SPI-Based Spatiotemporal Drought over Sri Lanka

Drought is one of the most significant hazards in Sri Lanka. Status of drought in Sri Lanka was assessed using Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) at 3, 6, and 12 months’ time scales using monthly rainfall (1970 to 2017) data of 54 weather stations. The frequency of drought events was evaluated u...

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Main Authors: N. S. Abeysingha, U. R. L. N. Rajapaksha
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2020-01-01
Series:Advances in Meteorology
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/9753279
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author N. S. Abeysingha
U. R. L. N. Rajapaksha
author_facet N. S. Abeysingha
U. R. L. N. Rajapaksha
author_sort N. S. Abeysingha
collection DOAJ
description Drought is one of the most significant hazards in Sri Lanka. Status of drought in Sri Lanka was assessed using Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) at 3, 6, and 12 months’ time scales using monthly rainfall (1970 to 2017) data of 54 weather stations. The frequency of drought events was evaluated using SPI, and trend of SPI was also detected using the Mann–Kendall (MK) test and Sen’s slope estimator. The result based on SPI identified hydrological years 1975-76, 1982-83, 1986-87, 1988-89, 2000-01, 2001-02, 2013-14, and 2016-17 as drought years for 52, 32, 35, 33, 33, 31, 31, and 31% of tested stations (54), respectively, at annual time scale. Comparison of the SPI at different time scales revealed that more drought events (SPI ≤ −1) occurred during Yala season than Maha cropping season. Considering the Thiessen polygon average rainfall, more frequent drought events occurred in the dry zone (57%) than the wet (49%) and intermediate zone (47%) at the annual time scale. SPI trend results showed greater increase in drought (59% of stations) during Yala seasons as compared to the Maha cropping season (15% of stations) in Sri Lanka.
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spelling doaj-art-6db4a55cd0584f9c86a674a90c85c1da2025-02-03T06:06:38ZengWileyAdvances in Meteorology1687-93091687-93172020-01-01202010.1155/2020/97532799753279SPI-Based Spatiotemporal Drought over Sri LankaN. S. Abeysingha0U. R. L. N. Rajapaksha1Department of Agriculture Engineering and Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, Anuradhapura, Sri LankaDepartment of Agriculture Engineering and Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, Anuradhapura, Sri LankaDrought is one of the most significant hazards in Sri Lanka. Status of drought in Sri Lanka was assessed using Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) at 3, 6, and 12 months’ time scales using monthly rainfall (1970 to 2017) data of 54 weather stations. The frequency of drought events was evaluated using SPI, and trend of SPI was also detected using the Mann–Kendall (MK) test and Sen’s slope estimator. The result based on SPI identified hydrological years 1975-76, 1982-83, 1986-87, 1988-89, 2000-01, 2001-02, 2013-14, and 2016-17 as drought years for 52, 32, 35, 33, 33, 31, 31, and 31% of tested stations (54), respectively, at annual time scale. Comparison of the SPI at different time scales revealed that more drought events (SPI ≤ −1) occurred during Yala season than Maha cropping season. Considering the Thiessen polygon average rainfall, more frequent drought events occurred in the dry zone (57%) than the wet (49%) and intermediate zone (47%) at the annual time scale. SPI trend results showed greater increase in drought (59% of stations) during Yala seasons as compared to the Maha cropping season (15% of stations) in Sri Lanka.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/9753279
spellingShingle N. S. Abeysingha
U. R. L. N. Rajapaksha
SPI-Based Spatiotemporal Drought over Sri Lanka
Advances in Meteorology
title SPI-Based Spatiotemporal Drought over Sri Lanka
title_full SPI-Based Spatiotemporal Drought over Sri Lanka
title_fullStr SPI-Based Spatiotemporal Drought over Sri Lanka
title_full_unstemmed SPI-Based Spatiotemporal Drought over Sri Lanka
title_short SPI-Based Spatiotemporal Drought over Sri Lanka
title_sort spi based spatiotemporal drought over sri lanka
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/9753279
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