Journal of Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers ISSN:1738-3692(Print) 2093-7709(Online) 한국농공학회논문집

Estimating water requirements for upland crops are characterized by standing soil moisture condition during the entire crop growth period. However, scarce rainfall and intermittent dry spells often cause soil moisture depletion resulting in unsaturated condition in the fields. Changes in rainfall patterns due to climate change have significant influence on the increasing the occurrence of extreme soil moisture depletion. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate agricultural drought for upland crop water planning and management in the context of climate change. The objective of this study is to predict the impacts of climate change on agricultural drought for upland crops and changes in the temporal trends of drought characteristics. First, the changes in crop evapotranspiration and soil moisture in the six upland crops, such as Soybeans, Maize, Potatoes, Red Peppers, Chinese Cabbage (spring and fall) were analyzed by applying the soil moisture model from commonly available crop and soil characteristics and climate data, and were analyzed for the past 30 years (1981-2010), and Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) climate change scenarios (2011-2100). Second, the changes on the temporal trends of drought characteristics were performed using run theory, which was used to compare drought duration, severity, and magnitude to allow for quantitative evaluations under past and future climate conditions.