Most parts of the world are witnessing climatic warming and the trend is expected to increase in the future. It is important to assess the response of watershed hydrology to this warming. Moreover, human interactions and climatic variability influence the water balance of a catchment. We perform contribution analysis along with resilience study using Budyko framework and two parameters (dynamic deviation and modified elasticity), in-order to comprehend the involvement of anthropogenic stress and climatic variance on partitioning of precipitation and their relation with hydrologic resilience to warming shifts across 55 catchments in peninsular India. Here, 23 catchments have displayed hydrologic resilience (low departure and high elasticity) to climatic warming shifts. Only 37.14% of anthropogenic dominated catchments (higher contribution from human activities in runoff changes) were found to be resilient whereas 58.82% of climate dominated catchments had resilience attributes. Most of the catchments on western and extreme southern part of India were not hydrologic resilient. Extensive human interactions tend to depart the catchment from expected hydrological functioning under critical climatic conditions (Warming in our study) that lead to declining of hydrological resilience.

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Groundwater in India plays an important role to support livelihoods and maintain ecosystems and the present rate of depletion of groundwater resources poses a serious threat to water security. Yet, the sensitivity of the hydrological processes governing groundwater recharge to climate variability remains unclear in the region. Here we assess the groundwater sensitivity (precipitation-recharge relationship) and its potential resilience towards climatic variability over peninsular India using a conceptual water balance model and a convex model, respectively in 54 catchments over peninsular India. Based on the model performance using a comprehensive approach (Nash Sutcliffe Efficiency [NSE], bias and variability), 24 out of 54 catchments are selected for assessment of groundwater sensitivity and its resilience. Further, a systematic approach is used to understand the changes in resilience on a temporal scale based upon the convex model and principle of critical slowing down theory. The results of the study indicate that the catchments with higher mean groundwater sensitivity (GWS) encompass high variability in GWS over the period (1988-2011), thus indicating the associated vulnerability towards hydroclimatic disturbances. Moreover, it was found that the catchments pertaining to a lower magnitude of mean resilience index incorporates a high variability in resilience index over the period (1993-2007), clearly illustrating the inherent vulnerability of these catchments. The resilience of groundwater towards climatic variability and hydroclimatic disturbances that is revealed by groundwater sensitivity is essential to understand the future impacts of changing climate on groundwater and can further facilitate effective adaptation strategies.