CONSTRUCTION OF ALL-INDIA SUMMER MONSOON RAINFALL SERIES FOR THE PERIOD 1844-1991

An all-India summer monsoon rainfall series for the instrumental perio d of 1844-1991 has been constructed using a progressively increasing s tation density to 1870, and one that is fixed thereafter at a uniforml y distributed 36 stations. The statistical scheme accounts for the inc reasing variance contributed to the all-India series by the increasing number of stations during the period 1844-1870. An interesting outcom e of this study is that a reliable estimate of summer monsoon rainfall over India can be obtained using only 36 observations.