Regional Evaluations of the Meteorological Drought Characteristics across the Pearl River Basin, China
Affiliation(s)
Department of Water Resources and Environment, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China. Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Water Security in Southern China of Guangdong High Education Institute, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China. School of Geography and Planning, and Guangdong Key Laboratory for Urbanization and Geo-Simulation, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Department of Water Resources and Environment, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China. Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Water Security in Southern China of Guangdong High Education Institute, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China. School of Geography and Planning, and Guangdong Key Laboratory for Urbanization and Geo-Simulation, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
ABSTRACT
Regional evaluation of drought characteristics provides critical information for water resource management. In this case, this study attempts to analyze the probability behaviors of drought events of a given severity in the Pearl River Basin and to construct severity-area-frequency curves of drought events. Due to possible impacts of complicated topographical properties and diverse climate types within the Pearl River Basin, the entire Pearl River Basin is subdivided into different homogeneous regions. In general, the Pearl River Basin can be categorized into four homogeneous regions, and the severity-area-frequency analysis results for the short-, medium- and long-term drought episodes within each homogeneous regions indicate stressful challenge for the water resource management in the Pearl River Basin due to the fact that severe droughts usually occur over the entire Pearl River Basin. Meanwhile, the Pearl River Delta will face a higher risk of drought when compared to other regions of the Pearl River Basin in terms of the medium-term drought. The Pearl River Basin is highly economically development and is heavily populated, thus impacts of droughts and related resilience resolutions or policies should be taken into account in the formulation of regional sustainable development of water resources and socio-economy within the Pearl River Basin, China.
Regional evaluation of drought characteristics provides critical information for water resource management. In this case, this study attempts to analyze the probability behaviors of drought events of a given severity in the Pearl River Basin and to construct severity-area-frequency curves of drought events. Due to possible impacts of complicated topographical properties and diverse climate types within the Pearl River Basin, the entire Pearl River Basin is subdivided into different homogeneous regions. In general, the Pearl River Basin can be categorized into four homogeneous regions, and the severity-area-frequency analysis results for the short-, medium- and long-term drought episodes within each homogeneous regions indicate stressful challenge for the water resource management in the Pearl River Basin due to the fact that severe droughts usually occur over the entire Pearl River Basin. Meanwhile, the Pearl River Delta will face a higher risk of drought when compared to other regions of the Pearl River Basin in terms of the medium-term drought. The Pearl River Basin is highly economically development and is heavily populated, thus impacts of droughts and related resilience resolutions or policies should be taken into account in the formulation of regional sustainable development of water resources and socio-economy within the Pearl River Basin, China.
Cite this paper
Q. Zhang, M. Xiao and X. Chen, "Regional Evaluations of the Meteorological Drought Characteristics across the Pearl River Basin, China," American Journal of Climate Change, Vol. 1 No. 1, 2012, pp. 48-55. doi: 10.4236/ajcc.2012.11005.
Q. Zhang, M. Xiao and X. Chen, "Regional Evaluations of the Meteorological Drought Characteristics across the Pearl River Basin, China," American Journal of Climate Change, Vol. 1 No. 1, 2012, pp. 48-55. doi: 10.4236/ajcc.2012.11005.
References
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[1] J. A. Dracup, K. S. Lee and E. G. Paulson Jr., “On the Definition of Droughts,” Water Resources Research, Vol. 16, No. 2, 1980, pp. 297-302. doi:10.1029/WR016i002p00297 [2] D. A. Wilhite and M. H. Glantz, “Understanding the Drought Phenomenon: The Role of Definitions,” Water International, Vol. 10, No. 3, 1985, pp. 111-120. doi:10.1080/02508068508686328 [3] American Meteorological Society, “Statement on Meteorological Drought,” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 85, 2004, pp. 771-773. [4] H. Hisdal and L. M. Tallaksen, “Estimation of Regional Meteorological and Hydrological Drought Characteristics: A Case Study for Denmark,” Journal of Hydrology, Vol. 281, No. 3, 2003, pp. 230-247. doi:10.1016/S0022-1694(03)00233-6 [5] W. J. Gibbs and J. V. Maher, “Rainfall Deciles as Drought Indicators,” Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne, 1967. [6] W. C. Palmer and Bureau EUW, “Meteorological Drought,” Research Paper of Weather Bureau, US Department of Commerce, 1965. [7] T. B. McKee, N. J. Doesken and J. Kleist, “The Relationship of Drought Frequency and Duration to Time Scales,” Paper Presented at 8th Conference on Applied Climatology, American Meteorological Society, Anaheim, 1993. [8] T. Yang, Q. Shao and Z.-C. Hao, “Regional Frequency Analysis and Spatio-Temporal Pattern Characterization of Rainfall Extremes in the Pearl River Basin, China,” Journal of Hydrology, Vol. 380, No. 3-4, 2010, pp. 386-405. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.11.013 [9] Q. Zhang, C.-Y. Xu, M. Gemmer, Y. D. Chen and C. Liu, “Changing Properties of Precipitation Concentration in the Pearl River Basin, China,” Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment, Vol. 23, No. 3, 2009, pp. 377-385. doi:10.1007/s00477-008-0225-7 [10] A. M. Mishra and V. P. Singh, “Analysis of Drought Severity-Area-Frequency Curves Using a General Circulation Model and Scenario Uncertainty,” Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 114, No. D6, 2009, p. D06120. doi:10.1029/2008JD010986 [11] V. M. Yevjevich, “An Objective Approach to Definitions and Investigations of Continental Hydrologic Droughts,” Colorado State University, Fort Collins, 1967. [12] M. T. Ayvaz, H. Karahan and M. M. Aral, “Aquifer Parameter and Zone Structure Estimation Using Kernel-Based Fuzzy c-Means Clustering and Genetic Algorithm,” Journal of Hydrology, Vol. 343, No. 3-4, 2007, pp. 240-253. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2007.06.018 [13] S. Sadri and D. H. Burn, “A Fuzzy C-Means Approach for Regionalization Using a Bivariate Homogeneity and Discordancy Approach,” Journal of Hydrology, Vol. 401, No. 3-4, 2011, pp. 231-239. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2011.02.027