scholarly journals Analysis of Long-Term Variations of Drought Characteristics Using Standardized Precipitation Index over Zambia

Atmosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1268
Author(s):  
Bathsheba Musonda ◽  
Yuanshu Jing ◽  
Vedaste Iyakaremye ◽  
Moses Ojara
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Trends ◽  
Standardized Precipitation Index ◽  
Kendall Test ◽  
Precipitation Index ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Drought Characteristics ◽  
Northern Areas ◽  
Seasonal Time Scale ◽  
The Standardized Precipitation Index

This study examines long-term spatial and temporal trends of drought characteristics based on the Standardized Precipitation Index at three different time scales (3, 6, and 12 months) over Zambia from 1981 to 2017. Drought characteristic conditions such as duration, severity, and intensity at monthly, seasonal, and annual levels were analyzed to investigate the drought patterns over Zambia. The results show a significant increase in drought events over the southwestern regions and a decrease over the northeastern regions. It is in this regard that two stations from different locations (southwest and northeast) were analyzed. The results show increasing trends of drought over Sesheke (southwest) and decreasing trends over Kasama (northeast). More drought impacts are felt over southern compared to northern areas, which poses a serious concern to both agriculture and hydrological industries over the drought-prone areas of Southern Zambia. However, the analysis further shows that droughts were more intense, persistent, and severe over the southwest, while moderate droughts were found in some few areas of Northeast Zambia. The Mann–Kendall test trend and slope indicated that both annual and seasonal drought have increased. However, drought increment at an annual level shows a low magnitude as compared to the seasonal level. This suggested the importance of evaluating drought at an interannual and seasonal time scale over Zambia. Specifically, the drought increased determinedly before 2010 and became erratic between 2010 and 2017 with considerable regional variation. Zambia experienced moderate to severe droughts during 1991–1992, 1994–1995, 2006–2005, and 2015–2016, which resulted in serious damages to the environment and society. According to the findings of this study, it is suggested that the implications of drought can be managed by creating strategies and adaptation measures.

scholarly journals Long-Term, Gridded Standardized Precipitation Index for Hawai‘i

Data ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 109
Author(s):  
Matthew P. Lucas ◽  
Clay Trauernicht ◽  
Abby G. Frazier ◽  
Tomoaki Miura
Keyword(s):  
High Spatial Resolution ◽  
Standardized Precipitation Index ◽  
Precipitation Index ◽  
Drought Indices ◽  
Drought Severity ◽  
Spatially Explicit ◽  
Historical Period ◽  
The Standardized Precipitation Index ◽  
Climatic Information

Spatially explicit, wall-to-wall rainfall data provide foundational climatic information but alone are inadequate for characterizing meteorological, hydrological, agricultural, or ecological drought. The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) is one of the most widely used indicators of drought and defines localized conditions of both drought and excess rainfall based on period-specific (e.g., 1-month, 6-month, 12-month) accumulated precipitation relative to multi-year averages. A 93-year (1920–2012), high-resolution (250 m) gridded dataset of monthly rainfall available for the State of Hawai‘i was used to derive gridded, monthly SPI values for 1-, 3-, 6-, 9-, 12-, 24-, 36-, 48-, and 60-month intervals. Gridded SPI data were validated against independent, station-based calculations of SPI provided by the National Weather Service. The gridded SPI product was also compared with the U.S. Drought Monitor during the overlapping period. This SPI product provides several advantages over currently available drought indices for Hawai‘i in that it has statewide coverage over a long historical period at high spatial resolution to capture fine-scale climatic gradients and monitor changes in local drought severity.

scholarly journals Spatiotemporal drought analysis by the standardized precipitation index (SPI) and standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) in Sichuan Province, China

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Changhong Liu ◽  
Cuiping Yang ◽  
Qi Yang ◽  
Jiao Wang
Keyword(s):  
Standardized Precipitation Index ◽  
Sichuan Province ◽  
Precipitation Index ◽  
Trend Test ◽  
Linear Regression Method ◽  
Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Mountainous Regions ◽  
Drought Characteristics ◽  
The Standardized Precipitation Index

AbstractDrought refers to a meteorological disaster that causes insufficient soil moisture and damage to crop water balance due to long-term lack of precipitation. With the increasing shortage of water resources, drought has become one of the hot issues of global concern. The standardized precipitation index (SPI) and standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) can effectively reflect the changes in drought characteristics of different geomorphologies in Sichuan on time and space scales, to explore the difference in drought characteristics between different physiognomy types in Sichuan Province, We calculated the SPI and SPEI values based on the data of 44 meteorological stations in Sichuan Province from 1961 to 2019 and used Mann–Kendall trend test and multivariable linear regression method (MLR) to quantify the significance of the drought characteristic trends at different time and space scales. The results as follow: (1) The SPEI drought trend in plain and hilly regions was greater than that in plateau and mountain regions on all time scales (− 0.039 year−1 for 1-month in hilly, − 0.035 year−1 for 1-month in plain, − 0.14 year−1 for 1-month in plateau, − 0.026 year−1 for 1-month in mountain) and the magnitude of trend of eastern (− 4.4 to 0.1 year−1) was lager than western (− 2.1 to 2.7 year−1), means that the drought trends transfer from northwest to east. (2) The drought intensity in the western region gradually increased (0.54–1.05) and drought events mainly occurred in the southwest plateau and central mountainous regions (24–47 times), means that drought meteorological hotspots were mainly concentrated in the Sichuan basin. (3) The MLR indicated altitude (H) is not the main influencing factor that causes the spatial unevenness of precipitation in Sichuan Province, but altitude (H), temperature (T), longitude (Lo) and latitude (La) can co-determined the precipitation. The results of this study are instructive and practical for drought assessment, risk management and application decision-making in Sichuan Province, and have guiding significance for agricultural disaster prevention, mitigation and agricultural irrigation in Sichuan Province.

scholarly journals Reconstructions of droughts in Germany since 1500 – combining hermeneutic information and instrumental records in historical and modern perspectives

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 1207-1222
Author(s):  
Rüdiger Glaser ◽  
Michael Kahle
Keyword(s):  
Standardized Precipitation Index ◽  
Precipitation Index ◽  
Monthly Precipitation ◽  
Historical Records ◽  
Climatic Effects ◽  
Virtual Research Environment ◽  
Humidity Index ◽  
The Standardized Precipitation Index ◽  
Instrumental Records

Abstract. The present article deals with the reconstruction of drought time series in Germany since 1500. The reconstructions are based on historical records from the virtual research environment Tambora (tambora.org, 2018) and official instrumental records. The historical records and recent data were related to each other through modern index calculations, drought categories and their historical equivalents. Historical and modern written documents are also taken into account to analyze the climatic effects and consequences on the environment and society. These pathways of effects are derived and combined with different drought categories. The derived historical precipitation index (HPI) is correlated with the standardized precipitation index (SPI). Finally, a historical drought index (HDI) and a historical wet index (HWI) are derived from the basic monthly precipitation index (PI) from 1500 onward. Both are combined for the historical humidity index (HHI). On this basis, the long-term development of dryness and drought in Germany since 1500, as well as medium-term deviations of drier and wetter periods and individual extreme events, is presented and discussed.

scholarly journals Drought assessment in the northern region of Colombia using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI): a case study in the department of La Guajira

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Díaz Chávez ◽  
Ana Patricia Espinosa Romero ◽  
Jairo Rosado Vega
Keyword(s):  
Recurrent Events ◽  
Temporal Trends ◽  
Standardized Precipitation Index ◽  
Northern Region ◽  
Precipitation Index ◽  
Drought Assessment ◽  
Operational Characteristics ◽  
Significance Levels ◽  
The Standardized Precipitation Index

Abstract The objective of this study was to assess droughts in the department of La Guajira, Columbia, on the basis of their operational characteristics. Droughts were assessed using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) at three- and six-month aggregation periods (SPI-3 and SPI-6), and their operational characteristics were analyzed by the run theory and via analysis of temporal trends using the modified Mann-Kendall (MMK) test. The results indicated that droughts were most frequent in La Guajira between 1995 and 2004. The occurrence of droughts was most accurately identified by SPI-6. It was observed that the central, southern, and western areas of the department had droughts of greater duration, severity, and intensity. The MMK test shows negative (decreasing) temporal trends at significance levels α between 0.1 and 0.01 in 6.12% of the meteorological stations located in the central and southern areas of La Guajira. These results support the conclusion that droughts are recurrent events in the department of La Guajira as a result of the arid and semi-arid climate prevalent in significant portions of the department’s land area. This elucidates the vulnerability of agriculture and livestock in such areas that are prone to droughts of greater duration, severity, and intensity.

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