Abstract
The maximum entropy spectral technique is used to search for periodicities in drought indices over the Great Plains of North America, covering a period of at least 70 years. The results show that in general, quasi-biennial, quasi-triennial and quasi-five-year cycles dominate the spectra of drought indices of many stations in the region. These significant periodicities in the 2–6 year waveband are, however, sporadic in their spatial distribution; they can be evident at one station while being absent at another a few hundred kilometres away. From the results of the spectral analysis, it is concluded that significant peaks obtained in the drought indices are only short-lived time variabilities in drought as recorded by individual stations and do not represent any persistent drought characteristics over a broad geographical region. In general, the drought series display only what appears to be a random variation, with the possible exception of a systematic quasi-biennial oscillation.
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Oladipo, E.O. The quasi-periodic fluctuations in the drought indices over the North American Great Plains. Nat Hazards 2, 1–16 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00124754
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00124754