Indian summer monsoon rainfall prediction using artificial neural network

Forecasting the monsoon temporally is a major scientific issue in the field of monsoon meteorology. The ensemble of statistics and mathematics has increased the accuracy of forecasting of Indian summer monsoon rainfall (ISMR) up to some extent. But due to the nonlinear nature of ISMR, its forecasting accuracy is still below the satisfactory level. Mathematical and statistical models require complex computing power. Therefore, many researchers have paid attention to apply artificial neural network in ISMR forecasting. In this study, we have used feed-forward back-propagation neural network algorithm for ISMR forecasting. Based on this algorithm, we have proposed the five neural network architectures designated as BP1, BP2, BP5 using three layers of neurons (one input layer, one hidden layer and one output layer). Detail architecture of the neural networks is provided in this article. Time series data set of ISMR is obtained from Pathasarathy et al. (Theor Appl Climatol 49:217-224 1994) (1871-1994) and IITM (http://www.tropmet.res.in/, 2012) (1995-2010) for the period 1871-2010, for the months of June, July, August and September individually, and for the monsoon season (sum of June, July, August and September). The data set is trained and tested separately for each of the neural network architecture, viz., BP1-BP5. The forecasted results obtained for the training and testing data are then compared with existing model. Results clearly exhibit superiority of our model over the considered existing model. The seasonal rainfall values over India for next 5 years have also been predicted.