Multi-sensor geodetic observations for drought characterization in the Northeast Atlantic Eastern Hydrographic Region, Brazil

Fábio V M S Lima; Rodrigo M Gonçalves; Henry D Montecino; Raquel A V N Carvalho; Pedro R Mutti

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157426

Multi-sensor geodetic observations for drought characterization in the Northeast Atlantic Eastern Hydrographic Region, Brazil

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Nov 10:846:157426. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157426. Epub 2022 Jul 18.

Authors

Fábio V M S Lima¹, Rodrigo M Gonçalves², Henry D Montecino³, Raquel A V N Carvalho⁴, Pedro R Mutti⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cartographic Engineering, Geodetic Science and Technology of Geoinformation Post Graduation Program, Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), Recife, PE, Brazil.
² Department of Cartographic Engineering, Geodetic Science and Technology of Geoinformation Post Graduation Program, Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), Recife, PE, Brazil. Electronic address: rodrigo.mikosz@ufpe.br.
³ Department of Cartographic Engineering, Geodetic Science and Technology of Geoinformation Post Graduation Program, Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), Recife, PE, Brazil; Department of Geodesy Science and Geomatics, Universidad de Concepción, Los Angeles, Chile.
⁴ Department of Cartographic Engineering, Geodetic Science and Technology of Geoinformation Post Graduation Program, Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), Recife, PE, Brazil; Sea Science Institute, Federal University of Ceará (UFC), Fortaleza, CE, Brazil.
⁵ Department of Atmospheric and Climate Sciences, Climate Sciences Post-graduate Program, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Natal, RN, Brazil.

PMID: 35863576
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157426

Abstract

The lowest water availability area in Brazil is the Northeast Atlantic Eastern Hydrographic Region (NAERH). It plays a fundamental role in the lives of 24.1 million inhabitants spread throughout 874 cities. Drought is recurrent in this semiarid climate, affecting agriculture, biodiversity, the ecosystem and other environmental spheres. Therefore, the goal of this research is to combine different drought indexes to quantify drought intensity and duration in the NAERH. Besides the traditionally used rainfall data, multi-temporal data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and Global Positioning System (GPS) were also used. The indexes are the Combined Climatic Deviation Index (CCDI), Drought Severity Index (DSI) and Vertical Crustal Deformation Index (DI_VCD). The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) was used for validation of the other indexes through the Spearman rank correlation, which retrieved ρ = 0.76 and 0.68 between the CCDI and the SPI-03/06. On the other hand, DSI correlated with the SPI-24/36 with ρ = 0.67/0.75. Despite limitations, the DI_VCD accurately detected the frequencies of hydrological droughts. All indexes identified the last severe drought from 2012 to 2018, and its persistence throughout 2019 and 2020. The combined indexes approach reveals nuances of the indexes, improving the baseline to thoroughly understand drought at different temporal scales.

Keywords: Drought indexes; GPS (Global Positioning System); GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment); Geodetic sensors; TWS (Total Water Storage).

MeSH terms

Agriculture
Brazil
Droughts*
Ecosystem*
Hydrology