Browsing by Author "Otun, Johnson A."

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    Delineating Tanzania into drought - prone zones using geographical information system (GIS) technique.
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 1996) Otun, Johnson A.
    GIS, a recently emerged field of applied science and technology has been utilised to analyze precipitation and evaporation to define drought over an area. Rainfall and evaporation data from 442 and 20 stations respectively from Tanzania is used in defining drought indicators which are later used to delineate the regions of Tanzania into drought-prone zones. The approach in the study is the identification of four drought-prone zones by overlaying a combination of drought indicator maps obtained through a rainfall deficiency analysis. The result obtained from the severity index define in this work are compared with that obtained using Herbst drought severity index. The comparison shows a clear resemble. Both results shows that areas around the north-central regions of Tanzania (Dodoma, Singida etc) are most prone to droughts. Some other methods of defining drought are also reviewed and presented. Their application, though not direct, could serve as guide in earmarking drought occurrences in any place when appropriate and meaningful interpretations are made.