CHAPfER2 UNDERSTANDING THE DROUGHT PHENOMENON: THE ROLE OF DEFINITIONS

Authors

Donald A. Wilhite, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Michael H. Glantz, Environmental and Societal Impacts Group. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO

Date of this Version

1987

Citation

Published in Planning for Drought: Toward a Reduction of Societal Vulnerability, edited by Donald A. Wilhite and William E. Easterling with Deborah A. Wood, pp. 11–27

Comments

Copyright Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1987.

Abstract

The occurrence of widespread, severe drought in Africa, India, North America, China, the USSR, Australia, and western Europe has once again underscored the vulnerability of developed and developing societies to drought The occurrence of severe drought during 1982-83 is shown in Fig. 1. These recent droughts have emphasized the need for more research on the causes as well as the impacts of drought and the need for additional planning to help mitigate the possible worst effects of future droughts. Drought has been the subject of a great deal of systematic study, particularly reconstructions of drought history, computations of drought frequency, and, to a lesser extent, investigations of first-, second-, and even third-order impacts of drought on society.