Mapping environmental and climate variations by GMT: A case of Zambia, Central Africa

Abstract

Zambia recently experienced several environmental threats from climate change such as droughts, temperature rise and occasional flooding and they all affect agricultural sustainability and people wellbeing through negative effects on plants and growing crops. This paper is aimed at showing variations in several climate and environmental parameters in Zambia showing spatial variability and trends in different regions of Zambia's key environmental areas (Zambezi River and tributaries), Livingstone near the Victoria Falls and central region with Muchinga Mountains. A series of 10 maps was plotted using data from TerraClimate dataset: precipitation, soil moisture, Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), downward surface shortwave radiation, vapor pressure deficit and anomalies, potential and actual evapotranspiration and wind speed with relation to the topographic distribution of elevations in Zambia plotted using GEBCO/SRTM data. The data range of the PDSI according to the index values ranged from minimum at -5.7 to the maximum at 16.6 and mean at 7.169, with standard deviation at 4.278. The PDSI is effective in quantifying drought in long-term period. Because PDSI index applies temperature data and water balance model, it indicates the effect of climate warming on drought by correlation with potential evapotranspiration. The maximum values for soil moisture of Zambia show minimum at 1 mm/m, maximum at 413 mm/m, mean at 173 mm/m. This study is technically based on using the Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) as cartographic scripting toolset. The paper contributes to the environmental monitoring of Zambia by presenting a series of climate and environmental maps that are beneficial for agricultural mapping of Zambia.

The influence of the biostimulator on the yield components and yield of faba bean (Vicia faba var. minor)

“…Environmental and climate studies have long been of practical importance to support agricultural monitoring for the effective land management and development of the sustainable growth and wellbeing existing of local population. Elevation has often been used to study the effects of climatic elements on change organic matter in the soil (Lemenkova, 2021;Pekeć et al, 2021;Vidojević et al, 2021). The analysis of the sum of monthly precipitation (mm) and mean monthly temperatures (ºC) was carried out on the basis of data obtained from the Hydrometeorological Institute of the Republic of Srpska for the location of Banja Luka (44° 46΄ 00 N; 17° 11΄ 00΄E, Figure 2b).…”