Relationship of drought frequency and severity with range of annual temperature variation

Abstract

The frequency and severity of occurrence of meteorological droughts in different climatic regions depend on regional climatic factors. This study has made an effort to explore the relationship of range of annual temperature variation at a given place with the frequency of occurrence of drought and the maximum magnitude of seasonal rainfall deficit (i.e., severity). The seasonal rainfall refers to sum of monsoon season (rainy season) rainfall in India. The monthly precipitation data of 113 years (1901–2013) for 256 stations in different parts of India have been used to estimate the return period of meteorological drought at different stations. The daily normal values of observed maximum and minimum temperatures from 40 years of records have been utilized to estimate range of temperature variation (θR) during the year at each stations. In various parts of India, the θR ranges from 10 °C in humid regions to 40 °C in arid regions. The various climatic regions have been experiencing maximum deficiency of annual rainfall ranging from 30% (humid) to 90% (arid). The results reveal that places exhibiting θR values between 40 to 30 °C face more frequent droughts with average frequency of once in 3 to once in 6 years. The occurrence of extreme and severe drought events is more frequent in the regions with higher values of θR compare to that in lesser values of θR. The regions with θR values between 30 to 25 °C mostly face severe and moderate events having the average drought return period of 6–9 years, and the occurrence of extreme droughts in these regions is rare. Furthermore, regions with θR < 20 °C face moderate droughts only with an average return period of 14 years. This study divulges that the average return period and magnitude of deficiency of drought events have notable relationship with the range of temperature variation during the year at a given place.