Determining probability of meteorological drought and drought severity in the Mekong river Delta

Abstract

    In recent decades droughts occurred more frequently in the Mekong River Delta. Droughts observed even during rainy season. This affects on social - economical activities in this region seriously. Therefore, research on evaluating, determining the probability of drought occurence is of great importance and practical sense for disaster management and sustainable social - economical development in this area.

     Droughts are clarified in some types, meteorological drought is considerred only in this paper. For evaluating the probability of meteorological drought occurence and drought characteristics some indices are used. Then appropriate criteria for the Mekong River Delta according to local climatological and geographical conditions of this region are selected. Study results showed that indices Sa.I and SPI are appropriate, and these results will lead to establishing a forecasting model for predicting droughts in the Mekong River Delta.