Exploring spatial and temporal drought over the semi-arid Sahibi river basin in Rajasthan, India

Rajasthan state of India is prone to recurrent droughts; hence, exploring drought severities over the semi-arid Sahibi river basin is crucial for drought management. To investigate drought severity, the Rainfall Anomaly Index (RAI) was applied at two time spans, such as annual (January to December) and the monsoon season (June to September), using long-term daily rainfall data (1961-2017) for nine rain gauge stations. Similarly, for the examination of various drought characteristics like magnitude, duration and intensity, run theory analysis was used. Trends in rainfall, drought severity, magnitude, duration and intensity were computed by employing both parametric (simple linear regression) and non-parametric (Mann-Kendall and Sen's slope) tests, while spatial pattern maps of rainfall and drought characteristics were prepared using geographical information system. The analysis of rainfall records revealed a declining trend in eastern and central parts, whereas remaining areas of the basin witnessed an increasing trend during two time spans. During the study period, drought occurrence varied both geographically and temporally. The extreme, severe and moderate drought events were more common during monsoon season. Amongst the stations, Tapukara, Bairath and Mundawar rain gauge stations experienced the largest number of drought events compared to other stations. At both time scales, the most extreme droughts in the Sahibi basin occurred in 1979, 1986, 1987, 1989 and 2002. At the annual time span, the basin had the longest drought duration of 300 days, with a drought magnitude of - 758.3 mm. Likewise, the Tapukara rain gauge station had the longest dry spell of 310 days, followed by Behrod and Kotkasim (306 days each), Kotputli and Tijara (305 days each) and Mundawar (303 days). Finally, the findings of this study are expected to be useful to agricultural scientists, policymakers and water resource managers.