Critical appraisal of different drought indices of drought predection & their application in kbk districts of odisha

Abstract

Mapping of the extreme events (droughts) is one of the adaptation strategies to consequences of increasing climatic inconsistency and climate alterations. Drought is one of the short-term extreme events. There is no operational practice to forecast the drought. One of the suggestions is to update mapping of drought prone areas for developmental planning. Drought indices play a significant role in drought mitigation. Many scientists have worked on different statistical analysis in drought and other climatological hazards. Many researchers have studied droughts individually for different sub-divisions or for India. Very few workers have studied district wise probabilities over large scale. In the present study, district wise drought probabilities over KBK (Kalahandi-Balangir-Koraput) districts of Odisha, which are seriously prone to droughts, has been established using meteorological, hydrological and remote sensing based agricultural droughts indices. The meteorological droughts indices are: percentage departure, percentage to normal, percentile, Standard Precipitation index (SPI), Reclamation Drought Index (RDI), Effective drought index (EDI), and Aridity Index (AI). The hydrological drought indices are: Streamflow drought index (SDI), Surface water supply index and proposed drought severity index (PDSI). The satellite data based agricultural drought indices was Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Mapping for moderate and severe drought probabilities for KBK districts has been done and regions belonging different class intervals of probabilities of drought have been demarcated. Such type of information would be a good tool for planning purposes and for input in modelling. Moreover, the present work discusses (a) composite drought indices with the combinations of meteorological, hydrological and satellite data based agricultural drought index, and (b) development of a proposed hydrological drought index.