Skip to main content
Log in

DrinC: a software for drought analysis based on drought indices

  • Software Article
  • Published:
Earth Science Informatics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Drought is a complex phenomenon which can be characterised mainly by its severity, duration and areal extent. Among these three dimensions, drought severity is the key factor which can be used for drought analysis. Drought indices are typically used to assess drought severity in a meaningful way. DrinC (Drought Indices Calculator) is a software package which was developed for providing a simple, though adaptable interface for the calculation of drought indices. The paper aims at presenting the overall design and the implementation of the software along with the utilisation of various approaches for drought analysis. DrinC can be used for the calculation of two recently developed indices, the Reconnaissance Drought Index (RDI) and the Streamflow Drought Index (SDI), as well as two widely known indices, the Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Precipitation Deciles (PD). Moreover, the software includes a module for the estimation of potential evapotranspiration (PET) through temperature based methods, useful for the calculation of RDI. The software may be used in a variety of applications, such as drought monitoring, assessment of the spatial distribution of drought, investigation of climatic and drought scenarios, etc. The applications of DrinC in several locations, especially in arid and semi-arid regions, show that it is gaining ground as a useful research and operational tool for drought analysis.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abramovitz M. and Stegun I. (1965) Handbook of mathematical functions. National bureau of standards, applied mathematics series–55, Washington, D.C

  • Balint Z, Mutua FM, Muchiri P (2011) Drought monitoring with the combined drought index. FAO-SWALIM Nairobi, Kenya

    Google Scholar 

  • Beguería S., Vicente-Serrano S.M. (2013) Calculation of the standardised precipitation-evapotranspiration index. http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/SPEI/SPEI.pdf (accessed July 2, 2014)

  • Bordi I. and Sutera A. (2007) Drought monitoring and forecasting at large scale. In: Rossi G. et al. (eds.) Methods and tools for drought analysis and management. Springer, pp 3–27

  • Borg DS (2009) An application of drought indices in Malta, case study. Eur Water 25/26:25–38

    Google Scholar 

  • Brouwer C, Heibloem M (1986) Irrigation water management: irrigation water needs. Training manual no. 3. FAO, Rome

    Google Scholar 

  • Capodici F, Ciraolo G, La Loggia G, Liuzzo L, Noto LV, Noto MT (2008) Time series analysis of climate and vegetation variables in the Oreto Watershed (Sicily, Italy). Eur Water 23/24:133–145

    Google Scholar 

  • Dalezios NR, Blanta A, Spyropoulos NV (2012) Assessment of remotely sensed drought features in vulnerable agriculture. Nat Hazards Earth Syst Sci 12:3139–3150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doorenbos J, Pruitt WO (1977) Guidelines for predicting crop water requirements. Irrigation and drainage paper 24, 2nd edn. FAO, Rome

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards D.C. and McKee T.B. (1997) Characteristics of 20th century drought in the United States at multiple time scales. Climatology report number 97–2, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado

  • Gibbs W.J. and Maher J.V. (1967) Rainfall deciles as drought indicators. Bureau of meteorology bulletin no. 48. Commonwealth of Australia, Melbourne

  • Hargreaves GH, Samani ZA (1985) Reference crop evapotranspiration from temperature. Trans ASAE 1(2):96–99

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayes MJ, Alvord C, Lowrey J (2007) Drought indices. Feature Article Int West Clim Summ 3(6):2–6

    Google Scholar 

  • Kanellou E, Domenikiotis C, Blanta A, Hondronikou E, Dalezios NR (2008) Index-based drought assessment in semi-arid areas of Greece based on conventional data. Eur Water 23/24:87–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Kanellou E, Spyropoulos N, Dalezios NR (2012) Geoinformatic intelligence methodologies for drought spatiotemporal variability in Greece. Water Resour Manag 26:1089–1106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kininmonth W.R., Voice M.E., Beard G.S., de Hoedt G.C. and Mullen C.E (2000) Australian climate services for drought management. In D.A. Wilhite (ed.) Drought, a global assessment., Routledge, pp. 210–222

  • McKee T.B., Doesken N.J. and Kleist J. (1993) The relationship of drought frequency and duration to time scale. In proceedings of the eighth conference on applied climatology, American meteorological society. Anaheim (CA), 17–22 January 1993, AMS, pp. 179–184

  • Michaelides S, Pashiardis S (2008) Monitoring drought in Cyprus during the 2007–2008 hydrometeorological year by using the standardized precipitation index (SPI). Eur Water 23/24:123–131

    Google Scholar 

  • Morid S, Smakhtin VU, Moghaddasi M (2006) Comparison of seven meteorological indices for drought monitoring in Iran. Int J Climatol 26:971–985

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mostafavi Darani S.M., Khoshhal Dastjerdi J., Parandeh A., Ghatrehsamani M (2011) Drought monitoring in Isfahan province (Iran) by comparison of SPI and RDI. ‘European Conference on applications of meteorology’ EMS annual meeting abstracts vol. 8, EMS2011-229, 11th EMS/10th ECAM. 12–16 Sept. 2011, Berlin, Germany

  • Nalbantis Ι (2008) Drought and streamflow. Eur Water 23/24:65–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Nalbantis Ι, Tsakiris G (2009) Assessment of hydrological drought revisited. Water Resour Manag 23(5):881–897

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • NDMC - National Drought Mitigation Center (2014) Program to calculate standardized precipitation index. http://drought.unl.edu/MonitoringTools/DownloadableSPIProgram.aspx (accessed June 30, 2014)

  • Pashiardis S, Michaelides S (2008) Implementation of the standardized precipitation index (SPI) and the reconnaissance drought index (RDI) for regional drought assessment: a case study for Cyprus. Eur Water 23/24:57–65

    Google Scholar 

  • Rares H.C.Z. (2013) Drought analysis in western romania using DrinC program. In A. Zaharim et al. (eds.) Recent advances in energy, environment and geology,. WSEAS Press, Energy, environmental and structural engineering series 18. pp. 82–87

  • Rossi G, Benedini M, Tsakiris G, Giakoumakis S (1992) On regional drought estimation and analysis. Water Resour Manag 6:249–277

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smakhtin VU, Hughes DA (2007) Automated estimation and analyses of meteorological drought characteristics from monthly rainfall data. Environ Model Softw 22:880–890

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stamm G.G. (1967) Problems and procedures in determining water supply requirements for irrigation projects. In: Hagan et al. (eds.) Irrigation of agricultural lands, Wis Am. Soc Agron Agron II. pp. 771–784

  • Thom HCS (1958) A note on the gamma distribution. Mon Weather Rev 86:117–122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thornthwaite CW (1948) An approach towards a rational classification of climates. Geogr Rev 38:55–94

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tigkas D (2008) Drought characterisation and monitoring in regions of Greece. Eur Water 23/24:29–39

    Google Scholar 

  • Tigkas D, Tsakiris G (2004) Medbasin: a Mediterranean rainfall-runoff software package. Eur Water 5/6:3–11

  • Tigkas D, Vangelis H, Tsakiris G (2012) Drought and climatic change impact on streamflow in small watersheds. Sci Total Environ 440:33–41

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tigkas D, Vangelis H, Tsakiris G (2013) The RDI as a composite climatic index. Eur Water 41:17–22

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsakiris G. and Pangalou D. (2009) Drought characterisation in the Mediterranean. In: A. Iglesias et al. (eds.), Coping with drought risk in agriculture and water supply systems. Spinger Science & Business Media B.V. pp. 69–80

  • Tsakiris G, Vangelis H (2004) Towards a drought watch system based on spatial SPI. Water Resour Manag 18(1):1–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsakiris G, Vangelis H (2005) Establishing a drought index incorporating evapotranspiration. Eur Water 9/10:3–11

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsakiris G, Loukas A, Pangalou D, Vangelis H, Tigkas D, Rossi G, Cancelliere A (2007a) Drought characterization. In: Iglesias A et al (eds) Drought management guidelines technical annex. CIHEAM / EC MEDAWater, Zaragoza, pp 85–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsakiris G, Pangalou D, Tigkas D, Vangelis H (2007b) Assessing the areal extent of drought. In: Karatzas G et al (eds) Proceedings of EWRA symposium “Water resources management: new approaches and technologies”. Chania, Greece, pp 59–66

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsakiris G, Pangalou D, Vangelis H (2007c) Regional drought assessment based on the reconnaissance drought index (RDI). Water Resour Manag 21(5):821–833

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsakiris G, Tigkas D, Vangelis H, Pangalou D (2007d) Regional drought identification and assessment–case study in Crete. In: Rossi G. et al (eds.) Methods and tools for drought analysis and management. Springer, The Netherlands, pp 169–191

  • Tsakiris G, Nalbantis I, Pangalou D, Tigkas D, Vangelis H. (2008) Drought meteorological monitoring network design for the reconnaissance drought index (RDI). In Franco Lopez A. (ed.), Proceedings of the 1st International Conference “Drought Management: scientific and technological innovations”. Zaragoza, Spain: Option Méditerranéennes, Series A, No. 80, 12–14 June 2008; 2008. pp. 57–62

  • Tsakiris G, Nalbantis I, Vangelis H, Verbeiren B, Huysmans M, Tychon B, Jacquemin I, Canters F, Vanderhaegen S, Engelen G, Poelmans L, De Becker P, Batelaan O (2013) A system-based paradigm of drought analysis for operational management. Water Resour Manag 27:5281–5297

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsakiris G., Vangelis H., Tigkas D. (2010) Drought impacts on yield potential in rainfed agriculture. In: Proceedings of 2nd International conference on drought management ‘economics of drought and drought preparedness in a climate change context’, 4–6 March 2010, Istanbul, Turkey, pp. 191–197

  • Vangelis H, Tigkas D, Tsakiris G (2013) The effect of PET method on reconnaissance drought index (RDI) calculation. J Arid Environ 88:130–140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilhite D.A. (2009) Drought monitoring as a component of drought preparedness planning. In: A. Iglesias et al. (eds.), Coping with drought risk in agriculture and water supply systems. Spinger Science & Business Media B.V. pp. 3–19

  • Wilhite DA, Svoboda MD, Hayes MJ (2005) Monitoring drought in the United Sates. Status and trends. In: Boken VK et al (eds) Monitoring and predicting agricultural drought: a global study. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 121–131

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dimitris Tigkas.

Additional information

Communicated by: H. A. Babaie

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Tigkas, D., Vangelis, H. & Tsakiris, G. DrinC: a software for drought analysis based on drought indices. Earth Sci Inform 8, 697–709 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12145-014-0178-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12145-014-0178-y

Keywords

Navigation