Drought episodes in the Czech Republic and their potential effects in agriculture

This paper presents the methodology for assessment of drought episodes and their potential effects on winter and spring cereal crops in the Czech Republic (in the text referred to as Czechia). Historical climate and crop yields data for the period of 47 years (1961–2007) have been integrated into an agrometeorological database. The drought episodes were determined by three methods: according to the values of the standardized precipitation index (SPI), percentage of long-term precipitations (r), and on the basis of the Ped drought index (S _i). Consequently, the combined SPI, S _i, and r indices have been used as tools in identification of the severity, frequency, and extent of drought episodes. Additionally, the paper also presents the S _i drought index and its potential use for real-time monitoring of spatial extension and severity of droughts in Czechia. The drought risk to crops was analyzed by identifying the relationships between the fluctuation of crop yields and drought index (S _i) based on the multiple regression analysis with stepwise selection. In general, models explain that a high percentage of the variability of the yield is due to drought (more than 45% of yield variance).     

标准化降水蒸发指数在中国区域的应用

利用中国气象局160个站1951～2010年月降水和月平均气温资料,分析了最近定义的一种干旱指数——标准化降水蒸发指数(SPEI)在我国不同等级降水区域的适用性,并与标准化降水指数(SPI)和湿润指数H进行了对比分析。结果表明:1)在我国年均降水量大于200 mm的地区,各种时间尺度的SPEI分析均适用;在干旱区(年均降水量小于200 mm),只有12个月以上的大尺度SPEI分析适用性较好;其中12个月尺度的SPEI分析在各区适用性最好。2)由于干旱区冬季的潜在蒸发量和降水量0值均较多,导致1、3、6个月的小尺度SPEI分析在该区不适用。3)与SPI和H指数相比,SPEI既能充分反映1997年气温跃变以后增温效应对干旱程度的影响,又可作为监测指数识别干旱是否发生和结束,能较准确地表征干旱状况。     

北疆绿洲农业区气象干旱指数的确定及干旱特征分析

气象干旱指数是衡量农业干旱程度的指标之一。选取降水距平百分率PA、标准化降水指数SPI、标准化降水蒸散指数SPEI、通过SPI和SPEI构建的综合指数nSPEI（新的标准化降水蒸散指数）四种干旱指数,利用北疆绿洲农业区1961－2020年的气象数据,进行相关性、回归拟合、不同等级干旱频率分布等方面的对比,优选出对旱情描述更符合实际的干旱指数,并进而分析研究区的干旱变化特征。结果表明：（1）PA的干旱标准低估了干旱程度,SPI对温度上升引起的干旱加剧不敏感,SPEI计算蒸散发选用的Thornthwaite方法会高估温度对干旱的影响,nSPEI克服了SPI和SPEI的不足,对研究区的适用性最优。（2）近60年,研究区季尺度气象干旱随时间呈波动性变化特征,进入21世纪以来,春、夏季表现为湿－干变化,秋季表现为弱的干－湿变化,在干旱强度上,春、夏季由弱增强,秋季略减弱,在干旱范围上,以全局性干旱为主,春季局域性干旱增多,夏、秋季局域性干旱减少,在干旱频次上,春季特旱多,夏季重旱多,要注意相伴随的大风灾害和高温灾害,都会进一步加重农业旱情和灾情。     

Probabilistic assessment of projected climatological drought characteristics over the Southeast USA

The study makes a probabilistic assessment of drought risks due to climate change over the southeast USA based on 15 Global Circulation Model (GCM) simulations and two emission scenarios. The effects of climate change on drought characteristics such as drought intensity, frequency, areal extent, and duration are investigated using the seasonal and continuous standard precipitation index (SPI) and the standard evapotranspiration index (SPEI). The GCM data are divided into four time periods namely Historical (1961–1990), Near (2010–2039), Mid (2040–2069), and Late (2070–2099), and significant differences between historical and future time periods are quantified using the mapping model agreement technique. Further, the kernel density estimation approach is used to derive a novel probability-based severity-area-frequency (PBS) curve for the study domain. Analysis suggests that future increases in temperature and evapotranspiration will outstrip increases in precipitation and significantly affect future droughts over the study domain. Seasonal drought analysis suggest that the summer season will be impacted the most based on SPI and SPEI. Projections based on SPI follow precipitation patterns and fewer GCMs agree on SPI and the direction of change compared to the SPEI. Long-term and extreme drought events are projected to be affected more than short-term and moderate ones. Based on an analysis of PBS curves, especially based on SPEI, droughts are projected to become more severe in the future. The development of PBS curves is a novel feature in this study and will provide policymakers with important tools for analyzing future drought risks, vulnerabilities and help build drought resilience. The PBS curves can be replicated for studies around the world for drought assessment under climate change.     

联合干旱指数在干旱监测中的应用——以广东韶关地区为例

气候变化影响了水循环与地区的水量平衡过程,一定程度上改变了干旱的形成与演变条件。以标准化降水量与蒸散发量差值表征水分偏离正常程度的标准化降水蒸散发指数(SPEI)为基础,从多时间尺度联合的视角建立联合干旱指数(JDI),并以广东韶关为例分析修正的新指数JDI在干旱监测中的准确性和有效性。结果表明,综合了不同时间尺度干旱特征信息的JDI能够较全面地反映干旱的形成与演进过程。通过对干旱监测的评价以及与实际旱情的对比分析,验证了联合干旱指数JDI在实际干旱监测中的准确性和有效性,其可作为未来干旱监测的新理想指标。     

基于CART算法的夏季干旱预测模型研究及应用

利用标准化降水蒸散指数(SPEI)作为判断干旱是否发生的标准,基于数据挖掘方法中的CART算法探究夏季西太平洋副高北界、夏季西太平洋副高强度指数、准两年振荡(QBO)、东亚夏季风指数、夏季北大西洋涛动(NAO)、夏季太平洋年代际振荡(PDO)、厄尔尼诺指数等多项气候因子与干旱的关系,构造分类决策树,得到干旱预报规则集,从而建立干旱的预报模型。预报模型以各项气候因子为输入变量,是否干旱为目标变量。根据1955—2012年商丘月平均气温和月总降水资料计算出商丘夏季58 a的SPEI指数作为干旱判定指标;以同期的多项气候因子数据作为输入变量,随机选取46 a的数据得到7条分类规则集,分类准确率为86.96%。使用剩余12 a的数据验证,准确率高达91.67%。结果有力地证明了基于CART算法建立干旱预报模型的可行性、科学性、有效性以及与干旱研究理论的一致性,为干旱模型的研究及季节性预测提供了科学有效的新思路。     

Drought history inferred from tree ring δ 13C and δ 18O in the central Tianshan Mountains of China and linkage with the North Atlantic Oscillation

Annual tree ring δ ¹⁸O and δ ¹³C chronologies from 1790 to 2008 were established using Tianshan spruce (Picea schrenkiana) in the central Tianshan Mountains of northwestern China. Temperature has a positive effect on tree ring δ ¹⁸O and δ ¹³C in the study area, while precipitation and relative humidity have negative effects. The standardized precipitation–evapotranspiration index (SPEI) considered all of these effects and was significantly negatively correlated with tree ring δ ¹⁸O and δ ¹³C. We combined the tree ring δ ¹⁸O and δ ¹³C series to reconstruct the past 192 years of SPEI, which accounted for about 46 % of the total variance of SPEI from 1950 to 2006. The reconstruction showed good spatial agreement with gridded data in Palmer Drought Severity Index and precipitation and an inverse relationship with temperature. Our SPEI reconstruction reveals several wet and dry periods over the past 192 years and has good agreement with other drought records. Wavelet analysis showed quasi-periodic 10-, 20-, 30-, and 70-year fluctuations in the reconstruction. The 10-, 20-, and 30-year periodicities may reflect the potential influence of North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Overall, this study indicates that the SPEI is a potential drought index, and the winter NAO affects regional moisture conditions in the long term.     

基于SPEI干旱指数的凉山州干旱特征分析

本文采用凉山州17个国家气象站1971~2017年的气象资料,利用基于Penman-Monteith模型的标准化降水蒸散指数SPEI,分析月、季、年不同时间尺度下凉山州SPEI干旱指数的时空分布状况,并以西昌气象站为代表进行了SPEI干旱指数的突变性M-K检验。结果表明:(1)标准化降水蒸散指数能较好地反映凉山州干旱发生程度;(2)凉山州干旱的年代际变化明显,20世纪70年代、80年代和21世纪10年代总体偏旱,20世纪90年代和21世纪00年代则相对较为湿润;(3)凉山州干旱发生频率空间分布不均,中部干旱发生频率高于北部和南部地区;(4)西昌市近30年来干旱总体偏轻,最近一次干湿突变发生于1987年;⑤各季节最近一次由干转湿的突变点,冬季在1999年、春季在1996年、夏季在1994年、秋季在1991年,呈逐季提前的趋势。      

新疆塔城地区1961—2021年季节性干旱演变特征

利用塔城地区9个国家气象观测站1961—2021年逐月降水资料,基于标准化降水量指数(SPI)运用最小二乘法和Mann-Kendall检验等方法分析塔城地区干旱时空分布特征。结果表明：(1)年尺度上,塔城地区干旱发生频率为30.37%,轻旱发生最多,中旱次之；2/3站点SPI呈显著增大趋势,年站次比和干旱强度呈显著减小趋势,干旱程度有所减轻,在1987年之后塔城干旱程度整体偏轻。(2)季节尺度上,夏、秋、冬季在1980年代中期发生干旱减轻的突变,且秋季和冬季分别在2002年和1997年达到显著。(3)在影响范围方面,各季以局域性和全域性干旱为主,全域性干旱发生频率介于20～30%之间；在干旱强度方面,各季轻度干旱发生频率最高,中度以上干旱发生频率介于33～38%之间。(4)近60a塔城地区季节性干旱呈现影响范围缩小,强度减弱的变化趋势,尤其是冬季干旱站次比和干旱强度分别以-7.79%.(10a)-1^和-0.11.(10a)-1^的倾向率显著减小,干旱减轻趋势在四季中最为显著。     

Combining the standardized precipitation index and climatic water deficit in characterizing droughts: a case study in Romania

This paper characterizes droughts in Romania using the approach of both the standardized precipitation index (SPI) and climatic water deficit (WD). The values of the main climatic factors (rainfall, temperature, reference evapotranspiration, etc.) were obtained from 192 weather stations in various regions of Romania. Penman–Monteith reference evapotranspiration (ET_o-PM) was used to calculate WD as the difference between precipitation (P) and ET_o-PM. SPI was calculated from precipitation values. There is a clear difference between drought and aridity. Drought occurrence determines higher WD values for plains and plateaus and lower climatic excess water (EW) values for high mountains in Romania, depending on the aridity of the specific region considered and drought severity. WD calculated as mean values for both normal conditions and, for all locations studied, various types of drought was correlated with mean annual precipitation and temperature, respectively. The combined approach of WD and SPI was mainly carried out for periods of 1 year, but such studies could also be done for shorter periods like months, quarters, or growing season. The most arid regions did not necessarily coincide with areas of the most severe drought, as there were no correlations between WD and SPI and no altitude-based SPI zones around the Carpathian Mountains, as is the case for other climate characteristics, soils and vegetation. Water resource problems arise where both SPI values characterize extremely droughty periods and WD values are greatly below ?200 mm/year. This combined use of SPI and WD characterizes the dryness of a region better than one factor alone and should be used for better management of water in agriculture in Romania and also other countries with similar climate characteristics.     

基于SPI的1961－2020年昌吉地区作物生长季气象干旱时空特征研究

基于昌吉地区7个气象站1961－2020年降水量资料，计算昌吉地区作物生长季标准化降水指数（SPI-7）。运用趋势分析法、M-K突变检验法和小波分析法探究了昌吉地区作物生长季SPI-7指数的年际和年代变化特征；在此基础上分析了作物生长季干旱的站次比和干旱强度的年际变化,并结合该区实际发生的旱灾对SPI进行了验证。结果表明：1961—2020年昌吉地区作物生长季标准化降水指数以0.08/10 a的速率呈微弱的正趋势（变湿），在年代变化趋势中呈现出变干-变湿-变干的变化波动, 1981年标准化降水指数由低到高突变；干旱强度呈增加趋势，干旱发生的区域面积有轻微减少的趋势；干旱强度在全区范围内主要为轻旱和中旱等级，并表现为全域性干旱和区域性干旱；空间分布上看干旱率最高区域在东部地区，轻旱主要集中在东部，中旱、重旱和特旱集中在西部地区，干旱强度大的区域大致分布在西部地区；在周期性变化方面，SPI指数存在着6年、9年、16年周期震荡；历史旱灾与SPI指数干旱评价结果吻合率较高，SPI指数在昌吉地区作物生长季的干旱监测与分析中具有较好的实用性。     

Calibration of weather radar using region probability matching method (RPMM)

In this paper, spatiotemporal variability of drought in Xilingol grassland during pasture growing season (from April to September) was investigated, using 52 years (1961–2012) of precipitation data recorded at 14 rain gauge stations in the study area. The Standardized Precipitation Index was used to compute the severity of drought. The Mann-Kendall test, the linear trend, and the sequential Mann-Kendall test were applied to standardized precipitation index (SPI) time series. The results indicate that drought has become increasingly serious on the region scale during pasture growing season, and the rate of SPI decreases ranged from ?0.112 to ?0.013 per decade. As for the MK test, most of the stations, the Z value range is from ?1.081 to ?0.005 and Kendall’s τ varies from ?0.104 to ?0.024. Meanwhile, drought is increased obviously from the northwest to the southeast region. Meanwhile, the occurrence probability of each severity class, times for reaching different drought class from any drought severity state, and residence times in each drought class have been obtained with Markov chain. Furthermore, the drought severities during pasture growing season in 2013–2016 are predicted depending on the weighted Markov chain. The results may provide a scientific basis for preventing and mitigating drought disaster.     

Drought analysis in the Tons River Basin,India during 1969-2008

The primary focus of this study is the analysis of droughts in the Tons River Basin during the period 1969–2008. Precipitation data observed at four gauging stations are used to identify drought over the study area. The event of drought is derived from the standardized precipitation index (SPI) on a 3-month scale. Our results indicated that severe drought occurred in the Allahabad, Rewa, and Satna stations in the years 1973 and 1979. The droughts in this region had occurred mainly due to erratic behavior in monsoons, especially due to long breaks between monsoons. During the drought years, the deficiency of the annual rainfall in the analysis of annual rainfall departure had varied from ?26% in 1976 to ?60% in 1973 at Allahabad station in the basin. The maximum deficiency of annual and seasonal rainfall recorded in the basin is 60%. The maximum seasonal rainfall departure observed in the basin is in the order of ?60% at Allahabad station in 1973, while maximum annual rainfall departure had been recorded as ?60% during 1979 at the Satna station. Extreme dry events (z score <?2) were detected during July, August, and September. Moreover, severe dry events were observed in August, September, and October. The drought conditions in the Tons River Basin are dominantly driven by total rainfall throughout the period between June and November.     

2017年春夏呼伦贝尔草原干旱过程多种监测指数对比分析

以2017年春夏季呼伦贝尔草原干旱过程为研究对象,利用呼伦贝尔草原范围内6个气象站的气温、降水数据和MODIS NDVI数据,分析对比2017年4—9月多种气象干旱指数（Pa30、SPI30、SPEI30、CI、MCI）与植被状态指数（VCI）的监测情况。结果表明：只考虑单一降水的气象干旱指数（Pa30、SPI30）在4月波动较大,且此类指数无法反映出高温等其他气象条件对干旱发展的影响。综合气象干旱指数(CI、MCI)由于引入多时间尺度干旱进行计算,旱情缓解时轻旱等级持续的时间过长,且草原植被在降水增加后的恢复速度较快,造成干旱缓解期间植被与监测结果差异较大。MCI与同期和前1期VCI的相关性最好,CI和SPEI30与前1期和前2期VCI的相关性较好,而只考虑单一降水的气象干旱指数与VCI的相关性普遍偏差。植被对SPEI30的响应时间更长,更适宜草原生态干旱的早期预警使用。     

Impact of drought on wildland fires in Greece: implications of climatic change?

An increasing trend and a statistically significant positive correlation between wildfire occurrence, area burned and drought (as expressed by the Standardized Precipitation Index, SPI) have been observed all over Greece, during the period 1961?C1997. In the more humid and colder regions (Northern and Western Greece) the number of fires and area burned were positively correlated to both summer (SPI6_October) and annual drought (SPI12_September), whereas in the relatively more dry and hot regions (Southern and Central Greece) the number of fires and area burned were correlated only to summer drought. In 1978, Greece entered a period of prolonged drought, possibly as a result of the global climatic change. Data analysis of the period 1978?C1997 revealed a statistically significant increase in the mean annual number of fires, the area burned and the summer and annual drought episodes in the relatively more humid and colder regions (Northern and Western) of Greece (which in the past were characterized by less fires and area burned) compared to the more dry and hot regions (Southern and Eastern Greece), which always presented high fire activity. Additionally, analyzing the two sub-periods (1961?C1977, 1978?C1997) separately, drought was significantly correlated only to fire occurrence during the years 1961?C1977, whereas during 1978?C1997 drought was significantly correlated mainly to area burned. It became obvious that drought episodes, although they are not solely responsible for fire occurrence and area burned, they exert an increasingly significant impact on wildfire activity in Greece.     

基于SPEI的近百年天津地区气象干旱时空演变特征

基于1921—2016年天津地区降水、气温观测数据,对全球降水气候中心降水(GPCC-P)、东英吉利大学气候研究中心气温(CRU-T)进行适用性评估后发现GPCC-P和CRU-T均能较好地反映天津地区降水和气温的变化。在此基础上,进一步利用GPCC-P、CRU-T计算的标准化降水蒸散指数(SPEI)分析天津地区近百年干旱时空演变特征并判断其未来变化趋势。结果表明:(1)天津干旱主要发生于1940年代初期、1990年代末和2000年代初期,四季均以轻旱和中旱为主,干旱高频季节由秋、冬季逐渐转为春、夏季。(2)天津全区SPEI气候趋势在6个时期除秋季整体呈"升、降、升"分布特征外,春、夏、冬季均表现为"升、降"的分布特征,且夏季下降趋势最为显著,1961—2010年宁河每10 a下降0.30。(3)1921—1970、1931—1980、1941—1990年天津春、冬季湿润化趋势由降水主导,而夏、秋季则由气温和降水协同影响;1951—2000、1961—2010、1971—2016年春季干旱趋势主要受气温影响,夏、冬季则为气温和降水协同影响,随着全球变暖,气温升高对干旱的影响逐渐增强。(4)1921—2016年天津地区四季SPEI与PDO呈负相关关系,春、夏季相关性从西北向东南递减,而秋、冬季相关性则由东南向西北递减。(5)未来夏季天津全区、冬季天津西南部呈干旱化趋势,春季干旱化趋势、秋季湿润化趋势不明显。     

MLP-based drought forecasting in different climatic regions

Water resources management is a complex task and is further compounded by droughts. This study applies a multilayer perceptron network optimized using Levenberg–Marquardt (MLP) training algorithm with a tangent sigmoid activation function to forecast quantitative values of standardized precipitation index (SPI) of drought at five synoptic stations in Iran. The study stations are located in different climatic regions based on De Martonne aridity index. In this study, running series of total precipitation corresponding to 3, 6, 9, 12, and 24?months were used and the corresponding SPIs were calculated: SPI3, SPI6, SPI9, SPI12, and SPI24. The multilayer perceptrons (MLPs) for SPIs with the 1-month lead time forecasting, were tested and validated. Four different input vectors were considered during network development. In the first model, MLP constructed by importing antecedent SPI with 1-, 2-, 3-, and 4-month time lags and antecedent precipitation with 1- and 2-month time lags (MLP1). Addition of antecedent North Atlantic Oscillation or antecedent Southern Oscillation Index with 1-month time lag or both of them to MLP1 led to MLP2, MLP3, and MLP4, respectively. The MLP models were evaluated using the root mean square error (RMSE) and the coefficient of determination (R ²). The results showed that MLP4 had a higher prediction efficiency than the other MLPs. The more satisfactory results of RMSE and R ² values of MLP4 for 1-month lead time for validation phase were equal to 0.35 and 0.92, respectively. Also, results indicated that MLPs can forecast SPI24 and SPI12 more accurately than the other SPIs.     

东北地区夏季干旱的年际—年代际变化特征

利用国家气候中心提供的1951—2012年160个标准站的逐月降水和温度资料,计算了表征东北地区干旱的SPEI指数,并对该指数进行EMSD分解,研究了东北地区干旱的年际—年代际变化特征。结果表明,东北地区夏季干旱年际—年代际变化特征明显,年际变化中具有显著的准2 a、准5 a和准7 a振荡周期;年代际变化中则具有显著的准17 a和22 a振荡周期。进一步分析发现,1975—1984年和1994—2008年为相对干旱阶段,其中1994—2008年旱情比较严重,1953—1975年、1984—1994年以及2009—2012年为相对湿润阶段。Mann-Kendal检验结果表明,东北地区夏季旱涝突变发生在1975年和1994年。     

Improved predictability of droughts over southern Africa using the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index and ENSO

The provision of timely and reliable climate information on which to base management decisions remains a critical component in drought planning for southern Africa. In this observational study, we have not only proposed a forecasting scheme which caters for timeliness and reliability but improved relevance of the climate information by using a novel drought index called the standardised precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI), instead of the traditional precipitation only based index, the standardised precipitation index (SPI). The SPEI which includes temperature and other climatic factors in its construction has a more robust connection to ENSO than the SPI. Consequently, the developed ENSO-SPEI prediction scheme can provide quantitative information about the spatial extent and severity of predicted drought conditions in a way that reflects more closely the level of risk in the global warming context of the sub region. However, it is established that the ENSO significant regional impact is restricted only to the period December–March, implying a revisit to the traditional ENSO-based forecast scheme which essentially divides the rainfall season into the two periods, October to December and January to March. Although the prediction of ENSO events has increased with the refinement of numerical models, this work has demonstrated that the prediction of drought impacts related to ENSO is also a reality based only on observations. A large temporal lag is observed between the development of ENSO phenomena (typically in May of the previous year) and the identification of regional SPEI defined drought conditions. It has been shown that using the Southern Africa Regional Climate Outlook Forum’s (SARCOF) traditional 3-month averaged Nino 3.4 SST index (June to August) as a predictor does not have an added advantage over using only the May SST index values. In this regard, the extended lead time and improved skill demonstrated in this study could immensely benefit regional decision makers.     

Evolution of meteorological drought characteristics in Vietnam during the 1961–2007 period

The drought conditions over the seven sub-climatological regions in Vietnam are examined using three meteorological drought indices: de Martonne J, PED, and Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI). According to the seasonal probabilities of drought occurrence estimated by the de Martonne index, droughts mainly occur between November and March in all the sub-regions. The PED index and the SPI index generally show high probabilities of drought occurrence from April to August and from May to October, respectively. In the southern sub-regions of Vietnam, droughts more frequently occur in El Niño years and wet conditions are more frequently observed in La Niña years. However, such El Niño–Southern Oscillation influences are not clearly observed in the northern sub-regions. During 1961–2007, droughts significantly increased in the northern part of Vietnam. In the southern regions, PED shows increasing drought conditions while J and SPI show decreasing drought trends for almost all the stations.