EFFECT OF CHANGING VEGETATION COVERAGE AND TEMPERATURE ON THE MONSOON PATTERN OF INDIAN SUNDARBAN REGION

Abstract: Sundarban, the grand symphony of nature at the confluence of Bay of Bengal covers an area of about 25,500 sq. km. The Present study is over Indian Sundarban Delta (ISD) covering an area of about 9,630 sq. km. ISD is known for its immense biological diversity and its importance for protecting West Bengal from natural hazards and changing climatic conditions. But the constant changes in atmospheric and ecological structure have disrupted the region by changing the pattern of precipitation. Henceforth, the study is made to depict the reason behind such changes. Vegetation cover change is being detected by analyzing images of Landsat USGS using Remote Sensing which was further used to generate a thematic map using GIS. Secondary data on Rainfall and Temperature changes were analyzed using Excel. Analysis depicted that decreasing vegetation coverage and the increasing temperature is having a harming negative impact on the changing monsoon. Such will also help to depict the socio-economic condition of the region.

Keywords: Sundarban Delta, Rainfall Pattern, Temperature Change, Vegetation Coverage.

Introduction
The awe-inspiring adobe of nature “Sundarban” is covering an area of 25,500 sq. km spanning across both India and Bangladesh. 9,630 sq. km out of this is designated as Indian Sundarban Delta (ISD). Situated at the confluence of Bay of Bengal it is a part of the largest Ganga-Brahmaputra Delta. Delineated between 21˚32̍ – 22˚40̍N and 88˚05̍ – 89˚00̍E Indian Sundarban comprises with the most diversified mangrove cover along with the pride “Royal Bengal Tiger”. Sundarban has been designated as “World Heritage Site” by “UNESCO” in the year 1997. This huge intertidal area consists of islands that are about 102 in number with 42 lakh inhabitants (Das 2011). Hence, it maintains harmony between nature and human life to summarize a proper ecological balance. Its mangrove trees to water resources all provide an occupational option for the inhabitants (Guha et al 2017). Apart from all these the region is on the verge of climatic disparity.

The Climate of this region is always dynamic. But with the due course of time as global warming jailed nature, the climate of the region started behaving in a most unhealthy way. Moreover, the mangrove or the Sundari plants, for which the region is named, are also loosing as years are passing. Hence, both these major factors i.e. vegetation coverage and increasing temperature character is impacting the climate of the region. The major impact is on the monsoon pattern as noticed by the present work. Monsoon, as suggested is between June-September (Mondal 2004). It has also been reported that August is the major monsoon rainfall contributing month (Guhathakurata, Rajevvan 2006). Researchers also claimed that 85 percent of monsoon rain occurs during advancing monsoon tenure (Gupta n.d). Changing in monsoon patterns is thus a global concern. Moreover, in ISD its disparity is impacting the ecological to economic balance. To find out the cause – the present work mainly relied on the temperature and vegetation coverage impact on monsoon patterns. Present research work is giving an insight into the blooming threat in terms of changing monsoon patterns.

Methodology
The Present research study is being carried out in the Indian Sundarban Delta (ISD) as shown in Figure 1. Source: A (West Bengal – Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia.), B (West Bengal State. Onefevenine.com), C – Present Research work concluded from Arc GIS Software. The Importance of the study is directly dedicated to the inhabitants of the region and the entire city of Kolkata. Working for the same is being busted under the following phases:

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BY:

Papia Guha1*, Pritam Aitch2 and Gupinath Bhandari3
1Research Scholar, 2,3Associate Professor
Department of Civil Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, West Bengal, India,
Email: guhapapia76@gmail.com, pritamaitch@gmail.com, g.bhandari.ju@gmail.com