干旱区生态环境知识资源中心(Arid): Assessment of the Continuous Extreme Drought Events in Namibia during the Last Decade

Arid

DOI	10.3390/w13202942
	Assessment of the Continuous Extreme Drought Events in Namibia during the Last Decade
	Liu, Xuan; Zhou, Jie
通讯作者	Zhou, J (corresponding author), Cent China Normal Univ, Key Lab Geog Proc Anal & Simulat Hubei Prov, Coll Urban & Environm Sci, Wuhan 430079, Peoples R China.
来源期刊	WATER
EISSN	2073-4441
出版年	2021
卷号	13 期号:20
英文摘要	In the context of climate change, the intensity, frequency, and duration of drought events have increased significantly, resulting in a profound impact on both natural ecosystems and socio-economic systems. In arid and semi-arid regions, precipitation is the main limiting factor for vegetation growth, and the ecosystems are very sensitive to climate change. Over the past 10 years, the Namibian government has declared national emergencies in 2013, 2016, and 2019 due to extreme drought events. The continued extreme drought has posed serious threat to the country's food security. Accurately monitoring the continuous drought events in Namibia and assessing their impact on the ecosystem is essential for drought risk management in the region. Based on long-term satellite observation of vegetation index and precipitation, we have evaluated the spatiotemporal dynamics of the three drought events, the vegetation-precipitation relationship across biomes, and the impact of continuous drought events on regional ecosystems. The results suggest that: (1) According to affected area and severity, the drought in 2019 was the most severe one, followed by the drought in 2013; the 2015-2016 drought spread over smaller spatial area, although it continued for two years; (2) Both the accumulated NDVI and precipitation in the growing season in Namibia increased from 2001 to 2010 while showing a significant decreasing trend during 2011-2020; (3) In Namibia, there is a significant correlation between the current season's accumulated precipitation and the current season's accumulated NDVI (r = 0.90, p < 0.01). The current season's accumulated precipitation is also well correlated with the next season's accumulated NDVI (r = 0.87, p < 0.01), and the correlation between the current season's accumulated precipitation and the next season's accumulated NDVI in a wet year is even stronger (r = 0.96, p < 0.01). This indicates that part of the precipitation in the current season may be stored in the soil for the next season's plant growth, which is more obvious in the northern plains with deep-rooted woody plants; (4) In 2013, the drought event suddenly changed from a long-term relatively humid state to an extremely dry state. During the ecological recovery stage, the NDVI during the growing season could not return to the state before the drought, causing irreversible damage to the Namibian ecosystem. In summary, the continuous extreme drought events during the last decade have caused profound impacts on the regional ecosystem. Much more attention should be paid to whether the extreme drought events will continue into the next decade and how the ecosystem can sustain a new equilibrium under a warmer and drier climate.
英文关键词	vegetation index precipitation continuous drought events ecosystem response Namibia
类型	Article
语种	英语
开放获取类型	gold
收录类别	SCI-E
WOS记录号	WOS:000714866300001
WOS关键词	SAHEL ; DESERTIFICATION
WOS类目	Environmental Sciences ; Water Resources
WOS研究方向	Environmental Sciences & Ecology ; Water Resources
资源类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.177/qdio/handle/2XILL650/368346
作者单位	[Liu, Xuan; Zhou, Jie] Cent China Normal Univ, Key Lab Geog Proc Anal & Simulat Hubei Prov, Coll Urban & Environm Sci, Wuhan 430079, Peoples R China
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Liu, Xuan,Zhou, Jie. Assessment of the Continuous Extreme Drought Events in Namibia during the Last Decade[J],2021,13(20).
APA	Liu, Xuan,&Zhou, Jie.(2021).Assessment of the Continuous Extreme Drought Events in Namibia during the Last Decade.WATER,13(20).
MLA	Liu, Xuan,et al."Assessment of the Continuous Extreme Drought Events in Namibia during the Last Decade".WATER 13.20(2021).