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Spatiotemporal variability of four precipitation-based drought indices in **njiang, China

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Abstract

Global increases in duration and prevalence of droughts require detailed drought characterization at various spatial and temporal scales. In this study, drought severity in **njiang, China was investigated between 1961 and 2012. Using meteorological data from 55 weather stations, the UNEP (1993) index (I A), Erinç’s aridity index (I m), and Sahin’s aridity index (I sh) were calculated at the monthly and annual timescales and compared to the Penman-Monteith based standard precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEIPM). Drought spatiotemporal variability was analyzed for north (NX), south (SX), and entire **njiang (EX). I m could not be calculated at 51 stations in winter as T max was below 0. At the monthly timescale, I A, I m, and I sh correlated poorly to SPEIPM because of seasonality and temporal variability, but annual I A, I m, and I sh correlated well with SPEIPM. Annual I A, I m, and I sh showed strong spatial variability. The 15 extreme droughts denoted by monthly SPEIPM occurred in NX but out of phase in SX. Annual precipitation, maximum temperature, and relative and specific humidity increased, while air pressure and potential evapotranspiration decreased over 1961–2012. The resulting increases in the four drought indices indicated that drought severity in **njiang decreased, because the local climate became warmer and wetter.

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Abbreviations

I A :

UNEP aridity index

e a :

Vapor pressure of air

I m :

Erinç’s aridity index

I sh :

Sahin’s aridity index

LTA:

Long-term average

M :

Multi-year mean

P :

Precipitation

PR:

Air pressure

RH:

Relative humidity

S h :

Specific humidity

ETo :

Potential evapotranspiration

SPI:

Standardized precipitation index

SPEI:

Standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index

U 2 :

Wind speed at 2 m

n :

Sunshine hour

T min :

Minimum air temperature

T max :

Maximum air temperature

T a :

Mean air temperature

C v :

Variability coefficient

C v, t :

Temporal C v

C v, s :

Spatial C v

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the **njiang Joint Project of the Chinese National Science Foundations (U1203182, 51579213), the State Foundation for Studying Abroad (201506305014), and China 111 project (B12007). We also thank the Meteorological Data Sharing Service Network in China (cdc.nmic.cn) for supplying weather data. The constructive comments of three anonymous reviewers strengthened the analyses of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Water Resources and Architecture Engineering, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China

    Yi Li & Ning Yao

  2. Global Institute for Water Security, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, S7N 3H5, Canada

    Yi Li & Willemijn M. Appels

  3. Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Çorlu Engineering, Namik Kemal University, Çorlu, Tekirdag, 59860, Turkey

    Sinan Sahin

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  1. Yi Li
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  2. Ning Yao
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  4. Willemijn M. Appels
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Correspondence to Yi Li.

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Li, Y., Yao, N., Sahin, S. et al. Spatiotemporal variability of four precipitation-based drought indices in **njiang, China. Theor Appl Climatol 129, 1017–1034 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-016-1827-5

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