Assessment of Meteorological Droughts in Three Regions of Bengaluru, Karnataka

Vivekanandan N.*
Central Water and Power Research Station, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
Periodicity:April - June'2024
DOI : https://doi.org/10.26634/jste.13.1.21406

Abstract

Drought is a common, natural, and recurrent climatic phenomenon that can occur in any climatic region, causing water shortage. This can be analyzed by applying the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), departure analysis of annual rainfall from long-term average, and probability distribution analysis of annual rainfall. The SPI can characterize droughts by the likelihood of occurrence of wet and dry events on seasonal time scales and their severity. Rainfall departure and probability distribution analysis are found to be simple techniques to assess the drought frequency on the regional scale. This study focused on evaluating the drought characteristics in the Kengeri, Tavarekere, and Uttarahalli meteorological regions of Bengaluru. For this purpose, seasonal (viz., pre-monsoon, monsoon, and post-monsoon) and annual rainfall series were derived from the daily rainfall data observed at three meteorological stations during the period 1980 to 2022 and used in drought analysis. The SPI analysis indicated that the probability of occurrence of extreme wet years in pre- monsoon and post-monsoon periods of Kengeri are about 13% and 30%, respectively, whereas these values are computed as about 20% in pre-monsoon and 35% in post-monsoon for Tavarekere. For Uttarahalli, based on SPI values, the probability of occurrence of extreme wet years in pre-monsoon and post-monsoon periods is about 14% and 51%, respectively. The annual rainfall departure analysis indicated that the number of severe drought years is two each for Kengeri and Tavarekere, whereas the number of severe drought years for Uttarahalli is found to be seven. The probability distribution analysis of annual rainfall indicated that Kengeri, Tavarekere, and Uttarahalli are drought-prone regions. The results presented in the study are the indicators to assess the severity and determine the extent of meteorological drought while planning water resources and drought mitigation in the study area.

Keywords

Meteorological Drought, Rainfall Departure Analysis, Probability Distribution Analysis, Drought Severity, Drought-Prone Regions, Water Resource Planning.

How to Cite this Article?

Vivekanandan, N. (2024). Assessment of Meteorological Droughts in Three Regions of Bengaluru, Karnataka. i-manager’s Journal on Structural Engineering, 13(1), 18-24. https://doi.org/10.26634/jste.13.1.21406

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