A Review of Twentieth-Century Drought Indices Used in the United StatesSource: Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society:;2002:;volume( 083 ):;issue: 008::page 1149Author:Heim, Richard R.
DOI: 10.1175/1520-0477(2002)083<1149:AROTDI>2.3.CO;2Publisher: American Meteorological Society
Abstract: The monitoring and analysis of drought have long suffered from the lack of an adequate definition of the phenomenon. As a result, drought indices have slowly evolved during the last two centuries from simplistic approaches based on some measure of rainfall deficiency, to more complex problem-specific models. Indices developed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century included such measures as percent of normal precipitation over some interval, consecutive days with rain below a given threshold, formulae involving a combination of temperature and precipitation, and models factoring in precipitation deficits over consecutive days. The incorporation of evapotranspiration as a measure of water demand by Thornthwaite led to the landmark development in 1965 by Palmer of a water budget-based drought index that is still widely used. Drought indices developed since the 1960s include the Surface Water Supply Index, which supplements the Palmer Index by integrating snowpack, reservoir storage, streamflow, and precipitation at high elevations; the Keetch-Byram Drought Index, which is used by fire control managers; the Standardized Precipitation Index; and the Vegetation Condition Index, which utilizes global satellite observations of vegetation condition. These models continue to evolve as new data sources become available. The twentieth century concluded with the development of the Drought Monitor tool, which incorporates Palmer's index and several other (post Palmer) indices to provide a universal assessment of drought conditions across the entire United States. By putting the development of these drought indices into a historical perspective, this paper provides a better understanding of the complex Palmer Index and of the nature of measuring drought in general.
|
Collections
Show full item record
contributor author | Heim, Richard R. | |
date accessioned | 2017-06-09T14:43:21Z | |
date available | 2017-06-09T14:43:21Z | |
date copyright | 2002/08/01 | |
date issued | 2002 | |
identifier issn | 0003-0007 | |
identifier other | ams-25219.pdf | |
identifier uri | http://onlinelibrary.yabesh.ir/handle/yetl/4161978 | |
description abstract | The monitoring and analysis of drought have long suffered from the lack of an adequate definition of the phenomenon. As a result, drought indices have slowly evolved during the last two centuries from simplistic approaches based on some measure of rainfall deficiency, to more complex problem-specific models. Indices developed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century included such measures as percent of normal precipitation over some interval, consecutive days with rain below a given threshold, formulae involving a combination of temperature and precipitation, and models factoring in precipitation deficits over consecutive days. The incorporation of evapotranspiration as a measure of water demand by Thornthwaite led to the landmark development in 1965 by Palmer of a water budget-based drought index that is still widely used. Drought indices developed since the 1960s include the Surface Water Supply Index, which supplements the Palmer Index by integrating snowpack, reservoir storage, streamflow, and precipitation at high elevations; the Keetch-Byram Drought Index, which is used by fire control managers; the Standardized Precipitation Index; and the Vegetation Condition Index, which utilizes global satellite observations of vegetation condition. These models continue to evolve as new data sources become available. The twentieth century concluded with the development of the Drought Monitor tool, which incorporates Palmer's index and several other (post Palmer) indices to provide a universal assessment of drought conditions across the entire United States. By putting the development of these drought indices into a historical perspective, this paper provides a better understanding of the complex Palmer Index and of the nature of measuring drought in general. | |
publisher | American Meteorological Society | |
title | A Review of Twentieth-Century Drought Indices Used in the United States | |
type | Journal Paper | |
journal volume | 83 | |
journal issue | 8 | |
journal title | Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society | |
identifier doi | 10.1175/1520-0477(2002)083<1149:AROTDI>2.3.CO;2 | |
journal fristpage | 1149 | |
journal lastpage | 1165 | |
tree | Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society:;2002:;volume( 083 ):;issue: 008 | |
contenttype | Fulltext |