Assessing spatiotemporal variation in drought characteristics and their dependence on timescales over Vidarbha Region, India

Abstract

In this study, a detailed spatiotemporal assessment of meteorological drought characteristics (viz., persistence, severity, and frequency) is carried out for the Vidarbha Region of Maharashtra, India, which has been infamous for the increasing number of farmer suicides there in the recent past. Using the long-term rainfall data from 11 districts for 62 years (1951–2012), the droughts in different severity classes are characterized by SPI. A detailed investigation of SPI-3, SPI-6, and SPI-12 is also done to assess the dependence of the drought characteristics at different timescales. The results reveal that the Vidarbha region is prone to meteorological droughts with frequency from once in 5 to 8 years. However, the frequency and severity of droughts have significantly increased in 1982–2012 compared to 1951–1981. The persistence of droughts is well captured by SPI at longer timescales. The trend analysis reveals the drought severities to be increasing over 10 out of 11 districts.