Frequency Distribution of Extreme Hydrologic Drought of Southeastern Semiarid Region, Iran
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 15, Issue 4
Abstract
Hydrologic drought is a type of drought which directly affects the water supply of a region. Long streamflow dry spells or streamflow under a specific threshold are usually considered as hydrologic drought. The annual extreme hydrologic dry spell length (AEHDSL) data of the Halilrud basin in the southeastern semiarid region of Iran were considered to estimate the return period of hydrologic drought and the associated risk in this region. The method of -moments was applied to check discordant stations and test the homogeneity of the region which consists of 15 gauging watersheds. One discordant station was found and the region was homogeneous according to the homogeneity measure after removing the discordant station. The three-parameter lognormal distribution was found to be representative of the regional distribution for the entire region based on the goodness-of-fit test. For prediction in ungauged basins, the AEHDSL regional regression was developed for the region. The regression model indicates that the vegetation cover and relief of watersheds play important roles in the hydrologic drought length of the Halilrud basin. These two variables control the infiltration and hydraulic slopes of a watershed, respectively.
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Published In
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 15 • Issue 4 • April 2010
Pages: 255 - 264
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Aug 23, 2007
Accepted: Sep 20, 2009
Published online: Sep 30, 2009
Published in print: Apr 2010
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