Characterization of drought in the Kerio Valley Basin,Kenya using the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index: 1960−2016

The Kerio Valley basin in Kenya has undergone several periods of drought, yet drought patterns in the region are not well understood due to limited climatic data. Drought events in the region have resulted in crop failure and livestock deaths, exacerbating food shortages. In this study, the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), a multi‐scalar drought index was used to examine the onset, duration, severity, intensity, and frequency of agricultural and hydrological drought in the region. The gridded 0.5° × 0.5° climatic datasets from Climatic Research Unit for the period 1960?2016 was used for analysis. Temporal evolutions of SPEI at 6‐ and 12‐month lags were subsequently used to evaluate agricultural and hydrological drought, respectively. Additionally, the Mann‐Kendall trend test was used to test for trends in the time series. Results from the analysis show that: 1) droughts are becoming more frequent in the region, 2) drought intensities in the arid and semi‐arid lands have weakened, 3) regions west of the Kerio River have recently recorded a wetting trend, and 4) the southern and central regions of the basin are drought‐prone. Understanding the spatial and temporal patterns of drought in the basin can assist in drought preparation and mitigation planning.     

小叶锦鸡儿(Caragana microphylla)群落蒸散发模拟

基于2016、2017年生长季原位气象监测数据,利用Shuttleworth-Wallace(S-W)模型模拟了科尔沁沙地主要固沙植物小叶锦鸡儿(Caragana microphylla)群落的蒸散发,对蒸散组分进行了拆分,并利用涡度相关系统对模拟蒸散发值进行了验证。结果表明:2016、2017年生长季小叶锦鸡儿群落蒸散发量分别为345.4、325.2 mm,土壤蒸发量分别为93.8、83.8 mm,植被蒸腾量分别为251.6、241.4 mm,土壤蒸发占总蒸散发分别为27.2%、25.8%。30 min尺度上模拟值与实测值一致性较高,模拟精度大体表现为晴天>阴天>雨天。持续干旱和降水后,小叶锦鸡儿蒸腾耗水规律明显不同,持续干旱时期小叶锦鸡儿保持较低的蒸腾耗水,且具有明显的"午休"现象,连续降水后小叶锦鸡儿"午休"消失,蒸腾耗水增强。饱和水汽压差是影响小叶锦鸡儿蒸散发的主要因子。     

气候变暖背景下中国干旱变化的区域特征

在全球气温日趋升高和极端降水增加的气候背景下,近年来中国干旱变化特征异常突出,新形势下需进一步深入认识干旱发生特征及影响机制。利用1960-2014年中国527个气象站逐日气温和降水量数据,选用改进的综合气象干旱指数（MCI）作为干旱监测指标,详细分析了中国各区域干旱强度、次数和持续时间变化特征及其差异性。结果表明：1960年以来,中国各区域干旱程度加重,范围增大,次数增多,持续时间增长。干旱特征发生了明显的区域变化,各个区域干旱变化差异显著。西南、华中、华北和华南区域干旱程度明显加重,主要是重度以上干旱次数较多。华北和西南干旱年数最多,为45年,其他地方为35~36年,华北重度以上干旱年份最多,为14年,其次是东北和华南的7年。干旱发生时间和区域也有随机性,中国各区域四季都有可能发生干旱,干旱不仅发生在北方干旱和半干旱区域,在南方湿润和半湿润区域同样发生。各区域以夏旱为主,东北以春旱和夏旱居多,华南以秋旱为主。干旱持续时间不等,有时高达9个月。有些区域年内干旱呈单峰型,有些区域为双峰型。气候变暖背景下,中国各个区域干旱呈加重趋势。     

福建省复杂地形下旬平均气温分布式模拟

为建立高时空分辨率的福建省复杂地形下气温栅格数据集,利用福建省及其周边33个常规气象站观测资料,基于数字高程模型（DEM）数据,综合考虑海拔、太阳总辐射、地表长波有效辐射对旬平均气温的影响,模拟了福建省复杂地形下旬均温的空间分布。结果表明：1）常规站验证结果显示：各旬气温绝对误差平均值（MAE）最小为0.46℃,最大为2.3℃,全年平均为0.87℃;加密站验证结果显示,MAE最大为2.3℃,最小0.5℃,全年平均为0.96℃。2）模拟结果能反映旬均温的宏观分布规律与局地细节特征。宏观范围内,旬均温受纬度影响较大,由北至南气温逐渐升高,沿海地区旬均温整体高于内陆,山区旬均温明显较低;局地范围内,各坡向上气温差异显著,海拔越高、坡度越大,差异越明显;地形因子对旬平均温的影响具有季节差异,具体表现为冬季时地形因子对旬均温的影响最大,秋季次之,春夏季节中地形因子对旬均温的影响最弱。     

Trends and risk evolution of drought disasters in Tibet Region,China

Journal of Geographical Sciences - The risk posed by natural disasters can be largely reflected by hazard and vulnerability. The analysis of long-term hazard series can reveal the mechanisms by...     

A geospatial study of the drought impact on surface water reservoirs: study cases from Texas,USA

Satellite images have been used historically to measure and monitor fluctuations in the surface water reservoirs. This study integrates remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies to investigate the impact of drought on 10 selected surface water reservoirs in San Angelo and Dallas, Texas. Oscillations in summer and winter months throughout the 2005–2016 period were assessed using multispectral images from Landsat-5, ?7, and ?8, and changes in the reservoirs were characterized and correlated against local climate data of each reservoir. For quantitative comparisons of the time-series measurements, a robust density slicing approach was employed to classify the range of values of the raster cells in the near-infrared band of Landsat images for each lake into three desired classes (deep water, shallow water, and dry area) based on the natural breaks inherent in the dataset. Statistical analysis shows that the overall accuracy of the classification is about 94%, which demonstrates the efficiency of the density slicer to accurately estimate surface water area changes from an individual Landsat band. Shrinkage in the surface water area over the study period reveals the concrete impact that the drought along with other factors have on the 10 selected lakes. The San Angelo lakes located in west central Texas experienced a nearly consistent pattern of change during most of the study period; whereas the Dallas lakes in northeast Texas followed the oscillating pattern of drought and correlated closely to the local conditions. Shockingly, the extreme drought caused complete vanishing of several lakes, and consequently Texas had to remove them from its recreational plans. Our new findings can certainly help with the water resource management in Texas and our study approach can be adapted for monitoring lake oscillations in other areas across the world. This geospatial study demonstrates the societal benefits from incorporating remote sensing and GIS in investigating geo-environmental problems associated with severe climate changes.     

顾及空间非平稳特征的遥感干旱监测

遥感技术具备实时快速、时空连续、广覆盖尺度等独特优势,在全球气候恶化大背景下,利用遥感干旱监测方法相比于传统地面监测手段,能够提供实时、准确、稳定的旱情信息,辅助科学决策。目前常用遥感旱情监测方法大多依赖全域性数学模型建模,假定了旱情模式的空间平稳特性,因而难以准确反映旱情模式的局部差异特征。本文提出利用地理加权回归模型GWR (Geographically Weighted Regression),考虑旱情模式的空间非平稳特性,综合多种遥感地面旱情监测指数,以实现传统全域旱情监测模型的局部优化。以美国大陆为研究区,监测2002年—2011年共10年的旱情状态。研究表明,GWR模型能够提供空间变化的局部最佳估计模型参数,监测结果更加吻合标准美国旱情监测USDM (U.S Drought Monitor)验证数据,且与地面实测值的最高相关系数R达到0.8552,均方根误差RMSE达到0.972,显著优于其他遥感旱情监测模型。GWR模型具备空间非平稳探测优势,实现了旱情模式的局部精细探测,能够显著提升遥感旱情监测精度,具备较好的应用前景。     

随机森林算法在全球干旱评估中的应用

干旱是发生频率最高,造成社会、经济损失和生态破坏最严重、最广泛的自然灾害之一,因此对干旱进行可靠、有效的评估十分重要.本文以月平均降水、月平均温度、月最高温度、月最低温度、土壤湿度、蒸散发、NDVI、叶绿素荧光等作为解释变量,以基于SPI的干旱等级作为目标变量,采用随机森林算法,以2007-2012年的数据作为训练数据...     

利用NOAA-AVHRR数据分析1982-2001年间中国植被的动态变化(英文)

The authors derived the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from the NOAA/AVHRR Land dataset, at a spatial resolution of 8km and 15-day intervals, to investigate the vegetation variations in China during the period from 1982 to 2001. Then, GIS is used to examine the relationship between precipitation and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in China, and the value of NDVI is taken as a tool for drought monitoring. The results showed that in the study period, China’s vegetation cover h...     

Characteristics and variations of the East Asian monsoon system and its impacts on climate disasters in China

Recent advances in studies of the structural characteristics and temporal-spatial variations of the East Asian monsoon （EAM） system and the impact of this system on severe climate disasters in China are reviewed. Previous studies have improved our understanding of the basic characteristics of horizontal and vertical structures and the annual cycle of the EAM system and the water vapor transports in the EAM region. Many studies have shown that the EAM system is a relatively independent subsystem of the Asian- Australian monsoon system, and that there exists an obvious quasi-biennial oscillation with a meridional tripole pattern distribution in the interannual variations of the EAM system. Further analyses of the basic physical processes, both internal and external, that influence the variability of the EAM system indicate that the EAM system may be viewed as an atmosphere-ocean-land coupled system, referred to the EAM climate system in this paper. Further, the paper discusses how the interaction and relationships among various components of this system can be described through the East Asia Pacific （EAP） teleconnection pattern and the teleconnection pattern of meridional upper-tropospheric wind anomalies along the westerly jet over East Asia. Such reasoning suggests that the occurrence of severe floods in the Yangtze and Hualhe River valleys and prolonged droughts in North China are linked, respectively~ to the background interannual and interdecadal variability of the EAM climate system. Besides, outstanding scientific issues related to the EAM system and its impact on climate disasters in China are also discussed.