Application of L-moment method for regional frequency analysis of meteorological drought across the Loess Plateau, China

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 17; no. 9; p. e0273975
• Main Authors: Li, Ming, Liu, Meilin, Cao, Fuqiang, Wang, Guiwen, Chai, Xurong, Zhang, Lianzhi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Francisco Public Library of Science 01-09-2022; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Accuracy; Annual precipitation; Arid zones; Aridity; Datasets; Drought; Droughts; Earth Sciences; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Environmental risk; Estimates; Food security; Food supply; Frequency analysis; Information management; Loess; Management; Mean annual precipitation; Meteorological data; Physical Sciences; Precipitation; Precipitation frequencies; Probability distribution; Rain; Regions; Research and Analysis Methods; Resource management; Sustainable development; Water; Water management; Water resources; Water resources management; Water shortages; China; Loess Plateau
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0273975

Water shortages have always been the primary bottleneck for the healthy and sustainable development of the ecological environment on the Loess Plateau (LP). Proper water resource management requires knowledge of the spatiotemporal characteristics of precipitation frequency. This paper employed the gridded precipitation dataset obtained from the China Meteorological Data Service Centre to present a spatially explicit characterization of precipitation frequencies in tandem with their return periods on the LP based on the L-moment method. The 60% and 80% of the mean annual precipitation from 1981 to 2010 were synonymous with severe and moderate droughts, respectively. Droughts occurred more frequently in the northwest than in the southeast of the LP. Moreover, the frequencies of moderate drought showed a slight difference throughout the area, while those of severe droughts demonstrated considerable differences between the northwestern arid zone and the southeastern semi-humid zone. The maps associated with various return periods of precipitation deficits can be used to produce drought risk maps together with drought vulnerability maps. These findings could also provide useful information for drought management, water resource management and the development of food security policies.