Climatic Variability and its Impact on Seasonal Water Body Dynamics in Bihar, India: Insights from Remote Sensing and Machine Learning

Climate change has now become a serious global concern, with its increasing effects on our everyday life. This study analyses the impacts of global warming and altered precipitation patterns on seasonal surface waterbodies variability in Bihar, India. The study utilized the long-term Landsat satellite images, CHIRPS rainfall and ERA-5 temperature datasets to investigate the average air temperature and precipitation patterns coupled with water bodies of the study area. The analysis encompasses annual average temperature and precipitation data from 1989-2023, integrating average water surface areas for both the premonsoon and post-monsoon seasons as derived from MNDWI calculations. The findings reveal a notable increase in average temperature and precipitation over the studied period, alongside a worrying decline in surface water bodies. This degradation critically impacts the agricultural sector, which serves as the primary livelihood for the majority of the population in the study area, leading to significant socioeconomic challenges.