Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Meteorological drought analysis over India using analytical framework on CPC rainfall time series

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Natural Hazards Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Drought is a natural climatic phenomenon occurring due to deficiency of precipitation. It is precursor of famine and is difficult to monitor due to its slow progression. The present study employs understanding drought and analyzing its various parameters such as rainfall. One of the main aspects of drought planning and mitigation includes hazard assessment, which describes the physical nature of drought and plays an important role in the relationship between vulnerability and risk. The study uses CPC rainfall time series of 12 years, 2001–2012, during the major rainfall period, i.e., southwest monsoon (June–September) over India at 10 km × 10 km pixel for the meteorological drought analysis. Drought occurrence patterns in the country in the 12-year time series period were analyzed using mean, inter-annual variability (coefficient of variation CV) and drought frequency of rainfall and rainy days. The analysis has highlighted the areas with lower mean rainfall and higher CV and higher drought frequency. Meteorological drought map based on rainfall and rainy day deviations was prepared separately, for all the 12 years, based on IMD criteria of rainfall deviations. Spatial agreement analysis between rainfall-based drought map and rainy days-based drought map was performed using kappa index. It is interesting to note that the agreement between the two maps was <50 % in all the 12 years. The result indicates that a combination of rainfall and rainy days brings additional information on drought intensity. Therefore, in this study, a methodology was suggested to generate drought maps by combining rainfall and rainy days.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adger WN, Huq S, Brown K, Conway D, Hulme M (2003) Adaptation to climate change in the developing world. Prog Dev Stud 3:179–195

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ahsan MDN, Warner J (2014) The socioeconomic vulnerability index: a pragmatic approach for assessing climate change led risks-A case study in the southwestern coastal Bangladesh. Int J Disaster Risk Reduct 8:32–49

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beguería S, Vicente-Serrano SM,  Angulo-Martínez M (2010) A multiscalar global drought dataset: the SPEIbase: a new gridded product for the analysis of drought variability and impacts. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 91:1351–1356

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brooks N, Neil Adger W, Mick Kelly P (2005) The determinant of vulnerability and adaptive capacity at the national level and the implications for adaptation. Glob Environ Change 15:151–163

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Byun HR, Wilhite DA (1999) Objective quantification of drought severity and duration. J Clim 12:2747–2756

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen W, Cutter SL, Emrich CT, Shi P (2013) Measuring social vulnerability to natural hazards in the Yangtze river delta region, China. Int J Disaster Risk Sci 4(4):169–181

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Congalton RG (1991) A review of assessing the accuracy of classifications of remotely sensed data. Remote Sens Environ 37:35–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dai A (2011) Characteristics and trends in various forms of the palmer drought severity index during 1900–2008. J Geophys Res 116:12115

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dai A, Trenberth KE, Qian T (2004) A global dataset of palmer drought severity index for 1870–2002: relationship with soil moisture and effects of surface warming. J Hydrometeorol 5:1117–1130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dracup JA, Lee KS, Paulson EG (1980) On the definition of droughts. Water Resour Res 16:297–302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goswami BN, Venugopal V, Sengupa D, Madhusoodanan MS, Xavier PK (2006) Increasing trend of extreme rain events over India in a warming environment. Science 314(1442):1445

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayes M, Svoboda M, Wall N, Widhalm M (2011) The Lincoln declaration on drought indices: universal meteorological drought index recommended. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 92:485–488

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iyengar NS, Sudarshan P (1982) A method of classifying regions from multivariate data. Econ Polit Wkly 17(51):2048–2052

    Google Scholar 

  • Jensen JR (1996) Introductory digital image processing: a remote sensing perspective, 2nd edn. Prentice Hall, Inc., Upper Saddle River

    Google Scholar 

  • Joshua JK, Ekwe MC (2013) Indigenous mitigation and adaptation strategy to drought and environmental changes in nigerian section of Lake CHAD Basin. Int J Appl Res Stud 2(5):2278–9480

    Google Scholar 

  • Keyantash J, Dracup JA (2002) The quantification of drought: an evaluation of drought indices. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 83:1167–1180

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kulshreshtha SN, Klein KK (1989) Agricultural drought impact evaluation model: a system’s approach. Agric Sys Int J 30(1):81–96

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li A, Angsheng W, Shulin L, Shunlin L, Wancun Z (2006) Eco-environmental vulnerability evaluation in mountainous region using remote sensing and GIS-A case study in the upper reaches of Minjiang River, China. Ecol Model 192:175–187

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Obot NI, Chendo MAC, Udo SO, Ewona IO (2010) Evaluation of rainfall trends in Nigeria for 30 years (1987–2007). Int J Phys Sci 5:2217–2222

    Google Scholar 

  • Otgonjargal N (2012) Assessment of drought hazard: a case study in Sehoul area, Morocco, M.S. Thesis submitted to University of Twente, Enschede

  • Palmer W (1965) Meteorological drought. Weather bureau research paper 45. US Weather Bureau, Washington DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Redmond KT (2002) The depiction of drought. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 83:1143–1147

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Svoboda MD et al (2002) The drought monitor. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 83:1181–1190

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verdin JP, Funk CC, Senay GB, Choularton R (2005) Climate science and famine early warning. Philos Trans R Soc B-Biol Sci 360(1463):155–168

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilhite DA (2000) Drought as a natural hazard: concepts and definitions. Drought Glob Assess 1:3–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilhelmi OV, Wilhite DA (2002) Assessing vulnerability to agricultural drought: a Nebraska case study. Nat Hazards 25:37–58

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilhite DA, Glantz MH (1985) Understanding the drought phenomenon: the role of definitions. Water Int 10:111–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Sincere thanks are due to Dr. V.K. Dadhwal, Director, NRSC, for his constant encouragement. Guidance and suggestions provided by Dr. P.G. Diwakar, Deputy Director (Remote Sensing Applications), NRSC, are acknowledged.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agricultural Drought Monitoring Division, Agricultural Sciences and Applications Group, National Remote Sensing Centre, Balanagar, Hyderabad, 500625, India

    C. S. Murthy

  2. Forest and Ecology Group, National Remote Sensing Centre, Balanagar, Hyderabad, 500625, India

    Jyoti Singh

  3. Department of Remote Sensing and GIS, Kumaun University, Almora, Uttarakhand, 263601, India

    Pavan Kumar

  4. Agricultural Sciences and Applications Group, National Remote Sensing Centre, Balanagar, Hyderabad, 500625, India

    M. V. R. Sesha Sai

Authors
  1. C. S. Murthy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jyoti Singh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Pavan Kumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. M. V. R. Sesha Sai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pavan Kumar.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Murthy, C.S., Singh, J., Kumar, P. et al. Meteorological drought analysis over India using analytical framework on CPC rainfall time series. Nat Hazards 81, 573–587 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-015-2097-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-015-2097-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation