Rainfall variability in Tamil Nadu, a southeastern state in India, is gaining importance for its associations with ocean-atmosphere coupled phenomena such as the El-Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) mode. A complete documentation of the rainfall pattern in this region is necessary to understand its behavior with respect to other climate factors related to moisture transport. These rainfall patterns are also driven by surface latent heat flux (SLHF) observed over the Indian Ocean, especially coincident with the 2004 earthquake in Indonesia. This study analyzes rainfall characteristics for Tamil Nadu during the north-east monsoon rainfall (NEMR) period starting from October through December over the period of 1982 - 2005. In particular, this study examines a relationship between the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) change in the Nino regions, Saji regions and the 2004 Earthquake epicenter region and rainfall variations in both the quake vicinity and Tamil Nadu. This can improve understanding of global remotely sensed variables (e.g. precipitation, SST) and in applications such as climate modeling.
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