Assessing the spatial characteristics of drought hazard in the state of Rajasthan

Vandana Choudhary (), Milap Punia and Suman Bhattacharyya
Additional contact information
Vandana Choudhary: Jawaharlal Nehru University
Milap Punia: Jawaharlal Nehru University
Suman Bhattacharyya: University of British Columbia

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, 2025, vol. 121, issue 2, No 6, 1325-1352

Abstract: Abstract The frequency of extreme dry events, such as drought, is on the rise due to recent exacerbated warming, significantly impacting various socio-economic sectors, especially in arid regions like the Indian state of Rajasthan. In this study, using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), we examined meteorological drought characteristics in Rajasthan to identify three categories of drought events (mild, moderate, and severe) at multi-temporal scales (i.e., 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month) based on monthly rainfall data from 1988 to 2021. Our findings indicate that milder droughts are more frequent in Rajasthan than moderate and severe droughts. Mild and moderate droughts are common during April – June, whereas severe drought events predominantly occur during July – September. Drought hazard maps produced at different temporal scales, by combining the frequency, intensity, and duration of drought events, indicate that the northern and northwestern regions are the most drought-prone areas within the state. Analysis of rainfall and drought trends based on the Mann-Kendall (MK) test suggests that out of the 165 stations examined, 26 stations exhibit a significantly increasing trend in mean annual rainfall. Conversely, only 2 stations demonstrated a significant decreasing trend in rainfall. In response to the increasing rainfall, drought events are found to decrease over the study period even at a shorter temporal scale (i.e., 3month-SPI) at most of the stations. Policymakers and stakeholders could benefit from the long-term drought hazard map in identifying drought-prone regions and formulating policies and programs to promote water conservation and enhance drought preparedness in the state.

Keywords: Drought; Hazard mapping; SPI; Trend analysis; India (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11069-024-06841-5 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:121:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s11069-024-06841-5

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

DOI: 10.1007/s11069-024-06841-5

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 ().