PRECIPITATION DATA INTERPOLATION FOR METEOROLOGICAL DROUGHT MAPPING IN PAKISTAN

Abstract

Drought had been observed as a recurrent disaster which gradually becomes a usual
phenomenon of a region. Severe environmental, economic and social impacts for the victims had been
seen. Adverse impact of meteorological drought could be curtailed to a minimum only through proper
planning and drought mitigation measures. This research study offered comparison of three
interpolation methods which were used to create meteorological drought intensity surfaces. This study
delineated the pattern of meteorological drought intensity in Pakistan during1980-2010. Three maps
were developed using three different interpolation methods and specific semivariograms. It was
concluded that the Spline method using tension semivariogram presented meteorological drought
picture for Pakistan, which appeared to be much closer to the classification of droughts given by the
government of Pakistan for the drought 2000-01.