Abstract:
In the context of an effective communication between stakeholders, the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) is a powerful tool, requiring only rainfall data for its calculation, and delivering 5 major dimensions of drought: duration, intensity, severity, magnitude, and frequency. Furthermore, it is a multi-scalar index, providing an extremely helpful coverage of impacts on diverse time dimensions. The SPI was applied to precipitation datasets in Sindh, a region experiencing frequent drought events. The SPI’s capacity to analyze historical records and compare different series is assessed, while its ability to monitor drought conditions, define its main features, and communicate its results to all stakeholders involved, is expected to create a wide acceptance of the Index. Sixty years (1951 to 2010) monthly precipitation data of nine (9) weather station of Sindh are used to calculate SPI values for different time scales; 3, 6, 9, 12, 24, 36 and 48 months. The time series plots of SPIs indicated that the time scales less than 12 months had enormous fluctuations so that identifying drought and wet periods were not so clear. However, plots of 36 month SPI and 48 month SPI obviously could identify drought and wet periods of the region clearly. The result makes clear that the duration, attenuation, intensity and magnitude for any particular month during our historical records are time scale dependent. Based on the above result it is recommend that the agriculturist use SPIs of 12 months or less and water resource managers apply 36 months SPI for Sindh region.
Page(s):
15-22
DOI:
DOI not available
Published:
Journal: Pakistan Journal of Meterology, Volume: 9, Issue: 18, Year: 2013