The spatio-temporal variability of droughts using the standardized precipitation index in Yunnan, China

Ziqi Yan (), Yapeng Zhang, Zuhao Zhou and Ning Han
Additional contact information
Ziqi Yan: China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research
Yapeng Zhang: North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power
Zuhao Zhou: China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research
Ning Han: China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, 2017, vol. 88, issue 2, No 20, 1023-1042

Abstract: Abstract Based on the daily precipitation data from 33 meteorological stations in Yunnan Province from 1959 to 2013, the standardized precipitation index was calculated to analyze the drought frequency, station proportion, and drought intensity. The following conclusions were drawn from the analysis: (1) Drought exhibited a well-defined spatial-temporal variability characteristic. The drought frequency was much higher in the central and western areas of Yunnan, although it was the opposite throughout most of the southwestern and eastern regions. In past decades, centers with a high probability of drought was found: In the 1960s, it was located in the northwestern region of Yunnan. It was found in the northwestern and southeastern areas in the 1970s, the central region in the 1980s, the northwestern area in the 1990s, and central Yunnan and western Yunnan after 2000. (2) The drought frequency and intensity both increased at multiple timescales. The affected areas exhibited a well-defined upward trend in summer, autumn and winter. (3) The drought was normalized in Yunnan. However, in 1973, there was no severe inter-annual drought event. Moreover, there is 7% of the observed months in which no drought occurred. (4) The drought intensity increased at multiple timescales, especially in the summer and autumn. (5) There was a piecewise linear correlation between the drought area and the drought intensity. The enhancement of the intensity coincided with an increase in the affected areas. When the intensity value exceeded 1.5, the drought area decreased immediately, although it exhibited linear positive correlation with intensity.

Keywords: Yunnan; Drought; Standardized precipitation index; Spatial-temporal variability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11069-017-2904-5 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:88:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s11069-017-2904-5

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

DOI: 10.1007/s11069-017-2904-5

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 ().