An Estimation of Hydrometeorological Drought Stress over the Central Part of India using Geo-information Technology

Drought is a creeping natural hazard commencing from lack of rainfall and generally associated with various climatic aspects. Drought-related water deficiency has severe consequences upon environmental processes and socioeconomic activities. In the past few decades, a number of drought indices have been developed for assessing the extent, onset, duration and intensity of drought. The Bundelkhand region located in the central part of India has been affected by recurrent drought events during the past few decades. This study seeks to examine hydrometeorological drought stress of that area using remote sensing and meteorological indicators, i.e., standardized precipitation index (SPI), hydrology-based rainfall anomaly index (RAI) and standardized water-level index (SWI). Daily rainfall data from Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Stations (CHIRPS) and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) were integrated with station-based groundwater datasets (1998–2015) to analyze the hydrometeorological drought condition of the area. In addition, groundwater datasets were used to evaluate the long-term hydrological drought situation and compared with meteorological drought indices. The study reveals a good agreement among all hydrometeorological drought indices distinctly in few years (2002 and 2013). However, the findings were not coherent in all years due to high rate of runoff and poor groundwater recharge. In spite of having normal rainfall, the undulating terrains of this rugged land confine the infiltration process and cause hydrological drought stress in several parts of the area.