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Drought‐Intensity Duration and Frequency Analysis: A Case Study of Western Uganda
Author(s) -
Rugumayo A. I.,
Mwebaze D. B.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
water and environment journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1747-6593
pISSN - 1747-6585
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-6593.2002.tb00380.x
Subject(s) - evapotranspiration , environmental science , intensity (physics) , consistency (knowledge bases) , distribution (mathematics) , climatology , water content , climate zones , hydrology (agriculture) , mathematics , geology , ecology , mathematical analysis , physics , geometry , geotechnical engineering , quantum mechanics , biology
This paper describes (a) drought occurrences in two selected climatic zones of western Uganda and (b) examines the meteorological aspects of drought where rainfall is the main parameter of interest. Rainfall data from various stations in each climatic zone were checked for consistency using the double mass curve technique, and one representative station from each climatic zone was selected. Two probability distributions: normal and log‐normal were fitted to the data, and the log‐normal distribution provided a better fit in each case. Drought volumes, return periods, intensities, and severity indexes were determined for each climatic zone. The annual potential evapotranspiration was also calculated and plotted against the rainfall to give the soil‐moisture deficit. From the results of the analysis it was observed that droughts of a higher severity occurred in Kasese compared with Mbarara.