Spatiotemporal variability in shifting wetness pattern in Mizoram

Abstract

The spatiotemporal variability in rainfall pattern unveiled the crucial juncture for understanding the wetness variability under hilly topography of North East Indian state of Mizoram. Unlike rainfall, the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) may be used as the effective and most widely adapted indicator for regional wetness variability studies that follows normal distribution. We observed significant spatial variability in periodicity (8-64 months) and abrupt shift in wetness pattern (late 1990s) across the North East Indian state of Mizoram. Finally, we classified the raingauge stations based on hierarchical clustering and principal component analysis (PCA) technique for their effective use in missing data interpolation studies and effective policy planning through rational wetness zoning across the Lusei hill region of Mizoram in near future.