Editorial Type:
Article
Article Type:
Research Article

An Evaluation of Multiscalar Drought Indices in Nevada and Eastern California

Daniel J. McEvoy Desert Research Institute, Reno, Nevada

Search for other papers by Daniel J. McEvoy in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed Close
,
Justin L. Huntington Desert Research Institute, Reno, Nevada

Search for other papers by Justin L. Huntington in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed Close
,
John T. Abatzoglou University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho

Search for other papers by John T. Abatzoglou in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed Close
, and
Laura M. Edwards South Dakota State University Extension, Aberdeen, South Dakota

Search for other papers by Laura M. Edwards in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed Close
Print Publication:
01 Dec 2012
Collections:
Drought: Advances in Monitoring, Preparedness, and Understanding Drought Characteristics
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1175/2012EI000447.1
Page(s):
1–18
Restricted access

Abstract

Nevada and eastern California are home to some of the driest and warmest climates, most mountainous regions, and fastest growing metropolitan areas of the United States. Throughout Nevada and eastern California, snow-dominated watersheds provide most of the water supply for both human and environmental demands. Increasing demands on finite water supplies have resulted in the need to better monitor drought and its associated hydrologic and agricultural impacts. Two multiscalar drought indices, the standardized precipitation index (SPI) and the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI), are evaluated over Nevada and eastern California regions of the Great Basin using standardized streamflow, lake, and reservoir water surface stages to quantify wet and dry periods. Results show that both metrics are significantly correlated to surface water availability, with SPEI showing slightly higher correlations over SPI, suggesting that the inclusion of a simple term for atmospheric demand in SPEI is useful for characterizing hydrologic drought in arid regions. These results also highlight the utility of multiscalar drought indices as a proxy for summer groundwater discharge and baseflow periods.

Corresponding author address: Daniel J. McEvoy, Desert Research Institute, 2215 Raggio Parkway, Reno, NV 89512. E-mail address: mcevoyd@dri.edu

Abstract

Nevada and eastern California are home to some of the driest and warmest climates, most mountainous regions, and fastest growing metropolitan areas of the United States. Throughout Nevada and eastern California, snow-dominated watersheds provide most of the water supply for both human and environmental demands. Increasing demands on finite water supplies have resulted in the need to better monitor drought and its associated hydrologic and agricultural impacts. Two multiscalar drought indices, the standardized precipitation index (SPI) and the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI), are evaluated over Nevada and eastern California regions of the Great Basin using standardized streamflow, lake, and reservoir water surface stages to quantify wet and dry periods. Results show that both metrics are significantly correlated to surface water availability, with SPEI showing slightly higher correlations over SPI, suggesting that the inclusion of a simple term for atmospheric demand in SPEI is useful for characterizing hydrologic drought in arid regions. These results also highlight the utility of multiscalar drought indices as a proxy for summer groundwater discharge and baseflow periods.

Corresponding author address: Daniel J. McEvoy, Desert Research Institute, 2215 Raggio Parkway, Reno, NV 89512. E-mail address: mcevoyd@dri.edu
Save
Cover Earth Interactions
Earth Interactions

  • Abramowitz, M., and I. A. Stegun, 1965: Handbook of Mathematical Functions, with Formulas, Graphs, and Mathematical Tables. Dover Publications, 1046 pp.

  • Allen, R. G., L. S. Pereira, D. Raes, and M. Smith, 1998: Crop evapotranspiration: Guidelines for computing crop water requirement. Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations Irrigation and Drainage Paper 56, 300 pp.

  • Alley, W. M., 1984: The Palmer drought severity index: Limitations and applications. J. Climate Appl. Meteor., 23, 1100–1109.

  • Anderson, M. C., C. Hain, B. Wardlow, A. Pimstein, J. R. Mecikalski, and W. P. Kustas, 2011: Evaluation of drought indices based on thermal remote sensing of evapotranspiration over the continental United States. J. Climate, 24, 2025–2044.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Breshears, D. D., and Coauthors, 2005: Regional vegetation die-off in response to global-change-type drought. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 102, 15 144–15 148.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Chang, T. J., and X. A. Kleopa, 1991: A proposed method for drought monitoring. Water Resour. Bull., 27, 275–281.

  • Cook, E. R., C. A. Woodhouse, C. M. Eakin, D. M. Meko, and D. W. Stahle, 2004: Long-term aridity changes in the western United States. Science, 306, 1015–1018.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Cook, E. R., R. Seager, M. A. Cane, and D. W. Stahle, 2007: North American drought: Reconstructions, causes, and consequences. Earth Sci. Rev., 81, 93–134.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Daly, C., R. P. Neilson, and D. L. Phillips, 1994: A statistical-topographic model for mapping climatological precipitation over mountainous terrain. J. Appl. Meteor., 33, 140–158.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Greenwood, J. A., J. M. Landwehr, N. C. Matalas, and J. R. Wallis, 1979: Probability weighted moments: Definition and relation to parameters of several distributions expressable in inverse form. Water Resour. Res., 15, 1049–1054.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Guttman, N. B., 1998: Comparing the Palmer drought index and the standardized precipitation index. J. Amer. Water Resour. Assoc., 34, 113–121.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Guttman, N. B., 1999: Accepting the standardized precipitation index: A calculation algorithm. J. Amer. Water Resour. Assoc., 35, 311–322.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Hobbins, M. T., A. Dai, M. L. Roderick, and G. D. Farquhar, 2008: Revisiting the parameterization of potential evaporation as a driver of long-term water balance trends. Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L12403, doi:10.1029/2008GL033840.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Hosking, J. R. M., 1990: L-moments: Analysis and estimation of distributions using linear combinations of order statistics. J. Roy. Stat. Soc., 52B, 105–124.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Huntington, J. L., J. Szilagyi, S. W. Tyler, and G. M. Pohll, 2011: Evaluating the complementary relationship for estimating evapotranspiration from arid shrublands. Water Resour. Res., 47, W05533, doi:10.1029/2010WR009874.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Karl, T. R., 1986: The sensitivity of the Palmer drought severity index and Palmer's Z-index to their calibration coefficients including potential evapotranspiration. J. Climate Appl. Meteor., 25, 7–86.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Keyantash, J. A., and J. A. Dracup, 2002: The quantification of drought: An evaluation of drought indices. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 83, 1167–1180.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Levinson, D. H., and J. H. Lawrimore, 2008: State of the climate in 2007. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc.,89, S1–S179.

  • Lorenzo-Lacruz, J., S. M. Vicente-Serrano, J. I. López-Moreno, S. Beguería, J. M. García-Ruiz, and J. M. Cuadrat, 2010: The impact of droughts and water management on various hydrological systems in the headwaters of the Tagus River (central Spain). J. Hydrol., 386, 13–26.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Mavromatis, T., 2007: Drought index evaluation for assessing future wheat production in Greece. Int. J. Climatol., 27, 911–924.

  • McKee, T. B., N. J. Doesken, and J. Kleist, 1993: The relationship of drought frequency and duration to time scales. Proc. Eighth Conf. on Applied Climatology, Boston, MA, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 179–184.

  • Meyer, S. J., K. G. Hubbard, and D. A. Wilhite, 1991: The relationship of climatic indices and variables to corn (maize) yields: A principal components analysis. Agric. For. Meteor., 55, 59–84.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Milly, P. C. D., and K. A. Dunne, 2011: On the hydrologic adjustment of climate-model projections: the potential pitfall of potential evapotranspiration. Earth Interact., 15 . [Available online at http://EarthInteractions.org.]

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Mueller, R. C., C. M. Scudder, M. E. Porter, R. T. Trotter III, C. A. Ghering, and T. G. Whitham, 2005: Differential tree mortality in response to severe drought: evidence for long-term vegetation shifts. J. Ecol., 93, 1085–1093.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Nevada Bureau of Land Management, 2012: Clark, Lincoln, and White Pine counties groundwater development project final environmental impact statement. 6500 pp. [Available online at http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/prog/planning/groundwater_projects/snwa_groundwater_project/final_eis.html.]

  • Nevada Division of Water Resources, 2012: State of Nevada drought plan. Nevada Division of Water Resources, Division of Energy Management, and State Climate Office Rep., 16 pp. [Available online at http://water.nv.gov/programs/planning/StateDroughtResponsePlan2012.pdf.]

  • Oladipo, E. O., 1985: A comparative performance analysis of three meteorological drought indices. Int.J. Climatol., 5, 655–664.

  • Palmer, W. C., 1965: Meteorological drought. U.S. Department of Commerce Weather Bureau Research Paper 45, 58 pp.

  • Rauscher, S. A., J. S. Pal, N. S. Diffenbaugh, and M. M. Benedetti, 2008: Future changes in snowmelt-driven runoff timing over the western US. Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L16703, doi:10.1029/2008GL034424.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Redmond, K. T., 2002: The depiction of drought. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 83, 1143–1147.

  • Singh, V. P., H. Guo, and F. X. Yu, 1993: Parameter estimation for 3-parameter log-logistic distribution (LLD3) by Pome. Stochastic Hydrol. Hydraul., 7, 163–177.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Svoboda, M., and Coauthors, 2002: The drought monitor. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 83, 1181–1190.

  • Thornthwaite, C. W., 1948: An approach toward a rational classification of climate. Geogr. Rev., 38, 55–94.

  • van der Schrier, G., P. D. Jones, and K. R. Briffa, 2011: The sensitivity of the PDSI to the Thornthwaite and Penman-Monteith parameterizations for potential evapotranspiration. J. Geophys. Res., 116, D03106, doi:10.1029/2010JD015001.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Vicente-Serrano, S. M., and J. I. López-Moreno, 2005: Hydrologic response to different time scales of climatological drought: An evaluation of the standardized precipitation index in a mountainous Mediterranean basin. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 9, 523–533.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Vicente-Serrano, S. M., S. Beguería, and J. I. López-Moreno, 2010: A multiscalar drought index sensitive to global warming: The standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index. J. Climate, 23, 1696–1718.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Vicente-Serrano, S. M., J. I. López-Moreno, S. Beguería, J. Lorenzo-Lacruz, C. Azorin-Molina, and E. Morán-Tejeda, 2011a: Accurate computation of a streaflow drought index. J. Hydrol. Eng., 17, 318–332, doi:10.1061/(ASCE)HE.1943-5584.0000433.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Vicente-Serrano, S. M., and Coauthors, 2011b: Effects of warming processes on droughts and water resources in the NW Iberian Peninsula (1930-2006). Climate Res., 48, 203–212.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Weiss, J. L., C. L. Castro, and J. T. Overpeck, 2009: Distinguished pronounced droughts in the southwestern United States: Seasonality and effects of warmer temperatures. J. Climate, 22, 5918–5932.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Wells, N., S. Goddard, and M. J. Hayes, 2004: A self-calibrating Palmer drought severity index. J. Climate, 17, 2335–2351.

  • Wilhite, D. A., and M. Buchanan-Smith, 2005: Drought as hazard: Understanding the natural and social context. Drought and Water Crises: Science, Technology, and Management Issues, D. A. Wilhite, Ed., CRC Press, 3–29.

  • Wu, H., G. H. Hubbard, and D. A. Wilhite, 2004: An agricultural drought risk-assessment model for corn and soybeans. Int. J. Climatol., 24, 723–741.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
All Time Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 0 0 0
Full Text Views 6977 4781 210
PDF Downloads 1005 166 6