Assessment of Seasonal Rainfall Drought Indices, Nyala City Sudan

Isameldin Abakar Atiem, Magdi S. A. Siddig, Shindume Lomboleni Hamukwaya, Hussein Ibrahim Ahmed, Mazahir M. M. Taha, Salma Ibrahim and Yahia Osman
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Isameldin Abakar Atiem: Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nyala, Nyala 63311, Sudan
Magdi S. A. Siddig: School of Water Resources and Environment, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China
Shindume Lomboleni Hamukwaya: School of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of Namibia, Ongwediva 33004, Namibia
Hussein Ibrahim Ahmed: Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nyala, Nyala 63311, Sudan
Mazahir M. M. Taha: Civil Engineering Department, Alzaiem Alazhari University, Khartoum 1432, Sudan
Salma Ibrahim: School of Water Resources and Environment, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China
Yahia Osman: Irrigation Engineering and Hydraulics Department, Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University, Alexandria 22301, Egypt

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 7, 1-14

Abstract: Drought is an unpredictable hydrological phenomenon, and climate change has made it difficult to predict and analyze droughts. Nyala city airport metrological station rainfall records from 1943 to 2017 (75 years) were investigated. Four statistical drought indices were used; the standardized precipitation index (SPI), the rainfall anomaly index (RAI), the rainfall decile percent index (RDI), and the percent normal precipitation index (PNI). The study analyzes, assesses, compares, and determines the proper drought index. Results show that annual normal drought class (DC4) percentages for PNI, RDI, and RAI are not significantly different at an average of 42% and 65.3% for SPI at a frequency of 49 years. In comparing the average monthly and yearly drought frequency values and considering the historical dry and wet droughts, results showed the indices performance rank as: SPI, RAI, RDI, and PNI. Result reveals that the SPI was superior in all analyses, but it had some defects in detecting monthly dry drought when precipitation is dominated by rare or zero values (start and end of the rainy season). This was concluded and revealed by conducting a zone chart showing the deviations of standard deviation about the mean. Thus, the SPI index outperforms the other three indices.

Keywords: seasonal; drought; assessment; frequency; precipitation; drought indices; RDI; NPI; RAI; SPI (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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