scholarly journals Dynamical delimitation of the Central American Dry Corridor (CADC) using drought indices and aridity values

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 627-642 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Eduardo Quesada-Hernández ◽  
Oscar David Calvo-Solano ◽  
Hugo G Hidalgo ◽  
Paula M Pérez-Briceño ◽  
Eric J Alfaro
Keyword(s):  
Drought Index ◽  
Pacific Coast ◽  
Potential Evapotranspiration ◽  
Standardized Precipitation Index ◽  
Severity Index ◽  
Rainfall Anomaly ◽  
Central American ◽  
Drought Indices ◽  
Drought Severity ◽  
Southern Mexico

The Central American Dry Corridor (CADC) is a sub-region in the isthmus that is relatively drier than the rest of the territory. Traditional delineations of the CADC’s boundaries start at the Pacific coast of southern Mexico, stretching south through Central America’s Pacific coast down to northwestern Costa Rica (Guanacaste province). Using drought indices (Standardized Precipitation Index, Modified Rainfall Anomaly Index, Palmer Drought Severity Index, Palmer Hydrological Drought Index, Palmer Drought Z-Index and the Reconnaissance Drought Index) along with a definition of aridity as the ratio of potential evapotranspiration (representing demand of water from the atmosphere) over precipitation (representing the supply of water), we proposed a CADC delineation that changes for normal, dry and wet years. The identification of areas that change their classification during extremely dry conditions is important because these areas may indicate the location of future expansion of aridity associated with climate change. In the same way, the delineation of the CADC during wet extremes allows the identification of locations that remain part of the CADC even during the wettest years and that may require special attention from the authorities.

scholarly journals Performance of Drought Indices in Trichy Region, Tamil Nadu

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
L. Sathya ◽  
R. Lalitha
Keyword(s):  
Tamil Nadu ◽  
Standardized Precipitation Index ◽  
Synthetic Data ◽  
Meteorological Drought ◽  
Severity Index ◽  
Rainfall Anomaly ◽  
Drought Indices ◽  
Drought Severity ◽  
Data Series

Droughts are regional phenomena, which are considered as one of the major natural environmental hazards and severely affect the water resources. Climate variability may result in harmful drought periods in semiarid regions. Meteorological drought indices are considered as important tools for drought monitoring, they are embedded with different theoretical and experimental structures. This study compares the performance of three indices of Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Rainfall Anomaly Index (RAI) End Palmer Drought Severity Index (PNPI) to predict long-term drought events using the Thomas-Feiring Model and historical data. For studies of areal drought extent, the 61 years (1951-2011) historical rainfall data of Trichy District were utilized to generate 58 years (2012-2070) synthetic data series so that the characteristics of long-term drought might be determined and the performance of those three indices might be analyzed and compared. The results show that SPI and PNPI perform similarly with regard to drought identification and detailed analysis to determine the characteristics of long-term drought. Finally, the RAI indicated significant deviations from normalized natural processes.

scholarly journals Tracking Interannual Streamflow Variability with Drought Indices in the U.S. Pacific Northwest

2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 1900-1912 ◽  
Author(s):  
John T. Abatzoglou ◽  
Renaud Barbero ◽  
Jacob W. Wolf ◽  
Zachary A. Holden
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Potential Evapotranspiration ◽  
Standardized Precipitation Index ◽  
Severity Index ◽  
The United States ◽  
Drought Indices ◽  
Drought Severity ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Mountain Watersheds ◽  
Streamflow Variability

Abstract Drought indices are often used for monitoring interannual variability in macroscale hydrology. However, the diversity of drought indices raises several issues: 1) which indices perform best and where; 2) does the incorporation of potential evapotranspiration (PET) in indices strengthen relationships, and how sensitive is the choice of PET methods to such results; 3) what additional value is added by using higher-spatial-resolution gridded climate layers; and 4) how have observed relationships changed through time. Standardized precipitation index, standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI), Palmer drought severity index, and water balance runoff (WBR) model output were correlated to water-year runoff for 21 unregulated drainage basins in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. SPEI and WBR with time scales encompassing the primary precipitation season maximized the explained variance in water-year runoff in most basins. Slightly stronger correlations were found using PET estimates from the Penman–Monteith method over the Thornthwaite method, particularly for time periods that incorporated the spring and summer months in basins that receive appreciable precipitation during the growing season. Indices computed using high-resolution climate surfaces explained over 10% more variability than metrics derived from coarser-resolution datasets. Increased correlation in the latter half of the study period was partially attributable to increased streamflow variability in recent decades as well as to improved climate data quality across the interior mountain watersheds.

scholarly journals Comparative evaluation of precipitation-temperature based drought indices (DIs): A case study of Moroccan Lower Sebou basin

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oualid HAKAM ◽  
◽  
Abdennasser BAALI ◽  
Touria EL KAMEL ◽  
Ahouach Youssra ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drought Index ◽  
River Flow ◽  
Potential Evapotranspiration ◽  
Standardized Precipitation Index ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Drought Indices ◽  
Drought Severity ◽  
Drought Event ◽  
Precipitation Temperature ◽  
Drought Conditions

Due to the lack of studies on drought in the Lower Sebou basin (LSB), the complexity of drought event and the difference in climate conditions. The identification of the most appropriate drought indices (DIs) to assess drought conditions has become a priority. Therefore, assessing the performance of different drought indices was considered in order to identify the universal drought indices that are well adapted to the LSB. Based on data availability, five DIs were used: Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Standardized Precipitation and Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), Reconnaissance Drought Index (RDI), self-calibrated Palmer Drought Severity Index (sc-PDSI) and Streamflow Drought Index (SDI). The DIs were calculated on an annual scale using monthly time series of precipitation, temperature and river flow from 1984-2016. Thornthwaite's method was used to calculate potential evapotranspiration (PET). Pearson's correlation (r) were analyzed. Furthermore, five decision criteria namely robustness, traceability, transparency, sophistication and scalability were used to evaluate the performance of these indices. The results proved the fact that SPI is suitable to detect the drought duration and intensity compared to other indices with high correlation coefficients especially in sub humid regions, knowing that it tends to give more results that are humid in stations with semi-arid climates. SPI, SPEI and RDI follow the same trend during the period studied. However, sc-PDSI appears to be the most sensitive to temperature and precipitation by overestimating the drought conditions. Eventually, the results of the performance evaluation criteria revealed that SPEI classified first (total score = 137) among other meteorological drought indices, followed by SPI, RDI and sc-PDSI.

Drought monitoring incorporating precipitation and climate variables and its application for future drought projection

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeongeun Won ◽  
Sangdan Kim
Keyword(s):  
Drought Index ◽  
Potential Evapotranspiration ◽  
Standardized Precipitation Index ◽  
Management Program ◽  
Drought Monitoring ◽  
Drought Indices ◽  
Drought Severity ◽  
Climate Variables ◽  
Evaporative Demand ◽  
Monitoring Method

<p>In drought monitoring, it is very important to select climate variables to interpret drought. Most drought monitoring interprets drought as deficit in precipitation, so drought indices focused on the moisture supply side of the atmosphere have been mainly used. However, droughts can be caused not only by lack of rainfall, but also by various climate variables such as increase in temperature. In this regard, interest in potential evapotranspiration(PET), which is an moisture demand side of the atmosphere, is increasing and a PET-based drought index has been developed. However, complex droughts caused by various climate variables cannot be interpreted as a drought index that only considers precipitation or PET. In this study, we suggest a drought monitoring method that can reflect various future climate variables, including precipitation. In other words, copula-based joint drought index(CJDI), which incorporate standardized precipitation index(SPI) based on precipitation and evaporative demand drought index(EDDI) based on PET, is developed. CJDI, which considers both precipitation and PET, which are key variables related to drought, is able to properly monitor the drought events in Korea. In addition, future Drought severity – duration - frequency curves are derived to project future droughts compared to various drought indices. It is shown that CJDI can be used as a more reasonable drought index to establish the adaptation policy for future droughts by presenting the pattern of future droughts more realistically.</p><p><strong>Acknowledgment: </strong>This study was funded by the Korea Ministry of Environment (MOE) as Smart Urban Water Resources Management Program. (2019002950004)</p><p><strong>Keywords</strong>: Climate change; Copula; Drought; CJDI; Drought severity-duration-frequency curve</p>

Revisiting drought trend over China during 1948-2016: a multivariate perspective

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liliang Ren
Keyword(s):  
Drought Index ◽  
Potential Evapotranspiration ◽  
Severity Index ◽  
Northeastern China ◽  
Trend Detection ◽  
Drought Indices ◽  
Drought Severity ◽  
Main Driver ◽  
Land Data Assimilation System ◽  
The Individual

<p><span><span lang="EN-US">How drought changes in the context of global warming </span><span lang="EN-US">is a concerning issue that influences the strategies of drought mitigation and drought management.</span><span lang="EN-US"> Based on the simulations of the </span><span lang="EN-US">version 2 of Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS-2.0) during 1948-2016</span><span lang="EN-US">, we revisited the drought trend over China and analyzed the individual contributions of precipitation and potential evapotranspiration (PET) on varied drought patterns. Four composite drought indices including the </span><span lang="EN-US">Aggregate Drought Index (ADI)</span><span lang="EN-US">, </span><span lang="EN-US">Joint Drought Deficit Index (JDI), self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index (scPDSI) and Standardized Palmer Drought Index (SPDI) were employed for trend detection. Results showed that all four composite drought indices suggested a significant drying belt spreads from northeastern China to southwestern China, and a significant wetting trend in the “Three river sources” areas. Controversial patterns were mainly located in the northwestern China, Xinjiang districts, and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, where the SPDI and JDI respectively, overestimated and underestimated the moisture conditions at varying degrees. According to the change point tests, it is found that the drying pattern in the northeastern China occurred since 1970s, where precipitation deficits and expanded PET jointly aggravated the drying process, while for the “Three river sources” areas, the increased precipitation since 2000s is the main driver for the wetting pattern.</span></span></p>

scholarly journals Changes in drought features at the European level over the last 120 years

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 1685-1701
Author(s):  
Monica Ionita ◽  
Viorica Nagavciuc
Keyword(s):  
Air Temperature ◽  
Potential Evapotranspiration ◽  
Standardized Precipitation Index ◽  
Severity Index ◽  
Drought Indices ◽  
Drought Severity ◽  
European Level ◽  
Essential Components ◽  
Compound Events ◽  
The Standardized Precipitation Index

Abstract. In this study we analyze drought features at the European level over the period 1901–2019 using three drought indices: the standardized precipitation index (SPI), the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI), and the self-calibrated Palmer drought severity index (scPDSI). The results based on the SPEI and scPDSI point to the fact that Central Europe (CEU) and the Mediterranean region (MED) are becoming dryer due to an increase in the potential evapotranspiration and mean air temperature, while North Europe (NEU) is becoming wetter. By contrast, the SPI drought does not reveal these changes in the drought variability, mainly due to the fact that the precipitation does not exhibit a significant change, especially over CEU. The SPEI12 indicates a significant increase both in the drought frequency and area over the last three decades for MED and CEU, while SPI12 does not capture these features. Thus, the performance of the SPI may be insufficient for drought analysis studies over regions where there is a strong warming signal. By analyzing the frequency of compound events (e.g., high temperatures and droughts), we show that the potential evapotranspiration and the mean air temperature are becoming essential components for drought occurrence over CEU and MED. This, together with the projected increase in the potential evapotranspiration under a warming climate, has significant implications concerning the future occurrence of drought events, especially for the MED and CEU regions.

scholarly journals Performance of Drought Indices for Ecological, Agricultural, and Hydrological Applications

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (10) ◽  
pp. 1-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio M. Vicente-Serrano ◽  
Santiago Beguería ◽  
Jorge Lorenzo-Lacruz ◽  
Jesús Julio Camarero ◽  
Juan I. López-Moreno ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drought Index ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Standardized Precipitation Index ◽  
Severity Index ◽  
Forest Growth ◽  
Drought Indices ◽  
Drought Severity ◽  
Comparative Performance ◽  
Drought Impacts ◽  
The Standardized Precipitation Index

Abstract In this study, the authors provide a global assessment of the performance of different drought indices for monitoring drought impacts on several hydrological, agricultural, and ecological response variables. For this purpose, they compare the performance of several drought indices [the standardized precipitation index (SPI); four versions of the Palmer drought severity index (PDSI); and the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI)] to predict changes in streamflow, soil moisture, forest growth, and crop yield. The authors found a superior capability of the SPEI and the SPI drought indices, which are calculated on different time scales than the Palmer indices to capture the drought impacts on the aforementioned hydrological, agricultural, and ecological variables. They detected small differences in the comparative performance of the SPI and the SPEI indices, but the SPEI was the drought index that best captured the responses of the assessed variables to drought in summer, the season in which more drought-related impacts are recorded and in which drought monitoring is critical. Hence, the SPEI shows improved capability to identify drought impacts as compared with the SPI. In conclusion, it seems reasonable to recommend the use of the SPEI if the responses of the variables of interest to drought are not known a priori.

A novel index for ecological drought monitoring based on ecological water deficit: a case study of Northwestern China

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianliang Jiang ◽  
Xiaoling Su
Keyword(s):  
Water Deficit ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Drought Index ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Standardized Precipitation Index ◽  
Northwestern China ◽  
Drought Monitoring ◽  
Drought Indices ◽  
Drought Severity ◽  
Different Time Scales

<p>Although the concept of ecological drought was first defined by the Science for Nature and People Partnership (SNAPP) in 2016, there remains no widely accepted drought index for monitoring ecological drought. Therefore, this study constructed a new ecological drought monitoring index, the standardized ecological water deficit index (SEWDI). The SEWDI is based on the difference between ecological water requirements and consumption, referred to as the standardized precipitation index (SPI) method, which was used to monitor ecological drought in Northwestern China (NWRC). The performances of the SEWDI and four widely-used drought indices [standardized root soil moisture index (SSI), self-calibrated Palmer drought index (scPDSI), standardized precipitation-evaporation drought index (SPEI), and SPI) in monitoring ecological drought were evaluated through comparing the Pearson correlations between these indices and the standardized normalized difference vegetation index (SNDVI) under different time scales, wetness, and water use efficiencies (WUEs) of vegetation. Finally, the rotational empirical orthogonal function (REOF) was used to decompose the SEWDI at a 12-month scale in the NWRC during 1982–2015 to obtain five ecological drought regions. The characteristics of ecological drought in the NWRC, including intensity, duration, and frequency, were extracted using run theory. The results showed that the performance of the SEWDI in monitoring ecological drought was highest among the commonly-used drought indices evaluated under different time scales [average correlation coefficient values (r) between SNDVI and drought indices: SEWDI<sub></sub>= 0.34, SSI<sub></sub>= 0.24, scPDSI<sub></sub>= 0.23, SPI<sub></sub>= 0.20, SPEI<sub></sub>= 0.18), and the 12-month-scale SEWDI was largely unaffected by wetness and WUE. In addition, the results of the monitoring indicated that serious ecological droughts in the NWRC mainly occurred in 1982–1986, 1990–1996, and 2005–2010, primarily in regions I, II, and V, regions II, and IV, and in region III, IV, and V, respectively. This study provides a robust approach for quantifying ecological drought severity across natural vegetation areas and scientific evidence for governmental decision makers.</p>

scholarly journals Elucidating Diverse Drought Characteristics from Two Meteorological Drought Indices (SPI and SPEI) in China

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 1513-1530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lingcheng Li ◽  
Dunxian She ◽  
Hui Zheng ◽  
Peirong Lin ◽  
Zong-Liang Yang
Keyword(s):  
Clustering Algorithm ◽  
Potential Evapotranspiration ◽  
Standardized Precipitation Index ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Meteorological Drought ◽  
Drought Indices ◽  
Drought Severity ◽  
Severe Drought ◽  
Small Areas ◽  
Drought Characteristics

AbstractThis study elucidates drought characteristics in China during 1980–2015 using two commonly used meteorological drought indices: standardized precipitation index (SPI) and standardized precipitation–evapotranspiration index (SPEI). The results show that SPEI characterizes an overall increase in drought severity, area, and frequency during 1998–2015 compared with those during 1980–97, mainly due to the increasing potential evapotranspiration. By contrast, SPI does not reveal this phenomenon since precipitation does not exhibit a significant change overall. We further identify individual drought events using the three-dimensional (i.e., longitude, latitude, and time) clustering algorithm and apply the severity–area–duration (SAD) method to examine the drought spatiotemporal dynamics. Compared to SPI, SPEI identifies a lower drought frequency but with larger total drought areas overall. Additionally, SPEI identifies a greater number of severe drought events but a smaller number of slight drought events than the SPI. Approximately 30% of SPI-detected drought grids are not identified as drought by SPEI, and 40% of SPEI-detected drought grids are not recognized as drought by SPI. Both indices can roughly capture the major drought events, but SPEI-detected drought events are overall more severe than SPI. From the SAD analysis, SPI tends to identify drought as more severe over small areas within 1 million km2 and short durations less than 2 months, whereas SPEI tends to delineate drought as more severe across expansive areas larger than 3 million km2 and periods longer than 3 months. Given the fact that potential evapotranspiration increases in a warming climate, this study suggests SPEI may be more suitable than SPI in monitoring droughts under climate change.

scholarly journals Commonly Used Drought Indices as Indicators of Soil Moisture in China

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 1397-1408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongshuo Wang ◽  
Jeffrey C. Rogers ◽  
Darla K. Munroe
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Standardized Precipitation Index ◽  
Meteorological Drought ◽  
Severity Index ◽  
Agricultural Drought ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
Drought Indices ◽  
Drought Severity ◽  
Better Than

Abstract Soil moisture shortages adversely affecting agriculture are significantly associated with meteorological drought. Because of limited soil moisture observations with which to monitor agricultural drought, characterizing soil moisture using drought indices is of great significance. The relationship between commonly used drought indices and soil moisture is examined here using Chinese surface weather data and calculated station-based drought indices. Outside of northeastern China, surface soil moisture is more affected by drought indices having shorter time scales while deep-layer soil moisture is more related on longer index time scales. Multiscalar drought indices work better than drought indices from two-layer bucket models. The standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) works similarly or better than the standardized precipitation index (SPI) in characterizing soil moisture at different soil layers. In most stations in China, the Z index has a higher correlation with soil moisture at 0–5 cm than the Palmer drought severity index (PDSI), which in turn has a higher correlation with soil moisture at 90–100-cm depth than the Z index. Soil bulk density and soil organic carbon density are the two main soil properties affecting the spatial variations of the soil moisture–drought indices relationship. The study may facilitate agriculture drought monitoring with commonly used drought indices calculated from weather station data.

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