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Drought Assessment in São Francisco River Basin, Brazil : Characterization through SPI and Associated Anomalous Climate Patterns

Freitas, Aline A. ; Drumond, Anita ; Carvalho, Vanessa S.B. ; Reboita, Michelle S. ; Silva, Benedito C. and Uvo, Cintia B. LU orcid (2022) In Atmosphere 13(1).
Abstract

The São Francisco River Basin (SFRB) is one of the main watersheds in Brazil, standing out for generating energy and consumption, among other ecosystem services. Hence, it is important to identify hydrological drought events and the anomalous climate patterns associated with dry conditions. The Standard Precipitation Index (SPI) for 12 months was used to identify hydrological drought episodes over SFRB 1979 and 2020. For these episodes, the severity, duration, intensity, and peak were obtained, and SPI-1 was applied for the longest and most severe episode to identify months with wet and dry conditions within the rainy season (Nov–Mar). Anomalous atmospheric and oceanic patterns associated with this episode were also analyzed. The... (More)

The São Francisco River Basin (SFRB) is one of the main watersheds in Brazil, standing out for generating energy and consumption, among other ecosystem services. Hence, it is important to identify hydrological drought events and the anomalous climate patterns associated with dry conditions. The Standard Precipitation Index (SPI) for 12 months was used to identify hydrological drought episodes over SFRB 1979 and 2020. For these episodes, the severity, duration, intensity, and peak were obtained, and SPI-1 was applied for the longest and most severe episode to identify months with wet and dry conditions within the rainy season (Nov–Mar). Anomalous atmospheric and oceanic patterns associated with this episode were also analyzed. The results revealed the longest and most severe hydrological drought episode over the basin occurred between 2012 and 2020. The episode over the Upper portion of the basin lasted 103 months. The results showed a deficit of monthly precipitation up to 250 mm in the southeast and northeast regions of the country during the anomalous dry months identified through SPI-1. The dry conditions observed during the rainy season of this episode were associated with an anomalous high-pressure system acting close to the coast of Southeast Brazil, hindering the formation of precipitating systems.

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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Drought, SPI, São Francisco River Basin
in
Atmosphere
volume
13
issue
1
article number
41
publisher
MDPI AG
external identifiers
  • scopus:85122032645
ISSN
2073-4433
DOI
10.3390/atmos13010041
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Funding Information: Acknowledgments: The authors would like to thank the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), the Minas Gerais Research Funding Foundation (FAPEMIG), and the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). We would like to thank ECMWF and CPC for providing the data. The authors would like to thank the editor and the anonymous reviewers. Funding Information: Funding: This work is part of the project GlobalHydroPressure (EU Water JPI). A.A.F. and V.S.B.C. acknowledge the support received by the Minas Gerais Research Funding Foundation—FAPEMIG (ID-11831). V.S.B.C., M.S.R. and B.C.S. also acknowledge FAPEMIG (APQ 04377-18). A.D. acknowledges the support from the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) (100186/2021-1). C.B.U. acknowledge the support received from the Swedish Research Council FORMAS, Grant No. 2018-02379). Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
id
ecafbf47-279f-403c-acf4-b3c4f99a4076
date added to LUP
2022-01-21 22:06:13
date last changed
2022-04-19 19:18:09
@article{ecafbf47-279f-403c-acf4-b3c4f99a4076,
  abstract     = {{<p>The São Francisco River Basin (SFRB) is one of the main watersheds in Brazil, standing out for generating energy and consumption, among other ecosystem services. Hence, it is important to identify hydrological drought events and the anomalous climate patterns associated with dry conditions. The Standard Precipitation Index (SPI) for 12 months was used to identify hydrological drought episodes over SFRB 1979 and 2020. For these episodes, the severity, duration, intensity, and peak were obtained, and SPI-1 was applied for the longest and most severe episode to identify months with wet and dry conditions within the rainy season (Nov–Mar). Anomalous atmospheric and oceanic patterns associated with this episode were also analyzed. The results revealed the longest and most severe hydrological drought episode over the basin occurred between 2012 and 2020. The episode over the Upper portion of the basin lasted 103 months. The results showed a deficit of monthly precipitation up to 250 mm in the southeast and northeast regions of the country during the anomalous dry months identified through SPI-1. The dry conditions observed during the rainy season of this episode were associated with an anomalous high-pressure system acting close to the coast of Southeast Brazil, hindering the formation of precipitating systems.</p>}},
  author       = {{Freitas, Aline A. and Drumond, Anita and Carvalho, Vanessa S.B. and Reboita, Michelle S. and Silva, Benedito C. and Uvo, Cintia B.}},
  issn         = {{2073-4433}},
  keywords     = {{Drought; SPI; São Francisco River Basin}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{MDPI AG}},
  series       = {{Atmosphere}},
  title        = {{Drought Assessment in São Francisco River Basin, Brazil : Characterization through SPI and Associated Anomalous Climate Patterns}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/atmos13010041}},
  doi          = {{10.3390/atmos13010041}},
  volume       = {{13}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}