Journal of Natural Resources, Volume. 35, Issue 12, 3051(2020)

Spatiotemporal patterns of precipitation and drought and flood using Z-index in Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Long FEI1, Guo-rong DENG2, Hong-yan ZHANG2、*, Xiao-yi GUO2, and Xiao-dong WANG1
Author Affiliations
  • 1School of Geographical Sciences, Changchun Normal University, Changchun 130032, China
  • 2School of Geographical Sciences, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China
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    Drought and flood are the main agrometeorological disasters in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), which have great influences on the growth of the crops and directly affect grain yield. The level of agricultural production is low because of insufficient investment and poor irrigation installation. Drought and flood are prone to a reduction in grain yield in DPRK. The food security issue in DPRK is not only related to this country's domestic stability but also related to the geo-security in Northeast Asia. Therefore, understanding the spatial and temporal patterns of drought and flood is very important for preventing disasters in this country. In this study, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) 3B43 time series dataset was used to reveal the spatial and temporal patterns of drought and flood in DPRK from 1998 to 2018. The drought and flood levels were developed by a Z-index. In addition, the trend of Z-index is tested by the Mann-Kendall (M-K) method. The result shows that the precipitation in the study area has an obvious seasonal pattern, with more than 57.29% of the rainfall concentrated in summer, and only 6.90% in winter. The precipitation in spring is slightly higher than that in autumn. Both interannual and seasonal precipitation show increasing trends during the study period. The spatial pattern of precipitation increases from the northeast to the southeast along the coastline. Generally, the regional comprehensive drought and flood levels in DPRK are normal at the national scale. Moderate drought and flood levels occur most frequently, followed by severe drought and flood, and the frequency of extreme drought and flood eventd is the lowest. The floods frequently occur in autumn, and droughts frequently occur in summer and winter. The frequency of drought and flood events appear in the north of DPRK, particularly in Hamgyeong Mountains and the Gaema Plateau. Flood intensity shows an increasing trend in spring, summer, and autumn, while drought and flood level tended to be normal in winter. The central and northern regions passed the significance of 95%. It is expected that the trend of drought and flood in DPRK will be consistent in future. The results of the study provide a unique insight for understanding the agricultural production in DPRK.

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    Long FEI, Guo-rong DENG, Hong-yan ZHANG, Xiao-yi GUO, Xiao-dong WANG. Spatiotemporal patterns of precipitation and drought and flood using Z-index in Democratic People's Republic of Korea[J]. Journal of Natural Resources, 2020, 35(12): 3051

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    Paper Information

    Received: Dec. 11, 2019

    Accepted: --

    Published Online: May. 8, 2021

    The Author Email: ZHANG Hong-yan (zhy@nenu.edu.cn)

    DOI:10.31497/zrzyxb.20201219

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