Meteorological drought is referred as a precipitation deficiency, in comparison to normal or base line condition. We use Standardized Precipitation index (SPI-n, where n = 3, 6, 9 and 12 months accumulation period) as an index of meteorological drought. SPI represents a statistical z-score or the number of standard deviations (following a probability distribution, usually Gamma and back transformed to standard normal distribution) above or below that an event is from the mean (McKee et al. 1993; Sims et al., 2002). SPI is spatially invariant and probabilistic in nature and able to capture different drought states ranging from short, medium and long-term drought conditions depending on the length of the accumulation period. SPI has number of advantages, such as (Lloyd-Hughes and Saunders, 2002); (i) The SPI is based on precipitation and requires computation of only two …show more content…
(iii) It can be tailored to specific needs for impact assessment. For example, it’s variable time scales are useful for modelling wide range of meteorological, agricultural, and hydrological applications. The temporal nature of the index facilitates understanding drought dynamics, such as onset and cessation, which is difficult to be tracked by other indices. (iv) Standardized nature ensures that the frequency of extreme events at any location and on any time scale is consistent. Conversely, application of SPI has few potential disadvantages: (i) the quantity and reliability of the data used to fit a suitable probability distributions. (ii) Due to standardized nature, SPI is incapable of identifying regions that are more “drought prone” than others, and (iii) Employing SPI at shorter time scales (such as, 1, 2, and 3 months) to the regions with low seasonal precipitation, resulting into erroneous large positive or negative SPI
Water shortage in arid and semi-arid regions and declining its availability to a crisis ...
Droughts in Wyoming’s future are unpredictable and uncertain; however, Richard Guldin of the Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station in Fort Collins, Colorado, has made some predictions for the water situati...
On the heart (center) of California is a flat area with miles and miles of farms and up to 230 different crops. The central valley agriculture is essential to the United States; it not only delivers almost half of the produce but also helps the economy by also giving more job opportunities (California Department of food and agriculture, 2014). Many families depend on the central valley agriculture to survive economically in the United States. It is a well-known fact that rain and snows in the Sierra Nevada Mountains are a very important element in the central valley. No rain in the central valley can cause many devastating issues to occur quickly. Recently in the year of 2013 California received less rainfall than years before. The small amount of water the central valley is receiving is harming not only to the land but humans and animals as well. It’s destroying the habitats of animals with forest fires caused from the dry spells occurring. The central valley is going through a drought, so much that around this time of year the central valley usually accumulates enough rain for the necessities in the valley, agriculture for example. This year, however, has been different, the central valley hasn’t received enough water and this has caused a drought in the valley. Water is an important element in this world for not only human life, but for the environment in general, a shortage of water supply can bring issues to the environment and those living in it. The central valley holds the largest percent of class one soil, not only that, the valley grows a third of all the produce being grown in the United States, that’s more than 230 crops that are being grown in the central valley. However, this drought isn’t only affecting the resident...
Decreasing rainfall and exterior reservoir recharge since the mid-1970s in Western Australia have been related to fluctuations in atmospheric circulation that are constant with what would be predictable in an atmosphere subjective by rising greenhouse gas intensities. The Water Corporation of Western Australia is focusing the lessening surface water resource by setting out to distribute a ‘climate-independent’ reserve of water for domestic
The following is a report on Australian drought situation. It will identity the definition of the drought, describe the causes of drought, represent impact of drought in Queensland and introduce management to help farmers cope with future drought occurrences.
Wladimir Koeppen developed the first quantitative climate classification in 1900. Koeppen’s system was based on the principle that plants integrate several climate elements. Koeppen fitted isolines of temperature and precipitation data to the five vegetation groups identified by the French botanist De Candolle, which were based on the late Greek climate zones: (1) A, the plants of the torrid zone; (2) C, plants of the temperate zone; (3) D and E, frigid zone (no plants); (4) B, for plants of the dry zone. Koeppen added sequential letters to account for moisture (rainfall), for a better description of maximum and minimum temperatures, for the seasonal distribution of rainfall (Sanderson, 1999), and for special features such as fog incidence.
Due to geography and population growth, the Middle East nations are faced with a growing demand for a shrinking water supply. Throughout most of the Middle East region rainfall is irregular and the rainy season is very short. The World Bank reports that this area (including North Africa) has 5% of the world’s population, but only 1% of the world’s water. Droughts have been occurring more frequently and lasting longer, warning of a bleaker future.
In Steven Wallander’s article on USDA.gov titled “California Drought: Farm and Food Imapact,” Wallander explains the effects on farms of California. The article explains the history of the drought and the severity of the drought. The article focuses on the impact that the water shortage has on the farms because of the reliance of irrigation these farms have. Wallander does all this through diagrams showing the amount of available water both on the surface and in the ground.
McMean, G. (2007, June). Artic climate impact assessment (C. Symon, Ed.). New York, NY: Cambridge Univercity Press. http://www.acia.uaf.edu/pages/scientific.html
Meteorology is a branch in Earth Science that deals with the processes and phenomena of the atmosphere. As a Meteorological Forecaster you use all parts of meteorological information to produce forecasts watches and warnings to protect life and property. A Meteorologist Forecaster will study atmospheric conditions that they will then use as a way to help forecast the weather. They may also use a variety of different tools, such as the Doppler Radar, satellites, and even special aircraft designed to fly in extreme weather, to analyze weather conditions.
(a) speed of rain (b) temperature (c) rain volume (d) temperate gauge (e) wind direction
As droughts persist in any given area, fresh-water supply is severely constricted to local inhabitants as the lack of precipitation occurs. With fresh-water being limited, it is strategically rationed amongst the inhabitants experiencing the drought, creating sizable inconveniences. Moreover, with the lack of water, the state in which the drought occurs must import more than it exports, to suffice for the shortage, thus causing a low-scale trade deficit, permitting the increase of taxes. An example of a long-term drought, thereby creating water shortage, is California. According to a chart provided by David Talbot, a writer for the MIT Technology Review, California's drought intensity increased from abnormally dry in 2011 to an exceptional
...xpected weather conditions over time, previous weather conditions, possible areas of less deteriorating weather conditions, expected duration of bad weather condition.
A drought is a lengthened dry period where there is not a sufficient amount of water for users’ standard requirement. Australia is the driest continent. The main explanation is that our country lies in a region of high atmospheric pressure and an inconsistent rate of rainfall. During a drought, streams and rivers dry up whilst plants and animals die. This is because they lack water and there tends to be less food to eat. Droughts in Australia tend to occur in areas away from the coast, but still, each state or territory is prone to droughts. South Australia is the driest state in Australia and is vulnerable to frequent droughts.
The other most important factor is less receipt of rains to meet crop requirements to harvest according to potential, therefore, without adequate supplies of irrigation water large areas of Pakistan can’t produce on sustainable basis (Mohuyddin and Tarique, 2008). So, per drop productivity is needed to be explored and over and under ir...