Development and evaluation of a comprehensive drought index

Esfahanian, Elaheh; Nejadhashemi, A. Pouyan; Abouali, Mohammad; Adhikari, Umesh; Zhang, Zhen; Daneshvar, Fariborz; Herman, Matthew R.

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.10.050

Cited by 100 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Due to a multitude of effects and aspects of drought, a universally accepted drought definition does not exist (Esfahanian et al, 2017;Hayes, Svoboda, Wall, & Widhalm, 2011;Lloyd-Hughes, 2014). However, the scientific community has defined different types of drought based on drought classifications, characterizations, and multiple perspectives (Tokarczyk, 2013).…”

Section: Drought Definitions and Conceptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drought: Progress in broadening its understanding

et al. 2019

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Drought affects many aspects of society and its impact is global. To this end, rendering recurrent drought occurrences is a key research focus. Recently, in addition to existing knowledge, progress in scientific advancements regarding drought have been observed on a regional and global scale. Here, we reviewed and outlined current and emerging scientific developments in drought, focusing on progress made in recent years. In the human‐modified world, the anthropogenic effects on drought were dominant and drought‐frequency showed a prominent increase. In this study, we have identified the development of drought concepts, types, and indices, and their indicators were developed as sector‐specific, comprehensive, and oriented towards multiple scales. Anthropogenic changes have enhanced hydrological processes and affected the development of drought. Urbanization, deforestation, and related human activities have aggravated drought. Climate change has had an exacerbating role in drought, which is expected to increase during the 21st century. Human communities, in particular, are undertaking activities that cause droughts; suffering from and coping with their impact. In addition, the direct and indirect effects of drought need reconsideration. As such, the health impact of droughts is a concern in drought‐vulnerable societies and its burden on public health is largely unknown. The need for drought recovery to aid in effective ecosystem functioning in the aftermath of the drought and the development of mitigation measures to alleviate recurrent drought is critical. Enhanced drought monitoring and management options are required under existing environmental and socio‐economic setups in the 21st century. This article is characterized under: Science of Water > Water Extremes Engineering Water > Planning Water Water and Life > Stresses and Pressures on Ecosystems

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Section: Drought Definitions and Conceptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drought: Progress in broadening its understanding

et al. 2019

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“…A large number of studies have shown that not only meteorological factors but also the crop itself should be taken into account in studies on agricultural drought and waterlogging [22,66]. To calculate the correlation relationship with maize yield anomalies, Z NDVI and Z ET/PET were chosen.…”

Section: Correlation Analysis Between Each Index With Climatic Yield mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Zhang et al (2016) constructed the drought severity index (DSI) from NDVI and ET/PET as a remotely sensed drought indicator, integrating both vegetation conditions and evapotranspiration information of wheat [76]. Esfahanian et al (2017) used 13 commonly applied drought indices to develop a comprehensive drought index (MASH) based on the meteorological, hydrological, and agricultural categories [66]. Liu et al (2018) conducted statistical assessments to compare the strengths of different drought indices, including PDSI, SPI, and SPEI, for agricultural droughts in the North China Plain, and suggested that multiple indices are needed to assess and monitor the occurrence of agricultural droughts [77].…”

Section: Comparison With Other Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristic Analysis of Droughts and Waterlogging Events for Maize Based on a New Comprehensive Index through Coupling of Multisource Data in Midwestern Jilin Province, China

et al. 2019

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Frequent droughts and waterlogging events are a threat to food security. An understanding of the spatial and temporal variations that occur during such events is essential when conducting a regional and/or global drought and waterlogging assessment. The goal of this study is to define a comprehensive index that considers the continuum system of atmosphere, crops, and soil moisture impacts on droughts and waterlogging events, and to analyze the temporal and spatial distribution of such events in the development of maize. The results show that the proposed comprehensive drought and waterlogging index (CDWI) can bring together the advantages of a single drought and waterlogging index and reasonably describe its range. During the study period, the annual trends of the CDWI decreased at different growth stages from 1982 to 2015, whereas the CDWI did not show significant spatial heterogeneity during any particular stage. Increasing trends of CDWI over 0.019/year were found in the northern part of Midwestern Jilin Province from the emergence to tasseling stages. In addition, decreasing trends were observed in the study area from the tasseling to maturation stages. Slight drought and waterlogging events occurred more frequently than moderate and serious drought and waterlogging events.

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“…Drought is a natural phenomenon caused by a mixture of several factors, such as precipitation deficiency, persistence of lower-than-normal rainfall, temperature excess, and soil moisture deficit (Balint, Mutua, Muchiri, & Omuto, 2013). In fact, the above drought indices are usually correlated with each other (Balint et al, 2013;Esfahanian et al, 2017). Therefore, we combined drought indices including the VCI, SMCI, SPI, and rainfall anomaly index (RAI) to produce a Combined Drought Index (CDI) in this study.…”

Section: Soil Moisture-based Drought Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of drought and vulnerability in the North Darfur region of Sudan

et al. 2018

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North Darfur of Sudan is located on the edge of the Sahara Desert and endures frequent droughts due to water shortages and high summer temperatures. Monitoring and understanding drought characteristics are essential for integrated drought risk mitigation and prevetion of land degradation. This study evaluates drought conditions in North Darfur by analyzing the spatiotemporal distribution of drought using three drought indices (Standardized Precipitation Index, Vegetation Condition Index, and Soil Moisture Content Index) and their combined drought index (CDI) from 2004 to 2013. Biophysical and socioeconomic indicators are further used to measure vulnerability to drought risk and its three components (exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity) through a comprehensive risk assessment framework. The results show that most of North Darfur has experienced prolonged droughts during the study period, especially from 2007 to 2011. There is also a significant correlation between the monsoon season CDI and annual crop yield anomaly. The results confirm the validity of the CDI index, which provides a comprehensive description of the drought situation by combing four drought indices quantifying different drought aspects. The vulnerability results show that the majority of this region is highly exposed and sensitive to drought risks. In particular, the northern zone of the region is highly vulnerable, which is categorized by less‐crop diversity, higher land degradation, frequent droughts, and high‐poverty levels. This study provides valuable information for coping with climate change‐induced drought risk in this region and demonstrates that there is still a large room for enhancing the adaptation capacity in this region.

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Development and evaluation of a comprehensive drought index

Cited by 100 publications

References 46 publications

Drought: Progress in broadening its understanding

Drought: Progress in broadening its understanding

Characteristic Analysis of Droughts and Waterlogging Events for Maize Based on a New Comprehensive Index through Coupling of Multisource Data in Midwestern Jilin Province, China

Analysis of drought and vulnerability in the North Darfur region of Sudan

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