Development of the Niger Basin Drought Monitor (NBDM) for early warning and concurrent tracking of meteorological, agricultural and hydrological droughts
| dc.creator | Okpara, J. N. | |
| dc.creator | Ogunjobi, Kehinde | |
| dc.creator | Adefisan, E. A. | |
| dc.date | 2026-01-19 | |
| dc.date | 2026-02-27T11:55:56Z | |
| dc.date | 2026-02-27T11:55:56Z | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-06-27T18:32:42Z | |
| dc.description | Drought remains a phenomenal disaster of critical concerns in West Africa, particularly within the Niger River Basin, due to its insidious, multifaceted, and long-lasting nature. Its continuous severe impacts on communities, combined with the limitations of existing univariate index-based monitoring methods, worsen the challenge. This paper introduces and evaluates a Hybrid Drought Resilience Empirical Model (DREM) that integrates meteorological, agricultural, and hydrological indicators to improve their concurrent monitoring and early warning for effective decision-making in the region. Using reanalysis hydrometeorological data (1980–2016) and community vulnerability records, results show that the DREM-based composite index detects drought earlier than the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), with stronger alignment to soil moisture and streamflow variations. The model identifies drought onset when thresholds range from −0.26 to −1.19 over three consecutive months, depending on location, and signals drought termination when thresholds rise between −0.08 and −0.82. The study concludes that the DREM-based composite index provides a more reliable and integrated framework for early drought detection and decision-making across the Niger River Basin, and hence, has proven to be a suitable drought monitor for stakeholders in the Niger Basin which can be relied upon and trusted with high confidence. | |
| dc.identifier | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/181881 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/158967 | |
| dc.language | en | |
| dc.publisher | MDPI | |
| dc.rights | Open Access | |
| dc.source | Okpara, J. N.; Ogunjobi, K. O.; Adefisan, E. A. 2026. Development of the Niger Basin Drought Monitor (NBDM) for early warning and concurrent tracking of meteorological, agricultural and hydrological droughts. Meteorology, 5(1):2. (Special issue: Early Career Scientists' (ECS) Contributions to Meteorology (2025). doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/meteorology5010002 | |
| dc.subject | drought index | |
| dc.subject | monitoring | |
| dc.subject | climate variability | |
| dc.subject | early warning systems | |
| dc.subject | river basins | |
| dc.subject | precipitation | |
| dc.title | Development of the Niger Basin Drought Monitor (NBDM) for early warning and concurrent tracking of meteorological, agricultural and hydrological droughts | |
| dc.type | Journal Article |
