A Review of the 1995–96 Drought in the North West

As environmental regulator, the Environment Agency seeks the best balance between essential needs of water supply and the environment, whilst taking into account costs and benefits; nowhere is this balance more focused than in the management of droughts. The drought of 1995–96 was the most severe on record in the North West, and presented a major challenge to both the water company and the Environment Agency in safeguarding essential water supplies and minimizing the risks to the environment.
This paper describes the management of the drought from the Agency's perspective.     

Forecasting conditional climate-change using a hybrid approach

A novel approach is proposed to forecast the likelihood of climate-change across spatial landscape gradients. This hybrid approach involves reconstructing past precipitation and temperature using the self-organizing map technique; determining quantile trends in the climate-change variables by quantile regression modeling; and computing conditional forecasts of climate-change variables based on self-similarity in quantile trends using the fractionally differenced auto-regressive integrated moving average technique. The proposed modeling approach is applied to states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah) in the southwestern U.S., where conditional forecasts of climate-change variables are evaluated against recent (2012) observations, evaluated at a future time period (2030), and evaluated as future trends (2009–2059). These results have broad economic, political, and social implications because they quantify uncertainty in climate-change forecasts affecting various sectors of society. Another benefit of the proposed hybrid approach is that it can be extended to any spatiotemporal scale providing self-similarity exists.     

A Comparative Analysis of Primary and Extreme Characteristics of Dry or Wet Status between Asia and North America

In this study, the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) was used to analyze the average and extreme dry/wet states of Asia and North America from 1953 to 2003. The results indicate that the two continents underwent drying trends during this period. Compared with North America, Asia showed more severe drought trends. However, more significant and regular seasonal variation for drought was found in North America. The driest regions in Asia were located in the northern region of China, Mongolia, and eastern mid-Siberian plateau. Most regions in central North America were relatively wetter than other regions. The northern and southwestern regions of North America, as well as the Atlantic and Pacific coastal areas, experienced the most drought during this period. A sharp increase of the drought area and the number of extreme drought events took place from 1997 to 2003 in both Asia and North America. Severe drought events were more likely to occur during the summer on both continents. Asia had the most extreme drought events during July, but North America reached its highest drought frequency from June to September. In Asia, a persistent increasing trend of extreme drought emerged throughout the studied period. However, a more complex evolution of drought emerged in North America: a decreasing trend appeared before the mid-1960s and an increasing trend appeared after the late 1970s. A relatively steady dry/wet status was observed between the mid-1960s and the late 1970s. The role of exceptional, extreme drought events with respect to the La Nina event was considered during 1997-2003.     

Highlights of Drought Policy and Related Science in Australia and the U.S.A.

Abstract

Patterns of water supply and use in Australia and the U.S.A. differ in many ways. This results in different perceptions concerning the nature of drought and policy approaches to its management. This paper discusses the differences and similarities and explores lessons that policy makers in both countries can learn from one another. A key difference between the two countries is that whereas drought is perceived in Australia essentially in terms of its impact on agriculture, in the U.S. both perceptions and policy are also heavily influenced by the impact of drought on urban communities. This has led to different policy emphases. In 1992 Australia established its National Drought Policy; the U.S. is presently considering the adoption of a national drought policy. These policies highlight drought being accepted as part of natural climate variability, rather than as a natural disaster. They also emphasize the protection of the natural resource base.     

浅谈电子信息技术对我国抗旱立法完善的影响

我国目前的抗旱工作有中央一级地方的抗旱政策及法律的指导，值得一提的是在2009年国家出台了《中华人民共和国抗旱条例》，为抗旱工作提出了明确的法律依据，在宣传和实施的过程中不可避免的需要电子信息技术的应用。只有通过很好的运用电子信息技术将旱灾的预防、治理、灾后重建都纳入到抗旱法律体系中去进行完善才能更好的应对不定时间发生的旱灾。     

临沧市甘蔗抗旱栽培初试

临沧是云南省的第1大蔗区,干旱一直是限制我市甘蔗产量提高的主要因素。在常规栽培技术的基础上,采用全膜覆盖和施用保水剂2种方法,在临沧市耿马县勐永镇进行了新植蔗抗旱栽培试验。结果表明,2种栽培方法均能促进甘蔗出苗和分蘖,明显增加甘蔗有效茎数从而提高甘蔗产量,可在甘蔗栽培中推广应用。     

葡萄砧木的抗逆性试验

本试验采用当年扦插葡萄苗移栽入盆，分别进行断水、加盐和灌水模拟逆境处理。结果表明，抗旱性、耐盐性和耐涝性都很好的砧木品种有５２０Ａ、２２５Ｒｕ和５ＢＢ；其次为Ｓ０４３３０９、Ｓａｌｔ ｃｒｅｅｋ和贝达，再次国７７５；载培品种巨峰和黑奥林的综合抗逆性差。     

Indicators and Aspects of Hydrological Drought in Lebanon

Change in climate conditions has become a global issue that has given a serious concern by many researchers. However, the availability of data in this regard is considered as a major element for optimum comparative analysis. The Mediterranean region is influenced by climate change, which is reflected mainly by its impact on water sources supply and flow regime. In Lebanon, these water sources are witnessing obvious quantitative decrease, thus affected the supply side, the so-called “hydrologic drought”. Therefore, many studies have been made to figure out a comprehensive understanding on water resources in Lebanon and their interrelation with climatic trends, but they often analyze one component of the water cycle. This study involves different indices of surface and subsurface water, thus, followed a comparative analysis of different hydrologic records. This was achieved by applying graphical illustrations of the numerical values adopted from available records. In this regard, different tools of analysis were used, and more certainly remotely sensed data were helpful for monitoring approaches. Therefore, results of the obtained comparative analysis revealed a clear regression in the amount of available water from different sources in Lebanon. These sources, which are under the impact of human like rivers and groundwater, showed a 23–29% decrease in the amounts of water since the last four decades. While sources, with less human interference, like snow cover and precipitation have been decreased by 12–16%. However, in both cases, the status is quite alarming and needs immediate water management plans to conserve water resources in Lebanon.     

考虑下垫面类型的干旱指数比较研究

干旱作为常见的自然灾害，在世界各地发生的频率日渐增加，已对经济发展、农业生产和人类生活等方面产生了严重影响。但是干旱的类型较多，包括气象干旱、土壤干旱、水文干旱、农田干旱等，无法用单个干旱指数对不同类型的干旱进行监测。按照干旱发生类型，利用气象干旱指数（Standardized Precipitation Index SPI）、土壤水分干旱指数（Soil Moisture Index, SMI）和蒸发压力干旱指数（Evaporative Stress Index, ESI）对美国的旱情进行监测。研究结果表明：不同干旱指数之间呈显著相关，相关系数R在0.7以上。ESI整体监测精度较高，它能够真实反映地表水分盈亏状况，同时与遥感数据结合，可以实现从田块到全球不同尺度干旱实时监测。不同植被类型覆盖下垫面对不同类型干旱响应存在较大差异，草地下垫面对不同类型的干旱响应较为一致，但是随着地上生物量的增加，不同干旱指数监测结果之间差异逐渐增大。因此，在干旱监测时需要考虑植被的结构特征，植被与气候之间的相互作用，才能具体分析不同下垫面的受灾情况，进一步考虑更适合的方法以及干旱指数监测不同下垫面的干旱情况。