Temporal and Spatial Characteristics of Droughts in the Wei River Basin

摘要

The identification, monitoring and characterization of droughts are of great importance in water resources planning and management. The Yellow River basin is especially affected by droughts. A study on local analyses of droughts is applied to the Wei River basin, the greatest tributary of the Yellow River. In identifying drought over the study area, the precipitation data observed in 19 gauging stations, located uniformly over the basin, is used. Preliminary analyses of data for stationarity and randomness have been carried out through the application of the nonparametric Mann-Kendall test. Drought occurrence is assessed by means of the run method. Result shows that the run method is appropriate to characterize local droughts. The temporal and spatial characteristics of droughts are investigated to provide a framework for sustainable water resources management in a semi-arid region. It is suggested that the Wei River basin is characterized by drought variability with a multi-year fluctuations and a tendency towards drier periods from the nineties onward.