepal: a step towards sharing climatic information for agricultural sector. Theor Appl Climatol 137, 3089–3102 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-019-02801-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-019-02801-3