What Caused the Winter Drought in Western Nepal during Recent Years?

Journal Article · Fri Nov 01 04:00:00 EDT 2013 · Journal of Climate, 26(21):8241-8256

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00800.1· OSTI ID:1130719

Wang, S-Y ^[1]; Yoon, Jin-Ho; Gillies, R.; Cho, Changrae

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1. Simon

Western Nepal has experienced consecutive and worsened winter drought conditions since 2000 culminating in a severe drought episode during 2008-2009. In this study, the meteorological conditons and a historical pespective of the winter droughts in western Nepal were analyzed using respectively instumental records and a paleoclimatic drought index. Althought decadal-scale drought conditions were found to be recurrent in the paleoclimate record, the severity of the recent decadal drought (since 2000) clearly stands out in the 700 years of record and, this is suggestive of potential anthropogenic influences in the recent decades. Meteorological diagnosis using atmospheric reanalysis in the recent decades revealed that (1) winter drought in western Nepal is linked to the Arctic Oscillation and its decadal variability, which initiates a tropospheric short-wave train across the Europe, Eurasia and South Asia, and that (2) the persistent warming of the Indian Ocean likely contributes to the suppression of rainfall through enhanced local Hadley circultion. It is therefore conceivable that the recent spells of decadal drought in Nepal drought are symptomatic of both natural variability and anthropogenic influences.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1130719
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-92006; KP1703020
• Journal Information: Journal of Climate, 26(21):8241-8256, Journal Name: Journal of Climate, 26(21):8241-8256
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

Nepal
drought
recent
western
winter
years