In the past years, Khuzestan province which is located in the southwest of Iran has experienced severe droughts. Drought can be explained by its characteristics known as duration or severity. However, combination of the two features by probabilistic approach is appeared to be a well improved method to describe the phenomena. The aim of this study is to provide a more accurate statistical method of determining drought based on simultaneous analysis of two drought characteristics. Here, precipitation data from twenty stations were used to determine drought characteristics, by Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI). Joint probability function of two variables were built via copula functions. The drought return period was calculated in the form of two scenarios. The first scenario is, based on an assumption that drought is recognized by at least one of the two specific characteristics. Drought in the second scenario is distinguished by the two characteristics in a joint probabilistic form. According to research results, there was no significant difference between the north and south of Khuzestan in the study of single characteristics of drought. While analyzing two characteristics of the drought, the return period in the north was shorter than the south. The return period of droughts in the east was always shorter than in the west. The drought return period varies from 30 to 52 months and 50 to 87 months for the first and second scenarios, respectively.

No abstract

No abstract

Drought is asserted as a natural disaster that encompasses vast territories for a long time and affects human life. Indicators are powerful tools for understanding this phenomenon. However, in order to get more information about the drought, multivariate indices were introduced for simultaneous evaluation of multiple variables. In this study, a combined drought index (CDI) based on three drought indices, Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Streamflow Drought Index (SDI), and Standardized Water-level Index (SWI) is defined. Then, the Entropy method is used to determine weight of each indicator. Among the calculated weights, SDI and SPI had the highest and lowest weight, respectively. The CDI is utilized to identify drought characteristics, such as duration and severity. In addition, joint distribution function of drought characteristics is formed by Copula functions and consequently the probability of different droughts is calculated. For the study area, data and information from eight regions located in Golestan province in the northern part of Iran are used to evaluate the performance of the proposed index. Four category of drought were defined And their return period was calculated. The shortest return period of severe drought was observed in the east and then in the west. In the south and center, the return period of severe drought was longer. Over the course of 30 years, all parts of the province experienced all drought categories.

No abstract