Drought propagation in the hydrological cycle in a semiarid region: a case study in the Bilate catchment, Ethiopia

Abstract Drought is a temporal decrease in water availability and occurs all climatic regions. Droughts propagate through the hydrological cycle, e.g., meteorological drought propagates to groundwater recharge drought. This research investigated propagation cycle semiarid context. Meteorological severity was determined using standardized precipitation index (SPI). A variable threshold method (SGI) implemented investigate Comparing (SPI) helps assess cycle. For analysis, time-series of rainfall needs be available with high spatial resolution. Therefore, for this study, daily measurements were collected from 11 stations, balance modeling used estimate temporally spatially distributed recharge. carried out Bilate River catchment Rift Valley basin Ethiopia. Results show that droughts observed before every they Furthermore, analysis indicates not are propagated. The also shows combination mild severe can result major groundwater-recharge event.