Characterisation of the dynamics of past droughts

Journal article (2020)

Authors

Vitali Diaz IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, Water Resources - CEG
Gerald A. Corzo Perez IHE Delft Institute for Water Education
Henny A.J. Van Lanen Wageningen University & Research
D.P. Solomatine IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, Russian Academy of Sciences, Water Resources - CEG
Emmanouil A. Varouchakis Technical University of Crete
Research Group
Water Resources (CEG) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2020 Vitali Diaz, Gerald A. Corzo Perez, Henny A.J. Van Lanen, D.P. Solomatine, Emmanouil A. Varouchakis
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134588
More Info
expand_more

Published Date

2020

Language

English

Reuse Rights

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.

Faculty

Civil Engineering & Geosciences

Department

Water Management

Research Group

Water Resources

Abstract

Drought is a complex natural phenomenon. The description of the way in which drought changes (moves) in space may help to acquire knowledge on its drivers and processes to improve its monitoring and prediction. This research presents the application of an approach to characterise the dynamics of drought. Tracks, severity, duration, as well as localisation (onset and end position), and rotation of droughts were calculated. Results of calculated droughts were compared with documented information. Data from the Standardized Precipitation Evaporation Index (SPEI) Global Drought Monitor was used to identify droughts in India as an example for the period 1901–2013. Results show regions where droughts with considerable coverage tend to occur. Paths, i.e. consecutive spatial tracks, of six of the most severe reported droughts were analysed. In all of them, areas overlap considerably over time, which suggest that drought remains in the same region for a period of time. Results of this research are being used to build a model to predict the spatial drought tracks, incl. India (https://www.researchgate.net/project/STAND-Spatio-Temporal-ANalysis-of-Drought).

Files

1_s2.0_S0048969719345796_main.... (pdf)
(pdf | 5.24 Mb)
- Embargo expired in 18-05-2020
Unknown license