Drought assessment in Cai river basin using VIC model

Abstract

    Drought is a complex hazard of nature, it is very difficult for people to understand and assess, the use of indicators in assessment of drought change are always concerned by scientists. In this paper, the author has applied the VIC model to simulate the change of relative soil humidity, and combination between relative soil moisture index (RSM) and standardized precipitation index (SPI) for assessing the variable drought in Cai river basin. The research results indicated that the possibility of drought in study basin is relatively high, the variable drought has major differences between two indicators, according to the SPI, drought occurs only during the months of the rainy season but basing on the RSM indicator, drought is occurring in both the wet season and dry season. Each drought index partly reflects changes in drought characteristics of the research area, it has different meanings for the purpose of drought assessment. This results is very important for agricultural planning and water resources management to reduce the harmful effects of drought.