Meteorological Drought Characteristics Research of Western Jilin Province Based on Wavelet Analyses

• Published in: Applied Mechanics and Materials Vol. 295-298; pp. 2121 - 2126
• Main Authors: Luo, Jian Nan, Chen, She Ming, Lu, Wen Xi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Zurich Trans Tech Publications Ltd 01.02.2013
• Subjects: Western Jilin Province; Morlet Wavelet Analysis; Standardized Precipitation Index; Meteorological Drought Characteristics
• ISBN: 3037856491; 9783037856499
• ISSN: 1660-9336; 1662-7482; 1662-7482
• DOI: 10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.295-298.2121

Drought is a recurrent feature of the climate. It occurs in virtually all climatic zones, and its characteristics vary significantly among regions. The precipitation data are obtained from 6 fairly distributed stations across western Jilin province (in China) for the period from 1957 to 2010. The calculated monthly standardized precipitation index (SPI) is used as a drought index. SPI not only nicely reflects drought intensity and duration, but also has a multi-temporal scale application dimension. For the purpose of analyzing multiple meteorological drought time-scales, Morlet wavelet transforms of the station monthly SPI time-series are interpreted. The results show that some stations, such as Chang-Ling and Tong-Yu, have remarkably significant cycles in their respective wavelet power spectrum and variance. However, these significant cycles are not clearly noticeable in the other stations. Irrespective of the trend, time-scale and cycles generally influence drought characteristics in the study area.