Challenges in drought monitoring and assessment in India

Abstract

Drought is one of the complex and deleterious natural hazards that poses severe challenges to water security, food production, ecosystem, and socio-economic condition in India. Using efficient drought monitoring and assessment, the severe impacts of drought can be reduced. However, drought monitoring and assessment are associated with large uncertainty due to different datasets, methods, drought indices, and modeling approaches. Here, we examine the sources of uncertainty in drought assessment using multiple observational and future projections datasets, methods, and hydrological models. Moreover, we discuss potential ways to overcome the challenges associated with drought assessment in India. The drought assessment without considering uncertainty may cause overestimation or underestimation of risk in the observed and projected future climate, which further affects the planning and management of water resources. Therefore, a thorough understanding of these challenges is essential to improve the existing drought monitoring and assessment approaches.