Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Drought Characterization Using Drought Indices and El Niño Effects

  • Short Communication
  • Published:
National Academy Science Letters Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Droughts are extreme meteorological and hydrological events having severe impacts on the natural environment and socioeconomic conditions of the affected region. Drought characterization is vital in planning, design, and management of water resources systems. Drought indices such as standardized precipitation index (SPI) and standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) are generally used as a tool for monitoring changes in drought conditions. The variability of monsoon droughts over India is significantly influenced by the tropical sea surface temperature anomalies. A major portion of the drought variability is influenced by the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Drought characterization for Indo Gangetic alluvial plain demonstrates the efficacy of the present work. The values of SPI and SPEI are found in all the possible ranges representing mild, moderate, and severe drought events in the study area. Most drought events are observed in Raebareli District, as both SPI and SPEI indices showed 27 and 23 severe events. Also, correlation is found between observed drought periods, ENSO episodes, and drought indices.

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

References

  1. Bates BC, Kundzewicz ZW, Wu S, Palutikof JP (2008) Climate change and water. Technical Paper of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. IPCC Secretariat. Geneva

  2. Dai A (2011) Drought under global warming: a review. WIREs Clim Change 2(1):45–65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Romm J (2011) The next dust bowl. Nature 478:450–451

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Trenberth KE (1997) The definition of El Niño. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 78:2771–3277

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Kiladis GN, Díaz HF (1989) Global climatic anomalies associated with extremes in the Southern Oscillation. J Clim 2:1069–1090

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Halpert MS, Ropelewski CF (1992) Surface temperature patterns associated with the Southern Oscillation. J Clim 5(6):577–593

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Philander SG, Fedorov A (2003) Is El Niño sporadic or cyclic? Annu Rev Earth Planet Sci 31:579–594

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Krishnan R, Sugi M (2003) Pacific decadal oscillation and variability of the Indian summer monsoon rainfall. Climate Dyn 21:233–242

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Rajagopalan B, Cook E (2000) Spatiotemporal variability of ENSO and SST teleconnections to summer drought over the United States during the Twentieth Century. J Clim 13:4244–4255

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Fowler A, Adams K (2004) Twentieth century droughts and wet periods in Auckland (New Zealand) and their relationship to ENSO. Int J Climatol 24:1947–1961

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Balling RC Jr, Goodrich GB (2007) Analysis of drought determinants for the Colorado River Basin. Clim Change 82:179–194

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Mo KC, Schemm JE (2008) Relationships between ENSO and drought over the southeastern United States. Geophys Res Lett 35:L15701

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. McKee TB, Doesken NJ, Kleist J (1993) The relationship of drought frequency and duration to time scales. In: Proceedings of 8th conference on applied climatology. Boston, USA, pp 179–183

  14. Guttman NB (1999) Accepting the standardized precipitation index: a calculation algorithm. J Am Water Resour Assoc 35:311–322

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. WMO (2006) Drought monitoring and early warning: concepts progress and future challenges

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

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Vicente-Serrano SM, Beguería S, López-Moreno JI (2010) A multi-scalar drought index sensitive to global warming: the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index—SPEI. J Climate 23:1696–1718

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. Stagge JH, Tallaksen LM, XU CY, Lanen HAJV (2014) Standardized precipitation-evapotranspiration index (SPEI): sensitivity to potential evapotranspiration model and parameters. In: Proceedings of FRIEND-Water 2014 hydrology in a changing world: environmental and human dimensions, Montpellier, France

  19. Mckee TB (1995) Drought monitoring with multiple timescales. In: Proceedings of the ninth conference on applied climatology. Dallas Texas 15–20 January 1995. Boston American Meteorological Society, pp 233–236

  20. Vermes I (1998) How to work out a drought mitigation strategy: an ICID Guide 309, Bonn, Germany

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express appreciation for the support of the sponsors [Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, New Delhi]. The financial assistance received for this study was used for Senior Research Fellowship.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, MNNIT Allahabad, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, 211004, India

    Raj Mohan Singh & Prabhakar Shukla

Authors
  1. Raj Mohan Singh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Prabhakar Shukla
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Raj Mohan Singh.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Singh, R.M., Shukla, P. Drought Characterization Using Drought Indices and El Niño Effects. Natl. Acad. Sci. Lett. 43, 339–342 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40009-019-00870-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40009-019-00870-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation