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Spatio-temporal analysis of droughts in the semi-arid Pedda Vagu and Ookacheti Vagu watersheds, Mahabubnagar District, India

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Abstract

This paper presents spatio-temporal meteorological drought analysis of Pedda Vagu and Ookacheti Vagu watersheds of Mahabubnagar and Ranga Reddy Districts of Telangana state, South Central India. Rainfall anomaly index (RAI) and run analysis have been leveraged to assess drought characteristics at different stations in the basin. The study also presents the interpolation of RAI values using spline technique in a geographic information system (GIS) environment to map the spatial extent and variation of drought severity in different time steps. The study reveals that the occurrence, magnitude, and recurrence of drought varied among the stations in the basin during an observed time frame, i.e., 1986 to 2013. Significant variations in the occurrences of number of drought events are observed among the stations in the basin. The spline interpolated rainfall anomaly index maps illustrated that some regions experienced more severe drought while other regions were well-off. This uncertainty in rainfall essentially indicates that a finer scale of drought vulnerability assessment is highly necessary for better drought management practices. Furthermore, empirical relationships were developed between drought duration and magnitude to support decision-making during various agricultural practices and water management.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, for the support and encouragement. The authors are also grateful to District planning office, Mahabubnagar District, Regional agriculture research station, Hyderabad and Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Hyderabad for providing rainfall data. The authors are also thankful to the valuable suggestions provided by the two anonymous reviewers for the improvement of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Studies in Resources Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India, 400076

    Sreedhar Ganapuram & R. Nagarajan

  2. Infosys Technology Limited, Bangalore, India

    G. Chandra Sehkar

  3. Technology & Knowledge Management, Commonwealth of Learning, Vancouver, Canada

    V. Balaji

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  1. Sreedhar Ganapuram
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  2. R. Nagarajan
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  3. G. Chandra Sehkar
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  4. V. Balaji
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Correspondence to Sreedhar Ganapuram.

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Ganapuram, S., Nagarajan, R., Sehkar, G.C. et al. Spatio-temporal analysis of droughts in the semi-arid Pedda Vagu and Ookacheti Vagu watersheds, Mahabubnagar District, India. Arab J Geosci 8, 6911–6929 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-014-1696-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-014-1696-0

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