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Climatology, Variability, and Trend of the Winter Precipitation over Nepal

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Abstract

Winter precipitation accounts for ~ 5% of interannual spatial variability during the last five decades (1960–2015), with the largest variability in the western and central regions of Nepal. The temporal variability shows a relatively higher degree of variability after the 1990s. In this study, the dominant modes of winter precipitation pattern, trend and their association with oceanic and atmospheric patterns were investigated over the southern slope of the central Himalaya, Nepal. The increasing trend (< 1 mm/year) of winter precipitation is found only over the highlands of the western and central regions, whereas decreasing trend or no trend in most of the areas over the country. Further, two dominant modes of winter precipitation were observed through Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis. The first leading mode (EOF1) shows a monopole pattern with 42.9% variability with strong loading over the western and central regions, whereas the second mode (EOF2) shows a heterogeneous pattern, accounting for 18.9% of the total variance. Further, the EOF1 pattern is remotely influenced by El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and locally through Indian Ocean Basin Mode (IOBM) patterns. It is also observed that the EOF2 mode has a close relationship with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), modulating the wave train and propagating eastward to the western Himalayas.

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Data Availability

Gridded Asian Precipitation—Highly-Resolved Observational Data Integration Towards Evaluation Version 1 and 2 (APHRODITE-v01 and v02) datasets used in this study can be freely accessed from http://www.aphrodite.st.hirosaki-u.ac.jp/. ERA5 reanalysis data can be freely accessed from https://www.cds.climate.copernicus.eu/.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the gridded data availability from APHRODITE, and ECMFW. The first author BD, invited visiting professor at Interdisciplinary Centre for Mountain Research (CIRM), University of Lausanne, Switzerland, is thankful to University of Lausanne for invitation and Herbette Foundation for the support of this visit.

Funding

This research did not receive any internal and external funding. This research is conducted independently from the authors as a part of their research and study. The organization and institution mentioned in the study have no role in the design and funding of the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Central Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, 44613, Nepal

    Binod Dawadi & Shankar Sharma

  2. Kathmandu Center for Research and Education, Chinese Academy of Sciences-Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, 44613, Nepal

    Binod Dawadi

  3. Interdisciplinary Center for Mountain Research, University of Lausanne Switzerland, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Binod Dawadi & Emmanuel Reynard

  4. Institute of Geography and Sustainability, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Emmanuel Reynard

  5. Sri Dev Suman Uttarakhand University Badshahlthaul Tehri Garhwal (SDSU), Chamba, Uttarakhand, India

    Kabindra Shahi

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  1. Binod Dawadi
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  2. Shankar Sharma
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  3. Emmanuel Reynard
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  4. Kabindra Shahi
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Correspondence to Binod Dawadi.

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Dawadi, B., Sharma, S., Reynard, E. et al. Climatology, Variability, and Trend of the Winter Precipitation over Nepal. Earth Syst Environ 7, 381–391 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41748-023-00338-0

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