scholarly journals Drought intensity and spatial variability in Gabes Watershed, south-eastern Tunisia

2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrine Jemai ◽  
Manel Ellouze ◽  
Belgacem Agoubi ◽  
Habib Abida

AbstractChronological series of monthly and annual precipitation data recorded in Gabes Watershed, south-eastern Tunisia, were analyzed. The study is based on the standardized precipitation index (SPI) values, computed for 10 rainfall stations over the period 1987–2012, which corresponds to an observatory period of 25 hydrologic years (from September to August). The results obtained show a great variability in SPI values. The historical evolution of the SPI made it possible to define the periods of excess and deficit, corresponding to wet and dry periods respectively. The wet years were found to be 1989–1990, 1995–1996 and 2006–2007 while the dry years were 1987–1988, 1996–1997, 2000–2001, 2001–2002, 2007–2008, 2008–2009 and 2009–2010. This clearly shows alternating wet and dry periods, but with drought episodes taking prevalence over rainy fronts throughout the study period. Indeed, a high tendency towards a drop in precipitation and important sequences of drought were observed. Spatial variability of drought throughout Gabes Watershed was examined by geostatistical analysis of SPI, as drought and rainfall distribution vary with latitude, longitude, topography and proximity to the Mediterranean Sea. The results obtained showed that, compared to coastal and southern areas, drought was observed to be more important in the West and the North of Gabes Watershed. The SPI showed that moderate droughts are generally more frequent than severe or extreme droughts in most of the Watershed.

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mladen Milanovic ◽  
Milan Gocic ◽  
Slavisa Trajkovic

Drought represents a combined heat-precipitation extreme and has become an increasingly frequent phenomenon in recent years. In order to access the entire analysis of drought, it is necessary to include the analysis of several types of drought. In this paper, impacts of meteorological and agricultural drought were analyzed across the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Agricultural Rainfall Index (ARI) on the territory of Serbia for the period from 1980 to 2010. For both types of drought, year 2000 is notable as the year when most of the observed stations had the highest drought intensity. It was found that meteorological drought for year 2000 has a higher intensity in the central and southeastern parts of the country, as well as in the north. Of all the stations, the highest intensity of meteorological drought was observed at Loznica station in 1989. Agricultural drought in 2000 had the lowest intensity in western Serbia.


Inner Asia ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 361-373
Author(s):  
Elke Studer

AbstractThe article outlines the Mongolian influences on the biggest horse race festival in Nagchu prefecture in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR).Since old times these horse races have been closely linked to the worship of the local mountain deity by the patrilineal nomadic clans of the South-Eastern Changthang, the North Tibetan plain. In the seventeenth century the West Mongol chieftain Güüshi Khan shaped the history of Tibet. To support his political claims, he enlarged the horse race festival's size and scale, and had his troops compete in the different horse race and archery competitions in Nagchu. Since then, the winners of the big race are celebrated side by side with the political achievements and claims of the central government in power.


1959 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Yarshater

The object of this paper is to give preliminary information about Shāhrudi, one of the Iranian dialects spoken in Khalkhāl, the south-eastern province of Āzarbāijān lying between the Caspian province of Tālesh to the east, Ardabil to the north, Zanjān to the south, and Miyāna(j) to the west.Our information about the Iranian dialects of Āzarbāijān, where a form of Turkish is the common language, has until recently been very defective. The scanty material available was summed up by Professor W. B. Henning in a recent article. Since then, however, several studies of the current dialects of Āzarbāijān have been published.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 4730
Author(s):  
Malak Henchiri ◽  
Tertsea Igbawua ◽  
Tehseen Javed ◽  
Yun Bai ◽  
Sha Zhang ◽  
...  

Droughts are one of the world’s most destructive natural disasters. In large regions of Africa, droughts can have strong environmental and socioeconomic impacts. Understanding the mechanism that drives drought and predicting its variability is important for enhancing early warning and disaster risk management. Taking North and West Africa as the study area, this study adopted multi-source data and various statistical analysis methods, such as the joint probability density function (JPDF), to study the meteorological drought and return years across a long term (1982–2018). The standardized precipitation index (SPI) was used to evaluate the large-scale spatiotemporal drought characteristics at 1–12-month timescales. The intensity, severity, and duration of drought in the study area were evaluated using SPI–12. At the same time, the JPDF was used to determine the return year and identify the intensity, duration, and severity of drought. The Mann-Kendall method was used to test the trend of SPI and annual precipitation at 1–12-month timescales. The pattern of drought occurrence and its correlation with climate factors were analyzed. The results showed that the drought magnitude (DM) of the study area was the highest in 2008–2010, 2000–2003, and 1984–1987, with the values of 5.361, 2.792, and 2.187, respectively, and the drought lasting for three years in each of the three periods. At the same time, the lowest DM was found in 1997–1998, 1993–1994, and 1991–1992, with DM values of 0.113, 0.658, and 0.727, respectively, with a duration of one year each time. It was confirmed that the probability of return to drought was higher when the duration of drought was shorter, with short droughts occurring more regularly, but not all severe droughts hit after longer time intervals. Beyond this, we discovered a direct connection between drought and the North Atlantic Oscillation Index (NAOI) over Morocco, Algeria, and the sub-Saharan countries, and some slight indications that drought is linked with the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) over Guinea, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Nigeria.


Author(s):  
Morteza Lotfirad ◽  
Hassan Esmaeili-Gisavandani ◽  
Arash Adib

Abstract The aim of this study is to select the best model (combination of different lag times) for predicting the standardized precipitation index (SPI) and the standardized precipitation and evapotranspiration index (SPEI) in next time. Monthly precipitation and temperature data from 1960 to 2019 were used. In temperate climates, such as the north of Iran, the correlation coefficient of SPI and SPEI was 0.94, 0.95, and 0.81 at the time scales of 3, 12, and 48 months, respectively. Besides, this correlation coefficient was 0.47, 0.35, and 0.44 in arid and hot climates, such as the southwest of Iran because potential evapotranspiration (PET) depends on temperature more than rainfall. Drought was predicted using the random forest (RF) model and applying 1–12 months lag times for next time. By increasing of time scale, the prediction accuracy of SPI and SPEI will improve. The ability of SPEI is more than SPI for drought prediction, because the overall accuracy (OA) of prediction will increase, and the errors (i.e., overestimate (OE) and underestimate (UE)) will reduce. It is recommended for future studies (1) using wavelet analysis for improving accuracy of predictions and (2) using the Penman–Monteith method if ground-based data are available.


1907 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 309-327
Author(s):  
A. J. B. Wace ◽  
J. P. Droop

Theotokou lies at the south-eastern corner of the Magnesian peninsula, a little to the north of the bay of Kato Georgi. The site itself is the seaward end of a narrow valley, where a small brook discharges into a little cove just to the north of a hill called Kastro (Fig. 1). Here there stands a small chapel built in 1807, and dedicated to the Virgin. In the walls of the chapel itself are several ancient blocks, and north and south of it traces of walls are visible. Immediately to the west is a large mass of ruins formerly covered with brushwood; round these stand six fragments of Doric columns, and a seventh lies in a cornfield some distance to the west: an eighth, which was seen here, has disappeared. This place, the traditional site of Sepias, was first visited by a local gentleman, Theódoros Zirghános.


1966 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph N. Freeman

The Lake Frome Embayment Area occupies a position in the southernmost extension of the Great Artesian Basin. It is bounded on the west by the North Flinders limb of the Adelaide Geosyncline and on the east by the Tibooburra Block. It is limited on the south by the Olary Region and the arbitrary northern limits are taken at the south-eastern extension of the Muloorina Gravity Swell.The structural configuration of the area is fault controlled, and is believed to be related to block movements in the basement. A complex of evolved troughs is present. Two major troughs are especially evident, the Bancannia Trough in the east and the Lake Frome Gravity Depression in the west.Remnants of Cambro-Ordovician sediments are preserved on both sides of the Embayment, although outcrop is dominated by rocks of Proterozoic and older age. Devonian sediments are present in the eastern part of the area. Jurassic-Cretaceous sediments related to the Great Artesian Basin sequence are present.


Author(s):  
Aleksandr Zolotokrylin ◽  
◽  
Tatyana Titkova ◽  
Elena Cherenkova

Changes in the characteristics of spring-summer droughts in the south of European Russia (twelve regions) in the period 1901-2018 were studied using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and analyzed in the periods of increasing/decreasing humidifying estimated by the Aridity Index (AI). In each studied region, the trends of aridization for centrury and more are not found. In the meantime, long-term interdecadal periods of increasing and decreasing aridization are detected. They are characterized by significant variation of frequency and intensity of spring-summer droughts. Decreasing aridization in the early 20th century over most of the south of European Russia has been replaced by aridization increase in 1930s. The period of increasing humidifying of the whole investigated area from 1960s to the end of 20th century changed to the period of increasing aridization. During dry periods, frequency of drought increases in 1.5 times, while drought intensity growth is insignificant. In actual dry period, beginning with the early 21th century, spring-summer droughts have emerged earlier in eastern part of South of European Russia; however, in western part drought are observed more often.


2021 ◽  
pp. 177-188
Author(s):  
Shota Mamuladze ◽  
Kakhaber Kamadadze ◽  
Emzar Kakhidze

The church discussed in the paper is situated in Avgia, on the outskirts of Batumi. It is an early Christian period hall-type church with northern and southern wings. The ground plan of the whole structure resembles the well-known layout of the croixlibre. The whole building is 23.85 m long and 19.0 m wide – including the arms. It has a projecting semi-circular apse whose radius is 6.05 m. The main space of the church is divided into three parts. It consists of a transverse hall, which may have operated as a narthex, a hall, and an altar apse. The floor of the structure was covered with pinkish lime mortar, a mixture of small pebbles and ceramic powder. The only central entrance to the church was located on the west side. The northern annex had an entrance in the north-western corner, and the southern one – in the south-eastern corner. The church seems to have been built of rubble stone. The construction style, layout, and archaeological evidence from the site narrow down its chronology to the 5th and 6th centuries AD.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesús Rascón ◽  
Wildor Gosgot Angeles ◽  
Lenin Quiñones Huatangari ◽  
Manuel Oliva ◽  
Miguel Ángel Barrena Gurbillón

Climate change and population growth have heavily impacted the ecosystem’s water resources, essential for anthropogenic activities. These also apply to the Andean city of Chachapoyas, located in the north of Peru, which has gone through a substantial population increase in recent years, therefore increasing its water demand. This research aimed to assess dry and wet events from 1981 to 2019 that have taken place in Chachapoyas, by applying the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI). These events were periodically characterized, and the index relationship was determined at different timescales. The SPI and SPEI indices were calculated at the city’s only weather station for timescales of 3, 6, 12, and 24 months using climatic data. The indices showed a remarkably consistent behavior for timescales of 12 and 24 months detecting an extreme drought event in 1993, while for timescales of 3 and 6 months a severe drought event was detected in the same year. Contrastingly, there has been an increase in extreme wet events in the last decade, hence Chachapoyas is categorized between "moderate drought" and “moderate wet”. It should be noted that the indices have a high correlation between them when calculated for the same timescale. The results were statistically significant (p < 0.05). Considering the results obtained related to dry and wet events and their relation with economic activities such as environmental management, we can conclude that the SPI and SPEI indices are useful and valuable tools for local and regional governments.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document