Assessment of Precipitation Patterns and Meteorological Drought in the Long Xuyen Quadrangle Area, Vietnam

Abstract

In this study, monthly precipitation data from six meteorological stations in Long Xuyen Quadrangle (LXQ) area were carried out to detect trends in precipitation and drought. The study includes Mann-Kendall test, Sen slope estimate and Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) at SPI3, SPI6, SPI9 and SPI12 time scales. The aim of the study is to assess the impact of climate variability over three decades (1984-2015) in potential crop growing areas to provide a scientific basis for early warning of droughts, monitoring analyzing, assessing historical drought events and the implications of the drought response capacities in minimizing negative effects. The analyzed results showed a significant reduction of the rainy season and annual precipitation trends at the stations as Ha Tien and Tan Hiep during the studied intervals. Meteorological drought events with different scales occurred at study area from the beginning of the study. The most severe drought was found between 1984 and 1985 with observed peak and magnitude recorded as -3.37 and -42.90 respectively at Tri Ton station. The results also show that the main drought scales have occurred including moderate drought with 31.5 time/32 year (98.4%) and severe drought 14.16 time/32 year (44.25%) and extreme drought 7.5 time/32 year (23.43%).