Temporal and Spatial Estimation of Meteorological Droughts and Floods with China-Z Index in the Alto Apurimac Interbasin, Peru

Abstract

The Alto Apurimac Interbasin (IAA) is located in southern highlands at the headwaters of the Amazon basin of the Peruvian Andes. This study focused on evaluating the spatial and temporal distribution of meteorological droughts and floods through the China-Z Index (CZI) method for the period 1986-2015, using observed precipitation and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Missions (TRMM) satellite data. The results revealed that the observed data and data obtained from the TRMM satellite present similar statistical characteristics, which represent pluviometric robust information. Thus, through CZI it was possible to identify and classify the types of droughts and floods at a temporal and spatial level. Concluding that the most droughts occurred in december towards the western area on IAA with critical years between 1988-1992 while floods occurred more frequently in february towards the eastern fringe on IAA with 2011 and 2012 were exceptional years. Thus, the research showed that the application of CZI is effective in order to detect and classify droughts and floods for the South American Andes.

Keywords
Peruvian Andes; distribution; frequency; precipitation; TRMM