A new spatiotemporal two-stage standardized weighted procedure for regional drought analysis

Rizwan Niaz; Nouman Iqbal; Nadhir Al-Ansari; Ijaz Hussain; Elsayed Elsherbini Elashkar; Sadaf Shamshoddin Soudagar; Showkat Hussain Gani; Alaa Mohamd Shoukry; Saad Sh Sammen

doi:10.7717/peerj.13249

A new spatiotemporal two-stage standardized weighted procedure for regional drought analysis

PeerJ. 2022 May 2:10:e13249. doi: 10.7717/peerj.13249. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Statistics, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Punjab, Pakistan.
² Knowledge unit of business Economics accountancy and Commerce (KUBEAC), University of management and technology Sialkot campus, Sialkot, Pakistan.
³ Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Lulea University of Technology, Lulea, Sweden.
⁴ Administrative Sciences Department, Community College, Riyadh, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ College of Business Administration, King Saud University Riyadh, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Business Administration, College of Business Administration, King Saud University Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Arriyadh Community College, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Workers University, KSA, Nsar, Egypt, Egypt.
⁹ Department of Civil Engineering, Coolege of Engineering, University of Diyala, Diyala Governorate, Iraq.

Abstract

Drought is a complex phenomenon that occurs due to insufficient precipitation. It does not have immediate effects, but sustained drought can affect the hydrological, agriculture, economic sectors of the country. Therefore, there is a need for efficient methods and techniques that properly determine drought and its effects. Considering the significance and importance of drought monitoring methodologies, a new drought assessment procedure is proposed in the current study, known as the Maximum Spatio-Temporal Two-Stage Standardized Weighted Index (MSTTSSWI). The proposed MSTTSSWI is based on the weighting scheme, known as the Spatio-Temporal Two-Stage Standardized Weighting Scheme (STTSSWS). The potential of the weighting scheme is based on the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), and the steady-state probabilities. Further, the STTSSWS computes spatiotemporal weights in two stages for various drought categories and stations. In the first stage of the STTSSWS, the SPI, SPEI, and the steady-state probabilities are calculated for each station at a 1-month time scale to assign weights for varying drought categories. However, in the second stage, these weights are further propagated based on spatiotemporal characteristics to obtain new weights for the various drought categories in the selected region. The STTSSWS is applied to the six meteorological stations of the Northern area, Pakistan. Moreover, the spatiotemporal weights obtained from STTSSWS are used to calculate MSTTSSWI for regional drought characterization. The MSTTSSWI may accurately provide regional spatiotemporal characteristics for the drought in the selected region and motivates researchers and policymakers to use the more comprehensive and accurate spatiotemporal characterization of drought in the selected region.

Keywords: Drought monitoring; Homogenous region; Meteorological stations; Spatiotemporal; Standardized weighting scheme; Steady-state probabilities.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Agriculture
Droughts*
Meteorology*
Pakistan
Probability

Grants and funding

The authors were supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Saud University, through research group no 1435-075. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.