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Monitoring Drought: An Evaluation of Meteorological Drought Indices
Author(s) -
Quiring Steven M.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
geography compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.587
H-Index - 65
ISSN - 1749-8198
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-8198.2008.00207.x
Subject(s) - decile , index (typography) , strengths and weaknesses , percentile , precipitation , climatology , environmental science , geography , meteorology , environmental resource management , computer science , statistics , mathematics , geology , psychology , social psychology , world wide web
A uniform method for defining, monitoring and quantifying the severity of drought conditions does not exist. This article introduces some of the tools (e.g. drought indices) that are commonly used in the United States to monitor meteorological drought, describes the strengths and weaknesses of these tools, and makes recommendations about which ones are the most appropriate for measuring and monitoring meteorological drought. The literature and the qualitative drought index evaluation both suggest that the Standardized Precipitation Index and deciles/percentiles are the most suitable for monitoring meteorological drought.