Importance of SPEI for East Africa

East Africa, a region prone to drought, greatly benefits from the use of SPEI as a drought indicator. SPEI, by considering both precipitation and potential evapotranspiration, offers a more comprehensive understanding of drought conditions compared to traditional precipitation-based indices. This is particularly crucial in regions where climate change is leading to increased temperatures and altered rainfall patterns.

Key Advantages of SPEI

• Holistic Assessment: SPEI incorporates both precipitation and potential evapotranspiration, providing a more accurate representation of drought conditions.

• Temporal Flexibility: SPEI can be calculated on various timescales, allowing for the identification of both short-term and long-term droughts.

• Standardization: SPEI is standardized, enabling comparisons of drought severity across different regions and time periods.

SPEI Analysis Highlights Drought in East Africa

The Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) analysis for East Africa indicates regions experiencing severe drought conditions. Particularly affected areas include Djibouti, Eritrea, Somalia, the southern, eastern, southeastern, and northern lowlands of Ethiopia, Sudan, and South Sudan exhibiting particularly dry conditions.

Moreover, the trend analysis reveals a concerning increase in drought severity within these regions, emphasizing the urgent need for effective drought mitigation strategies and climate adaptation measures.

Data Source: The SPEI analysis presented here is based on data obtained from the Global SPEI Database (https://spei.csic.es/database.html). This database provides standardized precipitation-evapotranspiration index (SPEI) values calculated on various timescales (monthly, 3-monthly, 6-monthly, and 12-monthly) for global gridded datasets.