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

The extreme 2017 spring drought affected a large portion of central and western South Korea, and was one of the most climatologically driest spring seasons over the 1961-2016 period of record. This drought was characterized by exceptionally low precipitation, with total precipitation from January to June being 50% lower than the mean normal precipitation (1981-2010) over most of western South Korea. In this study, for the quantitative drought impact analysis, the widely-used Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and the statistical drought frequency are compared with observed meteorological characteristics and anomalies. According to the drought frequency analysis of monthly cumulative precipitation during January and May in 2017, Gyeonggi-do, Chungcheong-do, and Jeollanam-do areas showed more than drought frequency over 100 years. Gyeongsangnam-do area showed more than drought frequency over 200 years based on annual precipitation in 2017. The South Korean government (Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) and Korea Rural Community Corporation (KRC)) have been operating a government-level drought monitoring system since 2016. Results from this study can be used to improve the drought monitoring applications of future drought events, as well as drought planning and preparedness in South Korea.