Abstract
South Asian countries have been experiencing frequent drought incidents recently, and due to this reason, many scientific studies have been carried out to explore drought in South Asia. In this context, we review scientific studies related to drought in South Asia. The study initially identifies the importance of drought-related studies and discusses drought types for South Asian regions. The representative examples of drought events, severity, frequency, and duration in South Asian countries are identified. The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) was mostly adopted in South Asian countries to quantify and monitor droughts. Nevertheless, the absence of drought quantification studies in Bhutan and the Maldives is of great concern. Future studies to generate a combined drought severity map for the South Asian region are required. Moreover, the drought prediction and projection in the regions is rarely studied. Furthermore, the teleconnection between drought and large-scale atmospheric circulations in the South Asia has not been discussed in detail in most of the scientific literature. Therefore, as a take-home message, there is an urgent need for scientific studies related to drought quantification for some regions in South Asia, prediction and projection of drought for an individual country (or as a region), and drought teleconnection to atmospheric circulation.
Highlights
In today’s context, extreme events entice both the public and scientific attention because of their trends on changes in intensity and frequency, anthropogenic influences, and severe physical damages
According to the proposed definition by Otkin et al [19], the mentioned drought type is a subdivision of all droughts that is distinguished solely based on its rapid rate of intensification due to abnormal evapotranspiration
Drought lowered the crop diversity The yields of peas, cotton, wheat, and barley were reduced significantly by 88%, 17%, and 50–70%, respectively. 80% of forests and pastures were destroyed in the Nimroz, Helmand, and Farah provinces of Afghanistan due to drought
Summary
In today’s context, extreme events entice both the public and scientific attention because of their trends on changes in intensity and frequency, anthropogenic influences, and severe physical damages. Droughts receive attention due to their influences on crop production and social and economic factors. The previous studies mainly enclosed extreme rainfall, temperature, and heatwave events, but research focused on drought in South Asia is relatively limited. Various definitions of drought existed in the early 1980s based on differences in region, needs, and disciplinary approach. The generalized definition for drought can be a natural, rare, random phenomenon observed in almost all climatic zones with spatially varying characteristics caused due to deficiency in precipitation and can exist for either short-term or more extended periods. Rainfall and temperature anomalies are closely related to the El-Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) that is fundamentally driven by changes in the coupled atmosphere–ocean system and leads to various disasters, including droughts and floods [15]. The other variables that affect drought include sea surface temperature (SST) and pressure, deforestation, level of CO2, and levels of other greenhouse gases [16]
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