Deciphering the relationship between meteorological and hydrological drought in Ben Tre province, Vietnam

Huynh Vuong Thu Minh (), Pankaj Kumar (), Nguyen Toan (), Phan Chi Nguyen (), Tran Ty (), Kim Lavane (), Nguyen Thanh Tam () and Nigel K. Downes ()
Additional contact information
Huynh Vuong Thu Minh: Can Tho University
Pankaj Kumar: Institute for Global Environmental Strategies
Nguyen Toan: Can Tho University
Phan Chi Nguyen: Can Tho University
Tran Ty: College of Engineering, Can Tho University
Kim Lavane: Can Tho University
Nguyen Thanh Tam: Mekong Delta Development Research Institute, Can Tho University
Nigel K. Downes: Can Tho University

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, 2024, vol. 120, issue 6, No 37, 5869-5894

Abstract: Abstract The low-lying Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD) is a key agricultural production landscape increasingly threatened by anthropogenic stresses and climate change. Among the different threats, droughts caused by extreme events, climate change and upstream developments, affect the delta the most. This paper explores the relationship between the intensity, duration, and frequency of meteorological droughts and hydrological droughts using a range of indices. We used monthly rainfall and stream flow data for the period 1992–2021 to calculate the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), the Reconnaissance Drought Index (RDI), and the streamflow drought Index (SDI) for different time intervals. We found no observed time lag, and a strong correlation coefficient between upstream hydrological and downstream meteorological drought events assessed over long-term scales (i.e., 12-months). This is true for all downstream sites, except Ben Tre City. Hydrological drought events onset lagged 5–6-, 6-, and 3–4-month behind meteorological droughts at mid- and shorter assessment time scales (9-, 6-, 3-month). The average correlation coefficients between hydrological indices and meteorological indices at 9–3-month time scales ranged from moderate to weak. These findings shed light and advance the understanding of the progression of meteorological to hydrological droughts in the VMD. Our results aid the regional understanding of drought onset and the causative mechanisms at work, which is important for both medium- and long-term drought forecasting and adaptation planning.

Keywords: Drought; Streamflow drought index (SDI); Standardized precipitation index (SPI); Reconnaissance drought index (RDI); Vietnamese Mekong delta; Climate change; Adaptation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11069-024-06437-z Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:120:y:2024:i:6:d:10.1007_s11069-024-06437-z

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11069

DOI: 10.1007/s11069-024-06437-z

Access Statistics for this article

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards is currently edited by Thomas Glade, Tad S. Murty and Vladimír Schenk

More articles in Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards from Springer, International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().