Spatial Variability of Rainfall Trends in Sri Lanka from 1989 to 2019 as an Indication of Climate Change

Alahacoon, Niranga; Edirisinghe, Mahesh

doi:10.3390/ijgi10020084

Cited by 70 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Sri Lanka's forest cover has decreased significantly over the past few decades [81], which could have a significant impact on the increasing severity of droughts in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, a previous study [82] showed an increasing trend of annual rainfall in Sri Lanka. Therefore, deforestation and changes in rainfall patterns can be considered as a driving force for drought, and there could be other factors, too.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Satellite-Based Meteorological and Agricultural Drought Monitoring for Agricultural Sustainability in Sri Lanka

2021

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For Sri Lanka, as an agricultural country, a methodical drought monitoring mechanism, including spatial and temporal variations, may significantly contribute to its agricultural sustainability. Investigating long-term meteorological and agricultural drought occurrences in Sri Lanka and assessing drought hazard at the district level are the main objectives of the study. Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Rainfall Anomaly Index (RAI), and Vegetation Health Index (VHI) were used as drought indicators to investigate the spatial and temporal distribution of agriculture and metrological droughts. Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation with Stations (CHIRPS) data from 1989 to 2019 was used to calculate SPI and RAI. MOD13A1 and MOD11A2 data from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) from 2001 to 2019, were used to generate the Vegetation Condition Index (VCI) and Temperature Condition Index (TCI). Agricultural drought monitoring was done using VHI and generated using the spatial integration of VCI and TCI. Thus, various spatial data analysis techniques were extensively employed for vector and raster data integration and analysis. A methodology has been developed for the drought declaration of the country using the VHI-derived drought area percentage. Accordingly, for a particular year, if the country-wide annual extreme and severe drought area percentage based on VHI drought classes is ≥30%, it can be declared as a drought year. Moreover, administrative districts of Sri Lanka were classified into four hazard classes, No drought, Low drought, Moderate drought, and High drought, using the natural-beak classification scheme for both agricultural and metrological droughts. The findings of this study can be used effectively by the relevant decision-makers for drought risk management (DRM), resilience, sustainable agriculture, and policymaking.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Satellite-Based Meteorological and Agricultural Drought Monitoring for Agricultural Sustainability in Sri Lanka

2021

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“…1700 mm rainfall annually. According to Alahacoon and Edirisinghe's study [29], Ampara showed a declining trend of rainfall. There is not much river discharge in this region and small tank cascade systems feed for agricultural lands (i.e., paddy) in this region [19].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Exploring the Ever-Changing Seashore Using Geoinformatics Technology

Zahir

Madurapperuma

Iyoob³

et al. 2021

Earth

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Detecting coastal morphodynamics is a crucial task for monitoring shoreline changes and coastal zone management. However, modern technology viz., Geoinformatics paves the way for long-term monitoring and observation with precise output. Therefore, this study aimed to produce explicit shoreline change maps and analyze the historical changes of the coastline at the east coast of the Ampara District in Sri Lanka. The histogram threshold method is used to extract data from satellite images. The time-series satellite images, acquired from 1987 to 2017, toposheet, and Google Earth historical images were compared having adjusted with the ground-truth to find the seashore changes in the study area. The histogram threshold method is used on band 5 (mid-infrared) for separating land from water pixels which means that the water pixel values were classified to one (1) and land pixel values to zero (0). The extracted shoreline vectors were associated with each other to determine the dynamics of changing shoreline of the study area. The Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) was used to find shoreline movements for each period of time. As a result, it was observed by the cross-section analysis within 100 m shoreline—seaward range along the study area—in which severe erosion has occurred northward of the Oluvil Harbor and anomalous accretion southward of the harbor because of the breakwaters constructed in the port entrance which hinder the long shore sediment transport along the study area. This situation has resulted in many ramifications to the coastal zone of the study area in socio-economic and environmental aspects in which the coastal protection mechanisms have not been well implemented to curb such issues.

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“…The average rainfall in the dry (yala) season is 427 mm, with a CV of 39%. However, recent climatological trend assessments show an increasing rainfall trend in the Dry Zone (Wickramagamage 2016;Naveendrakumar et al 2018;Nisansala et al 2020;Alahacoon and Edirisinghe 2021). Nevertheless, there is a consensus of climate projections that Sri Lanka's Dry Zone is getting drier with longer dry spells, and the Wet Zone is getting wetter with extreme rainfall events (Ratnayake and Herath 2005;Chandrapala 2007;Premalal 2009;Punyawardena and Premalal 2013).…”

Section: Synopsis Of Huruluwewa Irrigation Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptation to climate variability in Sri Lanka: a case study of the Huruluwewa Irrigation System in the Dry Zone

Amarasinghe¹,

Amarnath²,

Alahacoon³

et al. 2021

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Spatial Variability of Rainfall Trends in Sri Lanka from 1989 to 2019 as an Indication of Climate Change

Cited by 70 publications

References 59 publications

Satellite-Based Meteorological and Agricultural Drought Monitoring for Agricultural Sustainability in Sri Lanka

Satellite-Based Meteorological and Agricultural Drought Monitoring for Agricultural Sustainability in Sri Lanka

Exploring the Ever-Changing Seashore Using Geoinformatics Technology

Adaptation to climate variability in Sri Lanka: a case study of the Huruluwewa Irrigation System in the Dry Zone

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