Comparison of SPI and SPEI indices to meteorological drought assessment using R programming (Case study: Kurdistan Province)

Drought indices are commonly used to quantify and assess drought characteristics. The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), and recently introduced Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) are considered as universal meteorological drought indices which allow comparisons of drought conditions across different climate regions. The SPI captures anomalies in precipitation, whereas the SPEI estimates anomalies in climatic water balance that incorporates temperature. The main aim of this study is to compare historical drought occurrence based on SPI and SPEI indices using R programming. The SPEI index is used because of multi-scalar nature of index and the advantage of identifying the multi-temporal nature of droughts. According to data availability, seven synoptic stations were selected for a drought analysis across Kurdistan Province. The two-parameter gamma distribution was used for calculating SPI across the study period (1995-2013) and stations within the study area. The potential evapotranspiration (PET) was computed using the Thornthwaite's equation, and then the SPEI is calculated at a monthly temporal resolution using SPEI package in R software. The SPI and SPEI values are calculated and then the statistical analysis along with significant level scatter plot was performed. The graphical plot of 3-month SPI and SPEI values were prepared to visualize the capabilities of used indices in determination of wet and dry spells over studied stations. The relationships between computed SPI and SPEI values were analyzed using correlation coefficient and p-value at each station. The results indicated that some differences in the pattern and sequence of wet and dry spells exist based on calculated indices. Also, the SPEI index identified the longer wet and dry spell conditions than SPI in almost all cases. The results of the comparative analysis indicated that the SPI and SPEI were varied between 0.19 (p