Taiwan has been facing severe water crises in recent years owing to the effects of extreme weather conditions. Changes in precipitation patterns have also made the drought phenomenon increasingly prominent, indirectly
affecting groundwater recharge. Hence, in the present study, long-term monitoring data were collected from
the study area of the Kaoping River Basin. Specifically, data from six selected groundwater level stations and six
precipitation stations in the vicinity were collected between 1997 and 2014. The standardized groundwater index
(SGI) and standardized precipitation index (SPI) were then used to analyze the region’s drought characteristics. The results revealed continuous droughts occurred in the river basin from 2003 to 2005. The trend for 2014 further indicated the drought situation in the region would worsen in terms of severity. After calculation and analysis of the cross correlation function between the SGI and the SPI, a positive correlation was identified between the maximum cross
correlation function (qmax) and the duration of the drought event. The larger the qmax value, the longer the duration of the drought, and vice versa. The study also found the qmax value varied with geographical locations: it was smaller for the various measuring stations located along the Qishan and Laonong rivers, but tended to be larger for stations located beyond the Ailiao River. Thus, this study reckoned if a drought event were to occur in the latter area in the future,its duration would be relatively longer. The findings of this study could also serve as future reference for the water resources management of the Kaoping River Basin.
Key Words : Standardized groundwater index, Standardized precipitation index, Cross correlations, Drought.