Recent droughts in the Kruger National Park as reflected in the extreme climate index
2020
Malherbe, Johan | Smit, Izak PJ | Wessels, Konrad J | Beukes, Philip J
Associated with the 2015/2016 El Niño, extreme drought occurred over the Lowveld of South Africa. The area includes the Kruger National Park (KNP). Significant die-offs of a mega herbivore species occurred, corroborated by census data in KNP. The drought situation and impact were likely exacerbated by a frequency of recorded extreme temperatures never observed before together with increased numbers of herbivores. Here we consider this recent drought and places it into context with previous El Niño-related droughts. We use an index of climate extremes, based simply on derivatives of temperature and rainfall, to identify the most extreme recent drought events and consider other observed datasets to verify the ability of the index to identify the most extreme cases. We also further explore the characteristics of extreme droughts in the KNP, according to insights gained by applying the index.
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