Abstract

Determinations of the start, duration, and strength of flood and drought are important in the operational monitoring and to decision‐makers, but cannot be made through the commonly‐used Standardized Precipitation Index. Physical considerations are provided in this note for measuring the daily flood and drought extent with precipitation. The rationale is that, because of the memory of the soil‐land surface system, the flood and drought extent of a day is contributed by the precipitation of both the day and the earlier days, while the contribution of the earlier day precipitation is decayed due to the demands of the water balance, including the runoff, evapotranspiration, and percolation. The proposed index has the same unit and magnitude as precipitation, and is easy to calculate. It can be used to evaluate the interannual variabilities and long‐term changes of the start, duration, and strength of flood and drought.

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.