ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Assessment of Spatial and Temporal Pattern
of Hydrological Droughts in the Upper Indus
Basin, Pakistan
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1
Department of Agricultural Engineering, Muhammad Nawaz Shareef University of Agriculture, Multan 66000, Pakistan
2
Institute of International Rivers and Eco-Security, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China
3
Department of Irrigation and Drainage, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 380000, Pakistan
4
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), GPO Box 3226, Kathmandu, Nepal
5
Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Central Punjab, Lahore 54000, Pakistan
Submission date: 2020-11-01
Final revision date: 2020-12-29
Acceptance date: 2021-01-20
Online publication date: 2021-07-13
Publication date: 2021-09-22
Corresponding author
Muhammad Saifullah
Agricultural Engineering, Muhammad Nawaz Shareef University of Agriculture Multan,Pakistan, Multan,Pakistan, 66000, Multan, Pakistan
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2021;30(5):4633-4645
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ABSTRACT
The current study used a threshold approach to determine the number of drought events, scarcity,
their mean and maximum duration whereas New Innovative Trend analysis (ITA) was used to determine
the spatio-temporal pattern of hydrological drought from 1961 to 2010. The results revealed a trendless
pattern of scarcity at Dainyor station excluding extreme pattern which increased significantly whereas
the mild pattern of water scarcity was observed at Gilgit station which was found to be increased
significantly while other factors of hydrological drought were found trendless. The extreme pattern
of water scarcity was found to be increased at Garhi Habibullah station whereas the scarcity pattern
increased significantly at Naran station. Overall, the extreme pattern of scarcity increased considerably
in the UIB. A significant increase in the maximum duration of drought events and an insignificant
increase in the extreme pattern of the maximum duration of the drought was observed at Naran. Though,
it was observed an increase in the mild pattern of maximum duration at Dainyor whereas a decrease at
Gilgit. However, the maximum duration pattern decreased significantly at Garhi Habibullah. All other
patterns of maximum duration occurred in the trendless region.