Abstract
A new agricultural drought index was developed for monitoring drought impacts on agriculture in Oklahoma. This new index, called the Soil Moisture Evapotranspiration Index (SMEI), estimates the departure of aggregated root zone moisture from reference evapotranspiration. The SMEI was estimated at five locations across Oklahoma representing different climates. The results showed good agreement with existing soil moisture-based (SM) and meteorological drought indices. In addition, the SMEI had improved performance compared to other indices in capturing the effects of temporal and spatial variations in drought. The relationship with crop production is a key characteristic of any agricultural drought index. The correlations between winter wheat production and studied drought indices estimated during the growing period were investigated. The correlation coefficients were largest for SMEI (r > 0.9) during the critical crop growth stages when compared to other drought indices, and r decreased by moving from semi-arid to more humid regions across Oklahoma. Overall, the results suggest that the SMEI can be used effectively for monitoring the effects of drought on agriculture in Oklahoma.
Highlights
Drought events occur frequently in the Southern Great Plains of the United States, negatively impacting agricultural production and sustainability
In Oklahoma, recorded drought history dates to the start of the 20th century, when major droughts were experienced in the decadal spans of 1910, 1930, 1950, 1960, and 1970
The present study focused on the 17 year period of 2000–2016
Summary
Drought events occur frequently in the Southern Great Plains of the United States, negatively impacting agricultural production and sustainability. This is mainly due to scarce surface water resources in this region. Groundwater resources, such as the Ogallala aquifer, help producers mitigate drought impacts [1]. These resources are being depleted at an unsustainable rate, especially during dry periods [2]. The beginning of the 21st century brought severe drought-related losses to Oklahoma’s agriculture. The drought episode of 2001–2002 cost $210 million to the state’s economy due to significant yield loss of winter wheat, alfalfa, and hay [2]
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