Quantifying human impacts on hydrological drought using a combined modelling approach in a tropical river basin in central Vietnam

Firoz, A. B. M.; Nauditt, Alexandra; Fink, Manfred; Ribbe, Lars

doi:10.5194/hess-22-547-2018

Cited by 41 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Water abstractions influence streamflow drought and the severity of the influence is related to the amount of abstraction (Tijdeman et al, 2018). Similarly, reservoirs have also been found to aggravate streamflow drought downstream (Firoz et al, 2018;Tijdeman et al, 2018). This likely explains the results obtained for drought termination duration, as the human-induced decrease in water availability means longer is required for the system to recharge and return to non-drought levels.…”

Section: Drought Termination Durationmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Patterns in the timing of termination were found to either become amplified or shift depending on the human activity the catchment was subjected to. This effect is visible in the Ariège and Bilina basins, where the artificial flow regime created by the reservoirs and water transfers (Firoz et al, 2018) alters the termination start and end months. Changes are highly pronounced in the Ariège catchment, however it is likely that the utility (hydropower vs irrigation or drinking water supply) and seasonal operation of the reservoir is an important factor in the resulting flow regime and consequent timings of downstream drought events (Rangecroft et al, 2019).…”

Section: Timing Of Terminationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Anthropogenic activities alter drought termination

Margariti¹,

Rangecroft²,

Parry³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Despite the increasing influence of human activities on water resources in our current Anthropocene era, the impacts of these activities on the duration, rate and timing of the recovery of drought events, known as the drought termination phase, remain unknown. Here, we present the first assessment of how different human activities (i.e. water abstractions, reservoirs, water transfers) affect drought termination. Six case studies in Europe were used to analyse the human influence on streamflow drought termination characteristics. For all case studies, we compared a human-influenced time-series of streamflow (observation data) and a naturalised time-series (modelled data) for the same period. Overall, results clearly demonstrate the influence of human activities on drought terminations in all the studied catchments. Groundwater abstractions, reservoirs and mixed influences were all found to increase the average duration of drought termination, whereas water transfers into the catchment decreased drought termination duration. Results also show that average drought termination rates increased in all case studies due to the human influence. Furthermore, start and end months of the termination phase were more skewed to certain months in human-influenced data than in the naturalised situation. Future research could extend this new knowledge by looking to add further case studies and covering different human activities to gain a wider understanding on how human actions modify hydrological droughts and their recovery. Furthering this work could also help to improve the forecasting of drought recovery in the Anthropocene, which is important for informing drought management decisions.

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Section: Drought Termination Durationmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Timing Of Terminationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anthropogenic activities alter drought termination

Margariti¹,

Rangecroft²,

Parry³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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“…For this purpose, the basin's soil moisture was simulated with the use of the process-based J2000 hydrological model, which was validated against observed discharge and evapotranspiration. The J2000 model has been successfully used to investigate 110 hydrological droughts in Central Vietnam (Firoz et al, 2018;Nauditt et al, 2017). This paper specifically investigates the spatial and temporal variability of soil moisture for the trans-Himalaya (Tibet), the high and middle mountains (Nepal), and the southern plains of the river basin (in Nepal and India).…”

Section: Introduction 35mentioning

confidence: 99%

Space-time variability of soil moisture droughts in the Himalayan region

Nepal¹,

Pradhananga²,

Shrestha³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Abstract. Soil water is a major requirement for biomass production and therefore one of the most important factors for agriculture productivity. As agricultural droughts are related to declining soil moisture, this paper examines soil moisture drought in the transboundary Koshi River basin in the Central Himalayan region. By applying the J2000 hydrological model, daily spatially distributed soil moisture is derived for the entire basin over a 28-year period, 1980–2007. A multi-site and multi-variable approach – streamflow data at one station and evapotranspiration data at three stations – was used for the calibration and validation of the J2000 model. In order to identify drought conditions based on the simulated soil moisture, the Soil Moisture Deficit Index (SMDI) was then calculated, considering the derivation of actual from long-term soil moisture on a weekly timescale. To spatially sub-divide the variations in soil moisture, the river basin is partitioned into three distinct geographical areas, trans-Himalaya, the high and middle mountains, and the plains. Further, the SMDI is aggregated temporally to four seasons – winter, pre-monsoon, monsoon, and post-monsoon – based on wetness and dryness patterns observed in the study area. The results indicate that the J2000 model can simulate the hydrological cycle of the basin with good accuracy. Considerable variation in soil moisture was observed in the three physiographic regions and across the four seasons due to high variation in precipitation and temperature conditions. Droughts have been increasing in frequency in the later years of the period under study, most visibly in the pre-monsoon season. Comparing the SMDI with the standardized precipitation index (SPI) suggests that SMDI can reflect a higher variation of drought conditions than SPI. The novel contribution of this study is that a spatial and temporal variation of SMDI is calculated for the first time in the Central Himalayan region and for the Koshi River basin. This calculation is based on a high-resolution spatial representation of soil moisture, which was simulated using a fully distributed hydrological model. Our results suggest that both the occurrence and severity of droughts have increased in the Koshi River basin over the last three decades, especially in the winter and pre-monsoon seasons. The insights provided into the frequency, spatial coverage, and severity of drought conditions can provide valuable inputs towards an improved management of water resources and greater agricultural productivity in the region.

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“…Indices based on monthly hydro-meteorological values might not detect short-term deficits in quickly responding catchments. For tropical regions, it has therefore been proven useful to assess meteorological and hydrological drought hazard at a daily timescale (Nauditt et al, 2017;Firoz et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tropical drought risk: estimates combining gridded vulnerability and hazard data

Nauditt

Stahl

Rodríguez

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Abstract. Droughts are causing severe damages to water abundant tropical countries worldwide. Their resilience to water shortages tends to be low, often due to a lack of water infrastructure. Moreover, drought characteristics and risk in tropical catchments are poorly understood, which makes it difficult to select adequate adaptation measures. Thus, reliable methodologies to evaluate spatially distributed drought risk in data scarce tropical catchments are urgently needed. We combined drought hazard and vulnerability related information to assess drought risk in four rural tropical study regions, the Muriaé, subcatchment of the Paraíba do Sul in Southeast Brazil, the Tempisque-Bebedero in North Costa Rica, the upper part of the Magdalena basin, Colombia and the Srepok, a Mekong tributary shared by Cambodia and Vietnam. Drought hazard was defined based on three variables, daily river discharge and precipitation and vegetation condition. Conditions below defined thresholds were transformed into a cumulative drought index. To assess vulnerability, we reclassified and weighted globally and regionally available gridded socioeconomic data to represent the potential of a drought to cause damages in selected socioeconomic sectors of rural tropical regions. Besides illustrating the relative severity of each indicator value, we developed drought risk maps combining hazard and vulnerability severity for each grid cell. While for the Muriaé our results clearly identified the downstream area as being exposed to severe drought risk, the Tempisque showed highest risk along the major streams and related irrigation systems. Risk hotspots in the Upper Magdalena were found in the central valley and the dryer Southeast and in the Srepok in the agricultural areas of Vietnam and downstream in Cambodia. Plausibility of results was confirmed by local scientists and stakeholders, who evaluated the results for each indicator and risk hotspot. The presented risk assessment methodology for data scarce and rural tropical areas offers a holistic, science based and innovative solution to provide relevant drought related information. Being applied to individual catchments, the findings described in this article will enable the selection of data sets, indices and their classification - depending on basin size, spatial resolution and seasonality. At its current stage, the outcomes of this study provide relevant information for regional planners and water managers dealing with the control of future drought disasters in tropical regions.

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Quantifying human impacts on hydrological drought using a combined modelling approach in a tropical river basin in central Vietnam

Cited by 41 publications

References 55 publications

Anthropogenic activities alter drought termination

Anthropogenic activities alter drought termination

Space-time variability of soil moisture droughts in the Himalayan region

Tropical drought risk: estimates combining gridded vulnerability and hazard data

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