Spatiotemporal Variations of Meteorological Droughts in China During 1961–2014: An Investigation Based on Multi-Threshold Identification

Abstract

As a major agricultural country, China suffers from severe meteorological drought almost every year. Previous studies have applied a single threshold to identify the onset of drought events, which may cause problems to adequately characterize long-term patterns of droughts. This study analyzes meteorological droughts in China based on a set of daily gridded (0.5°9 0.5°) precipitation data from 1961 to 2014. By using a multi-threshold run theory approach to evaluate the monthly percentage of precipitation anomalies index (Pa), a drought events sequence was identified at each grid cell. The spatiotemporal variations of drought in China were further investigated based on statistics of the frequency, duration, severity, and intensity of all drought events. Analysis of the results show that China has five distinct meteorological drought-prone regions: the Huang-Huai-Hai

Searching for the optimal drought index and timescale combination to detect drought: a case study from the lower Jinsha River basin, China

“…In particular, drought events since 2000 are all mentioned in a different source, which significantly enhances the reliability of their existence and related information. Most of the drought events before 2000 are documented in detail in He (2010), and some of these major dry periods are also mentioned in scientific literature such as He et al (2016) and Wang et al (2015). Even if the amount of data and level of detail is lower for these older events, their occurrence and temporal positioning can be assumed to be reliable.…”

Temporal-Spatial Characteristics of Drought in Guizhou Province, China, Based on Multiple Drought Indices and Historical Disaster Records

“…mwr.gov.cn/sj/tjgb/zgshzhgb/201612/t20161222_776092.html) [6]. e abovementioned information indicates that China as a major agricultural country suffered severe meteorological droughts which caused great economic losses [7]. Drought is the hot spot of research for a long time.…”

Effects of a ‘one film for 2 years’ system on the grain yield, water use efficiency and cost-benefit balance in dryland spring maize (Zea maysL.) on the Loess Plateau, China

“…This may explain why PM1 and PM2 had similar WUE in this study. However, considering that the frequency of agricultural drought is increasing (Leng et al 2015;He et al 2016;Piao et al 2010), the effects of PM2 on WUE were probably more predominant in drought years.…”