Figure 2.1 Accumulated July-June PED (mm) calculated from 0.05° gridded data set: average over 31-year period 1972/73 to 2002/03 (left), and PED levels in extreme drought year of 1997/98 El Niño (right)
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Text description of figure
The figure shows two maps of annual average accumulated potential evapotranspiration deficit (PED) for the period 1972-2003 on the left, and for the El Niño year 1997/98 on the right.
The average annual PED is about 400 to 600mm in Central Otago, coastal Canterbury and southern Hawke's Bay, and about 100mm in other areas except for the South Island west coast, northern Taranaki and the Central Plateau where PED is zero.
During 1997/98, PED was between 500 and 800mm for Central Otago, Canterbury, Marlborough, Wairarapa and Hawke's Bay up to the East Cape, with driest areas in northern Canterbury, Marlborough and Hawke's Bay. however most of the South Island west coast, Southland, Taranaki, Central Plateau and western Waikato had a PED of zero.
