Drought Analyses of the Horn´e Poˇzitavie Region (Slovakia) in the Period 1966–2013

Authors

Jaroslav Vido, Technical University in ZvolenFollow
Paulina Nalevankova, Technical University in Zvolen
Jan Valach, Slovak University of Technology
Zbysek Sustek, Institute of Zoology SAS
Tsegaye Tadesse, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

ORCID IDs

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5581-2749

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

7-11-2019

Citation

2019 Jaroslav Vido et al

Comments

Hindawi Advances in Meteorology Volume 2019, Article ID 3576285, 10 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/3576285

Abstract

+is study focuses on the characterization of historical drought occurrences in the Horn´e Poˇzitavie region of Slovakia over the period 1966–2013 using Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI). Trend analyses were evaluated by the Mann–Kendall (MK) test as well as cumulative sum of rank difference (CRD) test. +e results showed that drought occurs in the region regularly (recurrent climate feature), while the trend analysis indicated the trend toward more arid climatic conditions. However, CRD trend analyses showed that the subtrend changed direction toward less drier conditions in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Analyses of SPEI trends in individual months showed a decreasing trend of drought occurrences during the cold months of the year (i.e., October to March), while an increasing trend was indicated from April to August. +e evaluation of the impact of drought on agricultural production based on the oilseed rape yield indicated that drought represents a significant natural risk for the agrarian sector of the region. In addition, August value of the SPEI for six months was evaluated as a good indicator of drought impacts on agriculture. +e trend analyses revealed no significant increase of drought impacts on agricultural production within the studied period.