Wednesday November 15, 2023
PhysOrg —
According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, the average national rainfall for March in 2023 measured a mere 28.7 mm, which is only half of the usual amount.
Although the arrival of the summer rainy season alleviated the drought, the scarcity of water during the critical sowing/crop planting season (late March to early May), when substantial water is required, inflicted severe hardships on farmers. Failure to predict the growing threat of severe springtime droughts stemming from the climate crisis might lead to a recurrence of this year’s situation.
A research team led by Professor Jonghun Kam from the Division of Environmental Science and Engineering and Dr. Chang-Kyun Park, who previously worked at the Institute of Environmental and Energy Technology at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), has employed multi-model projections using the self-calibrating Effective Drought Index (scEDI) to predict drought and recommend the cumulative precipitation necessary for recovery, collaborating with Drs. Sangeun Lee (Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements) and Hyuncheol Yoon (National Disaster Management Research Institute).
Their findings have been published in Environmental Research Letters.