14-Drought analysis using soil moisture status.

Abstract

The .drought situation can be described by a selected set of variables depending upon the particular water user or interest. For agricultural drought particllarly the soil moisture status in the root zone can be the best indicator of the drought conditions. A number of drought definitions have been given, however, an operational definition of drought (particularly agricultural drought) could best be the one that compares daily rainfall values to evapotransipiration rates to determine rate of soil moisture depletion to give upto date status of available soil moisture. An attempt has been made in the present paper to analyse the drought severity levels based on soil moisture status in the root zone and sensitivity of crop growth stages to soil moisture stress. Utility of soil moisture models for carrying out such analysis has been indicated. Soil moisture data as recorded for Bajra (Pearlmillet) crop has been used to indicate utility of soil moisture approach for drought analysis.