• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.35 no.4 s.129
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• pp.397-410
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• 2002

In order to quantitatively identify historical drought conditions and to evaluate their variability, drought indices commonly used. The calculation method for the drought index based on the principal hydrological factors, such as precipitation and reservoir storage, can estimate the duration and intensity of a drought. In this study the Palmer-type formula for drought index is derived for the Nakdong River basin by analyzing the monthly rainfall and meteorological data at 21 stations. The Palmer Drought Severity Index(PDSI) is used for dry land sectors to evaluate the meteorological anomaly in terms of an index which permits time and space comparisons of drought severity. The Surface Water Supply Index(SWSI) is devised for the use in conjunction with the Palmer index to provide an objective indicator of water supply conditions in Nakdong River basin. The SWSI was designed to quantify surface water supply capability of a watershed which depends on river and reservoir water The Standardized Precipitation Index(SPI) is evaluated for various time periods of 1 to 12 months in Nakdong River basin. For the purpose of comparison between drought indices correlation coefficient was calculated between indices and appropriate SPI time period was selected as 10 months for Nakdong River basin. A comparative study is made to evaluate the relative severity of the significant droughts occurred in Nakdong River basin since 1976. It turned out that $'94{\sim}'97$ drought was the worst drought in it's severity. It is found that drought indices are very useful tools in quantitatively evaluating the severity of a drought over a river basin.