REGIONAL FREQUENCY ANALYSIS OF HYDROLOGIC MULTIYEAR DROUGHTS1

This paper is concerned with regional frequency analysis of hydrologic multiyear droughts. A drought event is defined by three parameters: severity, duration, and magnitude. A method is proposed here to standardize drought severities with a duration adjustment to enable comparison among drought events. For purposes of a regional study, the index drought method is selected and applied to standardized droughts to give a regional frequency curve. However, the recurrence intervals of the drought events obtained from index drought method are limited to the historic period of record. Therefore, by taking advantage of random variations of droughts in both time and space, a multivariate simulation model is used to estimate exceedence probabilities associated with regional drought maxima. This method, named the regional extreme drought method, is capable of generating a series of drought events which, although they have not occurred historically, are more severe than historic events. By combining the results of the index drought method and regional extreme drought analysis, a regional drought probability graph is constructed which ranges from severe droughts to more frequent droughts. This procedure is applied to the mean annual flow records of streams located in the San Joaquin Valley of California, and drought-severity-frequency plots are prepared for 1-year, 2-year, and 3-year durations.     

PLANNING FOR DROUGHT: THE ROLE OF STATE GOVERNMENT1

ABSTRACT: Although droughts are a frequent occurrence over much of the United States, response by state and federal government has been ineffective and poorly coordinated. Recently, several states have recognized the value of drought emergency planning and have developed plans to assist them in responding more effectively to prolonged periods of water shortage. These states have created an organizational structure to coordinate the assessment and response activities of state and federal agencies. Each state's drought response plan is unique since each state's water supply and management problems, and their consequent impacts, are unique. The drought response plans developed by Colorado, South Dakota and New York are reviewed here in detail. We recommend that other states affected by frequent and severe water shortages also develop drought emergency plans. These plans will enhance state government's ability to implement effective measures in a timely manner and, ultimately, may provide added incentive for the federal government to develop the national drought response plan called for by the General Accounting Office in 1979.     

TREE-RING RECONSTRUCTION OF UPPER GILA RWER DISCHARGE1

ABSTRACT: Effective planning for use of water resources requires accurate information on hydrologic variability induced by climatic fluctuations. Tree-ring analysis is one method of extending our knowledge of hydrologic variability beyond the relatively short period covered by gaged streamflow records. In this paper, a network of recently developed tree-ring chronologies is used to reconstruct annual river discharge in the upper Gila River drainage in southeastern Arizona and southwestern Arizona since A.D. 1663. The need for data on hydrologic variability for this semi-arid basin is accentuated because water supply is inadequate to meet current demand. A reconstruction based on multiple linear regression (R²=0.66) indicates that 20th century is unusual for clustering of high-discharge years (early 1900s), severity of multiyear drought (1950s), and amplification of low-frequency discharge variations. Periods of low discharge recur at irregular intervals averaging about 20 years. Comparison with other tree-ring reconstructions shows that these low-flow periods are synchronous from the Gila Basin to the southern part of the Upper Colorado River Basin.     

ASSESSING ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF SEVERE SUSTAINED DROUGHT1

ABSTRACT: Evaluation criteria for reservoir and stream resources were developed to provide decision makers with feedback on environmental consequences of water allocation decisions under conditions of severe sustained drought within the Colorado River Basin by using the AZCOL gaming simulation model. Seven categories of flow dependent resources were identified which highlight resource states associated with reservoirs or river reaches within the AZCOL model. AZCOL directly simulates impact of water management decisions on five resource categories: threatened, endangered or sensitive fish; native nonlisted fish; wetland and riparian elements; national or state wildlife refuges; and hatcheries or other flow dependent facilities. Two additional categories - cold and warm water sport fish - are not modeled explicitly but are incorporated in the evaluation of monetary benefits from recreation on Colorado River waters. Each resource category was characterized at each time step in the simulation according to one of four environmental states: stable, threatened, endangered, or extirpated. Changes in resource states were modeled by time and flow-dependent decision criteria tied to either reservoir level or stream flows within the AZCOL model structure. Gaming results using the AZCOL model indicate environmental impacts would be substantial and that water allocation decisions directly impacted environmental resource states.     

宁波市水旱灾害及其规律的研究

水旱灾害是宁波市最为严重的自然灾害,特别是洪涝台灾害已成为该市自然灾害中经济损失增长最快的自然灾害。依据宁波市历史上水旱灾情资料,结合自然地理环境条件,分析研究宁波市水旱灾害基本特征,并揭示了水旱灾害发生的时间性和区域性规律。在此基础上还探讨了水旱灾害发生频率的演进趋势。     

广东干旱逐日动态监测模型及其应用

干旱本质上是一种持续的水份亏缺现象，干旱的严重程度是水份短缺多少及其持续时间长度的函数。借鉴帕默尔（Palmer）旱度模式中的土壤水份平衡概念，采用逐日气温和降水量资料，对土壤有效含水量（分上、下2层）进行了逐日滚动模拟，提出了以下层土壤有效含水量构建逐日干旱动态强度指数（ID），该指数物理意义明确，实时资料可得，能够刻画干旱过程的丰富细节，实现对干旱发生、发展及其强度的逐日动态监测与评估。根据，。的动态变化，精确定义了干旱过程的开始和结束日期，提出了干旱过程强度指数（IDC），实现了对干旱过程的事后定量分析和评估，从而形成了兼具逐日动态监测和后评估功能的一个干旱监测指标体系。     

近48年来广东春旱的变化

为了更好地做好广东省春旱的短期气候预测，用EOF分析、小波分析和相关分析等方法，对近48年（1957—2004年）来广东受害较大的春旱（2—5月）的变化规律及其成因进行了研究。结果表明，广东春季降水具有明显的2～3年和4年左右的年际变化以及36年左右的年代际变化。春旱主要发生在1960—1971年和1994—2004年，20世纪90年代以来严重春旱的发生呈增多趋势。1976／1977年之后，阶段性的冷与涝、暖与旱相对应，而其之前的这一相关性则不好。广东春季降水的异常主要与极涡、西太平副热带高压的强弱、亚洲大陆及其以北的500hPa环流异常有关。异常春早年500hPa同期环流场上极涡较强，偏向鄂霍次克海，亚洲大陆及其以北为明显的正高度距平，冷空气的活动偏强，副高偏东偏弱。850hpa流场上广东到南海盛行偏北气流，不利于降水的产生。异常涝年的情况则基本相反。     

不同经济地带旱灾灾情变化及其与粮食单产波动的关系

旱灾是造成我国农业经济损失中最严重的气象灾害,加强旱灾研究已是当务之急。选择旱灾受灾面积占总受灾面积之比、旱灾受灾率、旱灾成灾面积占总成灾面积之比、旱灾成灾面积占旱灾受灾面积之比、旱灾受灾率异常指数等作为旱灾灾情指标,通过对东、中、西三大经济地带旱灾灾情的时空变化规律,及其与粮食单产波动相关关系的分析,探讨了我国粮食生产的波动性及受旱灾影响的区域特征。结果表明,三大经济地带旱灾受灾程度在20世纪70年代以后呈加重态势,且与粮食单产波动系数具有较明显的负相关关系。     

百年一遇大旱后城区降雨径流污染时空差异与可生化性

2009年入秋至2010年春,中国西南地区发生了百年一遇的特大旱灾。为探讨百年一遇大旱后城市降雨径流污染特性,对昆明市典型交通干道路面及屋面进行了三次降雨径流监测,研究了百年一遇大旱后的昆明城区降雨径流污染时空差异与可生化性并同其他城市做了比较。结果表明,径流污染物浓度基本上并未随降雨时间表现出明显的下降趋势。大旱后首场降雨形成的地表径流污染最严重,次日降雨的最轻,路面污染显著高于屋面污染。总体上径流的可生化性较差,不宜用生物法进行处理。同国内外部分城市与2007年调查的昆明比较发现,大旱后的昆明城区屋面和路面径流污染较严重。     

Modeling the Effects of Extreme Drought on Pollutant Transport Processes in the Yangtze River Estuary

Water resources in the Yangtze River Estuary (YRE), which is the vital water supply for Shanghai, decreased by approximately 2.45 Gm³ in 2006, the second‐worst recorded drought year. A numerical model was developed to investigate the effects of this extreme drought on pollutant transport processes in the YRE. The model was calibrated against observations and displayed good agreement. Residence time, a critical hydrodynamic indicator, was implemented to indicate pollutant transport processes. Numerical experiments were conducted to examine the possibly drought‐induced influences. The model results demonstrated that the influences on pollutant transport processes varied spatially and temporally, and these influences could partly explain the observed temporal and spatial variations of total nitrate in 2006. The area most susceptible to drought is in the north branch with 2‐11 days' extension of residence time. As the drought occurred in both the high and normal water periods, its influences were more significant during the normal water period with saltwater intrusion into the north branch. The drought also introduced a pollutant transport lag in timescale of approximately five days by diminishing the seaward advection flux with freshwater discharge. In 2006, the magnified tidal influence during the drought contributed more than usual to structuring pollutant transport, as the pollutant transport processes were intensely associated with tidal flow and tidal cycle.