Abstract
This study presents a statistical comparative study between two indices using only precipitations as a calculation parameter, the standardized precipitation index (SPI) and the standardized precipitation drought index (SPDI). The first is widely used in research and in monitoring drought on several time scales. While the second was a new drought indicator but very little is used. At the moment when collecting climate data in Algeria poses several problems, in terms of accessibility to weather stations, the punctuality of collecting agents, the calculations of drought indices based on several meteorological parameters seem very difficult if not impossible. For this, the study of drought, based on only two parameters (precipitations), seems to us as an advantage. The comparison between the two indices is based on four statistical operations, on three-time scales (3, 12 and 24 months): the simple statistical description, the comparison of the frequencies of dry and wet periods, the degree of correlation and a test on equal variances. The results show that the two indices correlate significantly in fairly long drought periods (12 months) and diverge on the other two time scales.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Denidina B, Medjerab A and Mega N (2020) Characterization of drought events in south Oran and south Algiers steppes in Algeria. Int J Ecol Dev 35(1) ISSN 0972-9984 (Print); ISSN 0973-7308
Le Houérou H, Claudin J, Pouget M (1977) Etude bioclimatique des steppes algériennes (Bioclimate study of the Algerian rangelands). Bulletin de la Société d’Histoire Naturelle d’Afrique du Nord, 68: 37–74
McKee TB (1995) Drought monitoring with multiple time scales. Proceedings of 9th Conference on Applied Climatology, Boston, 1995
McKee TB, Doesken NJ, Kleist J (1993) The relationship of drought frequency and duration to time scales. Proceedings of the 8th Conference on Applied Climatology. Boston, 179–183
Mega N, Medjerab A (2016) Study of climatic drought in Algerian high plateaus using standardized precipitation index and observations from moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer. J Appl Remote Sens 10:046002
Pino JD, Pita MF, Barrón LG (2010) Aplicaciónde lÍndice de Palmer para el análisis de la sequía en Andalucía
Pita López MF (2001) Un nouvel indice de sécheresse pour les domaines méditerranéens: application au bassin du Guadalquivir (sudo-uest de l’Espagne). 13e colloque de l'Association internationale de climatologie, Nice, 6–9 septembre 2000, 225–233. Association Internationale de Climatologie
Unies N (2006) Programme des Nations Unies pour le développement (PNUD). Human Development Report 2006
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mega, N., Medjerab, A. Statistical comparison between the standardized precipitation index and the standardized precipitation drought index. Model. Earth Syst. Environ. 7, 373–388 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40808-021-01098-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40808-021-01098-4