Abstract

OLIVARES, Barlin Orlando et al. Study of Meteorological Drought in the Venezuelan Plains using the Standardized Precipitation Index. RevActaNova. [online]. 2016, vol.7, n.3, pp.266-283. ISSN 1683-0789.

Meteorological drought is an insidious hazard of nature that can cause severe negative consequences in the various productive and economic sectors in a region or country, being able to drastically alter the social development and human activities, as well as the environment. Under this reasoning, the study of the current situation of drought is the solid foundation for developing adaptation and mitigation strategies. The objective of this work was to study the meteorological drought in different locations of the Venezuelan planes based on information from three stations of the network weather stations of the National Institute for Agricultural Research (INIA) located in Anzoátegui, Guárico and Portuguesa states, by Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), which allowed us to identify and describe this phenomenon, including its intensity, duration, magnitude and frequency of occurrence. According to SPI values reported there is the phenomenon of meteorological drought, showing temporal variations of the intensity and magnitude. The most relevant maximum magnitude was recorded in El Tigre with 10.15 during 2014. The drought event occurred since the beginning of pre-wet period (April) 2001 at the beginning (February and March) 2002, is one of the most intense ever known in most of the country along the historical record.

Keywords : climatic variability; shortages; rain; agriculture.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )