Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Droughts in Semi-Arid Regions by Using Meteorological Drought Indices

Abstract In this study, the aim was to measure changes in the spatio-temporal distribution of a potential drought hazard area and determine the risk status of various meteorological and hydrological droughts by using the kriging, radial basis function (RBF), and inverse distance weighting (IDW) interpolation methods. With that goal, in monthly, three-month, and 12-month time periods drought indices were calculated. Spatio-temporal distributions of the droughts were determined with each drought index for the years in which the most severe droughts were experienced. According to the results, the basin is under risk of meteorological drought due to the occurrence of severe and extreme droughts in most of the area, and especially in the north, during the monthly and three-month time periods. During the 12-month period, it was found that most of the basin is under risk of hydrological drought due to the occurrence of severe and extreme droughts, especially in the southern parts. The most effective interpolation method for the prediction of meteorological and hydrological droughts was determined as kriging according to the results of the cross-validation test. It was concluded that a drought management plan should be made, and early warnings and precautions should be applied in the study area.

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Introduction of new datasets of drought indices based on multivariate methods in semi-arid regions

Hydrology Research ◽

10.2166/nh.2017.254 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 49 (1) ◽

pp. 266-280 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Nastaran Chitsaz ◽

Seyed-Mohammad Hosseini-Moghari

Keyword(s):

Time Scales ◽

Arid Regions ◽

Quantitative Methods ◽

Standardized Precipitation Index ◽

Meteorological Drought ◽

Drought Indices ◽

Multivariate Techniques ◽

Multivariate Methods ◽

Svd Method ◽

Semi Arid

Abstract Drought is a slow and creeping worldwide phenomenon which has adversely affected arid and semi-arid regions of the world. Drought indices like Streamflow Drought Index (SDI) and Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) offer quantitative methods for combating probable consequences of drought. In this article, the results of the drought indices trend showed that the case study suffers from hydrological drought more than meteorological drought. The correlation analysis between hydrological and meteorological drought was assessed in monthly and seasonal time scales. To this end, some multivariate techniques were used to summarize the SPI and SDI series of all stations into one new dataset. Three assessment criteria involving higher correlation among drought indices, higher eigenvalue in expansion coefficients, and following fluctuation and variation of original data were used to find the best new datasets and the best multivariate method. Results asserted the superiority of singular value decomposition (SVD) over other multivariate methods. EC1 in the SVD method was able to justify about 80% of the variability in drought indices for monthly time scales, as well as summer and spring for seasonal time series, which followed all fluctuations in original datasets. Therefore, the SVD method is recommended for aggregating drought indices.

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Spatio-temporal Drought Analysis in Arid and Semi-arid Regions: A Case Study from Palestine

Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering ◽

10.1007/s13369-012-0504-y ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 38 (9) ◽

pp. 2303-2313 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Sameer Shadeed

Keyword(s):

Arid Regions ◽

Drought Analysis ◽

Spatio Temporal ◽

Semi Arid

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Spatio-temporal Variation of Soil Respiration and Its Driving Factors in Semi-arid Regions of North China

Chinese Geographical Science ◽

10.1007/s11769-017-0899-1 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 28 (1) ◽

pp. 12-24 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Xinhua Zeng ◽

Yigang Song ◽

Wanjun Zhang ◽

Shengbing He

Keyword(s):

Soil Respiration ◽

Temporal Variation ◽

Arid Regions ◽

North China ◽

Driving Factors ◽

Spatio Temporal ◽

Semi Arid

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Physical factors of influence in the interactions between rainfall, evapotranspiration and soil moisture driving the spatio-temporal evolution of drought patterns in the Ebro Basin (NE Spain).

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-2377 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jaime Gaona ◽

Pere Quintana-Seguí ◽

Maria José Escorihuela

Keyword(s):

Soil Moisture ◽

Land Cover ◽

Iberian Peninsula ◽

Land Surface ◽

Temporal Analysis ◽

Drought Indices ◽

Surface Model ◽

Physical Factors ◽

Spatio Temporal ◽

The Impact

Droughts in the Iberian Peninsula are a natural hazard of great relevance due to their recurrence, severity and impact on multiple environmental and socioeconomic aspects. The Ebro Basin, located in the NE of the Iberian Peninsula, is particularly vulnerable to drought with consequences on agriculture, urban water supply and hydropower. This study, performed within the Project HUMID (CGL2017-85687-R), aims at evaluating the influence of the climatic, land cover and soil characteristics on the interactions between rainfall, evapotranspiration and soil moisture anomalies which define the spatio-temporal drought patterns in the basin.The onset, propagation and mitigation of droughts in the Iberian Peninsula is driven by anomalies of rainfall, evapotranspiration and soil moisture, which are related by feedback processes. To test the relative importance of such anomalies, we evaluate the contribution of climatic, land-cover and geologic heterogeneity on the definition of the spatio-temporal patterns of drought. We use the K&#246;ppen-Geiger climatic classification to assess how the contrasting climatic types within the basin determine differences on drought behavior. Land-cover types that govern the partition between evaporation and transpiration are also of great interest to discern the influence of vegetation and crop types on the anomalies of evapotranspiration across the distinct regions of the basin (e.g. forested mountains vs. crop-dominated areas). The third physical characteristic whose effect on drought we investigate is the impact of soil properties on soil moisture anomalies.The maps and time series used for the spatio-temporal analysis are based on drought indices calculated with high-resolution datasets from remote sensing (MOD16A2ET and SMOS1km) and the land-surface model SURFEX-ISBA. The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), the EvapoTranspiration Deficit Index (ETDI) and the Soil Moisture Deficit Index (SMDI) are the three indices chosen to characterize the anomalies of the corresponding rainfall (atmospheric), evapotranspiration (atmosphere-land interface) and soil moisture (land) anomalies (components of the water balance). The comparison of the correlations of the indices (with different time lags) between contrasting regions offers insights about the impact of climate, land-cover and soil properties in the dominance, the timing of the response and memory aspects of the interactions. The high spatial and temporal resolution of remote sensing and land-surface model data allows adopting time and spatial scales suitable to investigate the influence of these physical factors with detail beyond comparison with ground-based datasets.The spatial and temporal analysis prove useful to investigate the physical factors of influence on the anomalies between rainfall, evapotranspiration and soil moisture. This approach facilitates the physical interpretation of the anomalies of drought indices aiming to improve the characterization of drought in heterogeneous semi-arid areas like the Ebro River Basin.

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