• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.14-27
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• 2020

The drought has occurred from the past, and has caused a lot of damage. It is important to analyze the past droughts and predict them in the future. In this study, the temperature and precipitation of the past and the future from climate change RCP 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios were analyzed for Seosan and Boryeong in the western region of Chungnam Province, which is considered as a drought-prone area on the Korean Peninsula. Comparing Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Effective Drought Index (EDI) based on the past droughts, EDI was verified to be more suitable for the drought assessment. According to RCP 4.5, the frequency and intensity of droughts in the early future (2021~2060) were expected to increase and to be stronger. Particularly, severe droughts were predicted for a long time from 2022 to 2026, and from 2032 to 2039. Droughts were expected to decrease in the late future (2061~2100). From RCP 8.5, drought occurrences were predicted to increase, but the intensity of the droughts were expected to decrease in the future. As a result of evaluation of the frequencies of droughts by seasons, the region would be most affected by fall drought in the early future and by spring drought in the late future according to RCP 4.5. In the case of RCP 8.5, the seasonal effects were not clearly distinguished. These results suggest that droughts in the future do not have any tendency, but continue to occurr as in the past. Therefore, the measures and efforts to secure water resources and reinforcement of water supply facilities should be prepared to cope with droughts.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.66 no.3
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• pp.25-37
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• 2024

Global warming-induced drought inflicts significant socio-economic and environmental damage. In Korea, the persistent drought in the southern region since 2022 has severely affected water supplies, agriculture, forests, and ecosystems due to uneven precipitation distribution. To effectively prepare for and mitigate such impacts, it is imperative to develop proactive measures supported by early monitoring systems. In this study, we analyzed the spatiotemporal changes of multiple evapotranspiration-based drought indices, focusing on the flash drought event in the southern region in 2022. The indices included the Evaporative Demand Drought Index (EDDI), Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) considering precipitation and temperature, and the Evaporative Stress Index (ESI) based on satellite images. The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and SPEI indices utilized temperature and precipitation data from meteorological observation stations, while the ESI index was based on satellite image data provided by the MODIS sensor on the Terra satellite. Additionally, we utilized the Evaporative Demand Drought Index (EDDI) provided by the North Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as a supplementary index to ESI, enabling us to perform more effective drought monitoring. We compared the degree and extent of drought in the southern region through four drought indices, and analyzed the causes and effects of drought from various perspectives. Findings indicate that the ESI is more sensitive in detecting the timing and scope of drought, aligning closely with observed drought trends.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.1-11
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• 2019

Remote sensing products have long been used to monitor and forecast natural disasters. Satellite-derived rainfall products are becoming more accurate as space and time resolution improve, and are widely used in areas where measurement is difficult because of the periodic accumulation of images in large areas. In the case of North Korea, there is a limit to the estimation of precipitation for unmeasured areas due to the limited accessibility and quality of statistical data. CHIRPS (Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Stations) is global satellite-derived rainfall data of 0.05 degree grid resolution. It has been available since 1981 from USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development), NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). This study evaluates the applicability of CHIRPS rainfall products for South Korea and North Korea by comparing CHIRPS data with ground observation data, and analyzing temporal and spatial drought trends using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), a meteorological drought index available through CHIRPS. The results indicate that the data set performed well in assessing drought years (1994, 2000, 2015 and 2017). Overall, this study concludes that CHIRPS is a valuable tool for using data to estimate precipitation and drought monitoring in Korea.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.1-9
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• 2022

A correlation analysis was performed to investigate differences in the response of surface water and groundwater to drought using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI). Water level data of 20 agricultural reservoirs, 4 dams, 2 rivers, and 8 groundwater observation wells were used for the analysis. SPI was calculated using precipitation data measured at a nearby meteorological station. The water storage of reservoirs and dams decreased significantly as they responded sensitively to the drought from 2014 to 2016, showing high correlation with SPI of the relatively long accumulation period (AP). The responses of rivers varied greatly depending on the presence of an upstream dam. The water level in rivers connected to an upstream dam was predominantly influenced by the dam discharge, resulting in very weak correlation with SPI. On the contrary, the rivers without dam exhibited a sharp water level rise in response to precipitation, showing higher correlation with SPI of a short-term AP. Unlike dams and reservoirs, the responses of groundwater levels to precipitation were very short-lived, and they did not show high correlation with SPI during the long-term drought. In drought years, the rise of groundwater level in the rainy season was small, and the lowered water level in the dry season did not proceed any further and was maintained at almost the same as that of other normal years. Conclusively, it is confirmed that groundwater is likely to persist longer than surface water even in the long-term drought years.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.44 no.11
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• pp.889-902
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• 2011

In this study, frequency analysis using drought index had implemented for the derivation of drought severity-duration-frequency (SDF) curves to enable quantitative evaluations of past historical droughts having been occurred in Korean Peninsular. Seoul, Daejeon, Daegu, Gwangju, and Busan weather stations were selected and precipitation data during 1974~2010 (37 years) was used for the calculation of Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and frequency analysis. Based on the results of goodness of fit test on the probability distribution, Generalized Extreme Value (GEV) was selected as most suitable probability distribution for the drought frequency analysis using SPI. This study can suggest return periods for historical major drought events by using newrly derived SDF curves for each stations. In case of 1994~1995 droughts which had focused on southern part of Korea. SDF curves of Gwangju weather station showed 50~100 years of return period and Busan station showed 100~200 years of return period. Besides, in case of 1988~1989 droughts, SDF of Seoul weather station were appeared as having return periods of 300 years.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.45 no.9
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• pp.887-900
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• 2012

Drought is a non-negligible disaster of nature and it is mainly caused by rainfall shortage for a long time though there are many definitions of drought. 'Standard Precipitation Index' (SPI) that is widely used to express the level of meteorological drought intensity has a limit of not being able to consider the hydrological changes such as rainfall and evapotranspiration caused by climate change, because it does not consider the temperature-related variables other than the precipitation. Recently, however, 'Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index' (SPEI), a drought index of new concept which is similar to SPI but can reflect the effect of temperature variability as well as the rainfall change caused by climate variation, was developed. In this study, the changes of drought occurrence in South Korea were analyzed by applying SPEI for meteorological data (1973~2011) of 60 climate observatories under Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). As the result of application, both of SPI and SPEI showed the trend of deepening drought in spring and winter and mitigating drought in summer for the entire nation, with SPI showing greater drought intensity than SPI. Also, SPI and SPEI with 12 months of duration showed that severe droughts with low frequency of around 6 years are generally being repeated.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.145-159
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• 2019

A good number of drought indices have been introduced and applied in different regions for monitoring drought conditions, but some of those are region-specific and have limitations for use under other climatic conditions because of the inherently complex characteristics of drought phenomenon. Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) indices are widely used all over the world, including Bangladesh. Although newly developed, studies have demonstrated The Effective Drought Index (EDI) to perform better compared to SPIs in some areas. This research examined the performance of EDI to the SPI for detecting drought events throughout 35 years (1981 to 2015) in Bangladesh. Rainfall data from 27 meteorological stations across Bangladesh were used to calculate the EDI and SPI values. Results suggest that the EDI can detect historical records of actual events better than SPIs. Moreover, EDI is more efficient in assessing both short and long-term droughts than SPIs. Results also indicate that SPI3 and the EDI indices have a better capability of detecting drought events in Bangladesh compared to other SPIs; however, SPI1 produced erroneous estimates. Therefore, EDI is found to be more responsive to drought conditions and can capture the real essence of the drought situation in Bangladesh. Outcomes from this study bear policy implications on mitigation measures to minimize the loss of agricultural production in drought-prone areas. Information on severity level and persistence of drought conditions will be instrumental for resource managers to allocate scarce resources optimally.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2022.05a
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• pp.459-459
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• 2022

물수지의 불균형으로 발생되는 가뭄은 장기간에 걸쳐 넓은 규모로 발생되는 자연재해로서, 농업 및 산업에 직접 피해와 다양한 상품에 대한 공급 부족으로 인한 가격 상승 등의 간접 피해를 야기하는 재해이다. 이러한 가뭄을 정량적으로 평가하기 위하여 기상 요인(강수, 기온), 농업 요인(식생), 수문 요인(증발산, 토양수분) 등과 같은 설명 변수를 기초로 하는 많은 가뭄지수들이 개발되어 왔다. 대표적인 가뭄지수에는 Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), Soil Water Deficit Index (SWDI), Vegetation condition index (VCI), Temperature Condition Index (TCI), Vegetation Health Index (VHI), Scaled Drought Condition Index (SDCI), Integrated Crop Drought Index (ICDI) 등이 있다. 본 연구는 최근 개발된 통합작물가뭄지수(ICDI)를 통해 미국 옥수수의 약 90%를 생산하는 농업지역인 미국 콘벨트의 가뭄 특성을 분석하고자 한다. ICDI는 기상 요인(강우량 및 지표면 온도), 수문학적 요인(잠재 증발산 및 토양수분), 식생 요인(강화식생지수(Enhanced Vegetation Index, EVI))의 조합을 통해 지표면의 건조·습윤 상태 및 식생의 건강 상태를 설명하는 가뭄지수이다. 2004년부터 2019년까지 주요 콘벨트 지역인 일리노이, 인디애나, 아이오와를 대상으로 가뭄분석을 실시하였으며, 옥수수 수확량 아노말리와의 상관성을 분석하였다.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.3-15
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• 2008

North Korea is one of the vulnerable countries facing the threat of a drought, so that it is unavoidable to experience fatal damage when drought is occurred, and it is necessary to improve the drought response capability of water resources systems. However, it is still difficult to find research efforts for drought characteristics and drought management in North Korea. This study is to quantify drought duration and magnitude and to analyze drought characteristics in North Korea. In order to quantitatively identify historical drought conditions and to evaluate their variability, drought indices are commonly used. In this study, drought indices including dry-day index, deciles of normal precipitation, Phillips drought index, standardized precipitation index and Palmer drought severity index are calculated and compared monthly using the weather data for the twenty one meteorological stations in North Korea. The indices compared with the drought damage records that have reported from 1990 to present to understand how the indices can explain the drought. A comparative study was also conducted to evaluate the relative severity of the significant droughts occurred during 2000 and 2001 which were reported as the worst drought in North Korea. Drought indices calculated from this study demonstrated that those can be the effective tools in quantitatively evaluating drought severity and measures of drought. Thus it is recommended the distributed trend of drought be considered when the plan or measures for drought in North Korea are established.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.323-329
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• 2012

The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) is a widely used drought index to provide good estimations of the intensity, magnitude and spatial extent of droughts. The objective of this study was to analyze the spatial pattern of drought by SPI index. In this paper, the patterns of drought hazard in Iran are evaluated according to the data of 40 weather stations during 1967-2009. The influenced zone of each station was specified by the Thiessen method. It was attempted to make a new model of drought hazard using GIS. Three criteria for drought were studied and considered to define areas of vulnerability. Drought hazard criteria used in the present model included: maximum severity of drought in the period, trend of drought, and the maximum number of sequential arid years. Each of the vulnerability indicators were mapped and these as well as a final hazard map were classified into 5 hazard classes of drought: one, slight, moderate, severe and very severe. The final drought vulnerability map was prepared by overlaying three criteria maps in a GIS, and the final hazard classes were defined on the basis of hazard scores, which were determined according to the means of the main indicators. The final vulnerability map shows that severe hazard areas (43% of the country) which are observed in the west and eastern parts of country are much more widespread than areas under other hazard classes. Overall, approximately half of the country was determined to be under severe and very severe hazard classes for drought.