Long-term drought characterization: A spatiotemporal analysis in Rayalaseema, southern peninsular India

IF 1.8 4区地球科学 Q3 GEOCHEMISTRY & GEOPHYSICS

Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics Pub Date : 2025-02-17 DOI:10.1016/j.jastp.2025.106467

Kandula Bharghavi , Hemalatha Kapa , Thotli Lokeswara Reddy , Penti Rajesh , Krishnareddigari Krishna Reddy

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

The unique combination of features in Andhra Pradesh's Rayalaseema region makes it an ideal location for drought studies. These features include hilly terrain, a semi-arid climate with the lowest rainfall in India, and the influence of both the Southwest and Northeast monsoons. Rainfall is a fundamental metric for water availability, while temperature plays a pivotal role in regulating evapotranspiration rates. Understanding their trends is crucial since both factors are integral in delineating drought conditions. This study delves into the drought dynamics of the Rayalaseema region from 1961 to 2021, employing meteorological drought indices: the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) and the standardized precipitation index (SPI). In order to achieve this, rainfall data was retrieved from the archives of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), while temperature data was sourced from ERA-5 (the fifth-generation European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts reanalysis). In order to assess the significance of drought characteristic trends across various temporal and spatial scales, the Mann-Kendall trend test and Sen's slope estimator techniques were applied. Rainfall patterns varied significantly, with Kurnool receiving the highest and Anantapur the lowest, while temperatures steadily increased, peaking in the sixth decade, especially in Kadapa, Kurnool, and Chittoor, with June being the warmest month. Rainfall trends shifted from negative to positive, with Kurnool and Chittoor experiencing significant increases, while Kadapa and Anantapur continued to face negative trends. Drought conditions, as measured by SPI and SPEI, were frequent, particularly in the first three decades, with a shift towards wetter conditions in later decades. The SPEI trends revealed rising drought severity, exacerbated by increasing temperatures, particularly in Kurnool and Kadapa. Nonetheless, both indices effectively capture significant drought events, with SPEI detecting more severe drought occurrences than SPI.

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来源期刊

Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 地学-地球化学与地球物理

CiteScore

4.10

自引率

5.30%

发文量

审稿时长

6 months

期刊介绍： The Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics (JASTP) is an international journal concerned with the inter-disciplinary science of the Earth''s atmospheric and space environment, especially the highly varied and highly variable physical phenomena that occur in this natural laboratory and the processes that couple them. The journal covers the physical processes operating in the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, ionosphere, magnetosphere, the Sun, interplanetary medium, and heliosphere. Phenomena occurring in other "spheres", solar influences on climate, and supporting laboratory measurements are also considered. The journal deals especially with the coupling between the different regions. Solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and other energetic events on the Sun create interesting and important perturbations in the near-Earth space environment. The physics of such "space weather" is central to the Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics and the journal welcomes papers that lead in the direction of a predictive understanding of the coupled system. Regarding the upper atmosphere, the subjects of aeronomy, geomagnetism and geoelectricity, auroral phenomena, radio wave propagation, and plasma instabilities, are examples within the broad field of solar-terrestrial physics which emphasise the energy exchange between the solar wind, the magnetospheric and ionospheric plasmas, and the neutral gas. In the lower atmosphere, topics covered range from mesoscale to global scale dynamics, to atmospheric electricity, lightning and its effects, and to anthropogenic changes.