Agro-Climatical Zoning Using Temporal Satellite Data and GIS

An Agro-climatic zone is a region with a characteristic inter-relationship between agronomy/farming systems and climate. In this study a modest attempt has been made to divide the study area into homogenous climatic zones.The study was conducted in Pathanamthitta district which is a part Western Ghat ecosystem and is situated between 76° 29’ to 77° 01’ E longitude and 90 06’ N to 90 30’ N latitude. Terra MODIS data products i.e., Terra/MODIS Surface Reflectance and Terra/MODIS Land Surface Temperature were used for the study other than ancillary data.Agro-climatic zones were based on criteria of agro-climatic parameters viz. Temperature, Rainfall, Potential Evapotranspiration, Thermal index and Moisture index. Regression analysis to assess the relationship between elevation and temperature indicates strong negative trend and the coefficients were found significant. The data clearly reveals that with increase in elevation there is corresponding decrease in temperature.