VARIATION AND CAUSES OF PERSISTENT DROUGHT EVENTS IN GUANGDONG PROVINCE

Variation characteristics of persistent drought events in Guangdong province are analyzed using 45-year(1961-2005) and 86-station observational precipitation data of Guangdong,and the causes of drought events are discussed from different angles(e.g.,atmospheric circulation,sea surface temperature) on the basis of global coverage datasets of sea surface temperature and atmospheric elements.It is found that the occurrence frequency of persistent drought events in Guangdong province is once every 26 months on average,and autumn-winter or winter-spring persistent drought events take up the majority.The persistent drought events possess large scale spatial characteristics.While the 1960s is the most frequent and strongest decade of drought events in the latter half of the 20th century,the occurrence is more frequent and the intensity is stronger in the first five years of the 21st century(2001-2005).This reflects the response of regional extreme climatic events in Guangdong to global climatic change.The atmospheric circulation,sea surface temperature,etc,appear to have different abnormal characteristics when drought events happen in different seasons.The results of this paper provide some good reference information for the drought forecast,especially for the dynamic interpretation of climatic model products.

Ranking Regional Drought Events in China for 1960-2009

The spatiotemporal variations of the site and regional droughts in China during 1960–2009 were analyzed by applying a daily composite-drought index （CDI） to 722 stations in China's Mainland. Droughts frequently happened in a zone extended from Southwest China to the Yellow River, North China, and the southwestern part of Northeast China, with two centers of high frequency in North China and Southwest China. In Southwest and South China, droughts tend to happen during the winter. In North China and along the Yellow River, droughts mainly occur during the winter and during May–June. During the past 50 years, the geographical distribution of site drought events showed high frequencies （0.9–1.3 times per year） in the upper Yellow River basin and North China, comparing with moderate frequencies （0.6–0.9 times per year） in Southwest China and the southwestern part of Northeast China and with lower frequencies over the middle and lower Yangtze River basin. And the frequencies increased over China's Mainland except for the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. A regional drought （RD） event is a widespread and persistent event that covers at least five adjacent sites and lasts for at least 10 days. There were 252 RD events in the past 50 years—five times per year. Most RD events lasted for 100 days and covered 100 stations, but the longest and largest RD event lasted for 307 days from 6 September 1998 to 9 July 1999 and covered 327 stations from North to Southwest China.

Grassland-type ecosystem stability in China differs under the influence of drought and wet events

Ecological stability is a core issue in ecological research and holds significant implications forhumanity. The increased frequency and intensity of drought and wet climate events resulting from climatechange pose a major threat to global ecological stability. Variations in stability among different ecosystemshave been confirmed, but it remains unclear whether there are differences in stability within the sameterrestrial vegetation ecosystem under the influence of climate events in different directions and intensities.China's grassland ecosystem includes most grassland types and is a good choice for studying this issue.This study used the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index-12 (SPEI-12) to identify thedirections and intensities of different types of climate events, and based on Normalized DifferenceVegetation Index (NDVI), calculated the resistance and resilience of different grassland types for 30consecutive years from 1990 to 2019 (resistance and resilience are important indicators to measurestability). Based on a traditional regression model, standardized methods were integrated to analyze theimpacts of the intensity and duration of drought and wet events on vegetation stability. The resultsshowed that meadow steppe exhibited the highest stability, while alpine steppe and desert steppe had thelowest overall stability. The stability of typical steppe, alpine meadow, temperate meadow was at anintermediate level. Regarding the impact of the duration and intensity of climate events on vegetationecosystem stability for the same grassland type, the resilience of desert steppe during drought was mainlyaffected by the duration. In contrast, the impact of intensity was not significant. However, alpine steppewas mainly affected by intensity in wet environments, and duration had no significant impact. Ourconclusions can provide decision support for the future grassland ecosystem governance.

Characteristics of the Regional Meteorological Drought Events in Southwest China During 1960–2010

An objective identifi cation technique for regional extreme events （OITREE） and the daily composite-drought index （CI） at 101 stations in Southwest China （including Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Chongqing） are used to detect regional meteorological drought events between 1960 and 2010. Values of the parameters of the OITREE method are determined. A total of 87 drought events are identifi ed, including 9 extreme events. The 2009-2010 drought is the most serious in Southwest China during the past 50 years. The regional meteorological drought events during 1960-2010 generally last for 10-80 days, with the longest being 231 days. Droughts are more common from November to next April, and less common in the remaining months. Droughts occur more often and with greater intensity in Yunnan and southern Sichuan than in other parts of Southwest China. Strong （extreme and severe） regional meteorological drought events can be divided into fi ve types. The southern type has occurred most frequently, and Yunnan is the area most frequently stricken by extreme and severe drought events. The regional meteorological drought events in Southwest China have increased in both frequency and intensity over the study period, and the main reason appears to be a signifi cant decrease in precipitation over this region, but a simultaneous increase in temperature also contributes.

Characteristics of Clustering Extreme Drought Events in China During 1961-2010

Based on the Multi-Scale Standardized Precipitation Index （MSPI）, extreme severe drought events in China during 1961-2010 were identified, and the seasonal, annual, and interdecadal variations of the cluster- ing extreme drought events were investigated by using the spatial point process theory. It is found that severe droughts present a trend of gradual increase as a result of the significant increase and clustering tendency of severe droughts in autumn. The periodicity analysis of the clustering extreme droughts in different seasons suggests that there is a remarkable interdecadal change in the occurrence of clustering extreme droughts in winter. Meanwhile, it is revealed that the clustering extreme drought events exhibit greatly different annual mean spatial distributions during 1961 2010, with scattered and concentrated clustering zones alternating on the decadal timescale. Furthermore, it is found that the decadal-mean spatial distributions of extreme drought events in summer are correlated out of phase with those of the rainy bands over China in the past 50 years, and a good decadal persistence exists between the autumn and winter extreme droughts, implying a salient feature of consecutive autunm-winter droughts in this 50-yr period. Compared with other regions of China, Southwest China bears the most prominent characteristic of clustering extreme droughts.

Datasets of meteorological drought events and risks for the developing countries in Eurasia

For the area of Eurasia concentrated with developing countries(referred to here by the abbreviation DPEA),mainly located in Asia and Eastern Europe,this work presents datasets of gridded meteorological drought events and country-based drought risk by combining multiple drought indices and socio-economic data.A basic gridded dataset of the drought events during 1950-2015 is extracted from three drought indices:the self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index,the Standardized Precipitation Index,and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index.The three drought indices generally show consistent characteristics of drought events in DPEA.A second-level dataset(a drought risk dataset)is then produced as the product of drought hazard,exposure and vulnerability during 2000-2015.For drought exposure,the indicators of population and livestock density,agricultural land and water stress are chosen,while drought vulnerability composites multiple social,economic and infrastructural factors.Drought hazard tends to concentrate at the southern rim of Eurasia.Relatively large differences in drought exposure exist between different countries,but for drought vulnerability the differences are small.After considering the socio-economic components in risk assessment,most countries in West,South-Central and South Asia have the highest drought risk in DPEA.The datasets of drought events and risks are available at http://www.dx.doi.org/10.11922/sciencedb.898.

Evaluation of the applicability of multiple drought indices in the core zone of “westerlies-dominated climatic regime”

Drought indices are frequently used to measure the intensity,start and end of droughts.However,the performances of these indices depend on regions and the type of droughts.Therefore,it is necessary to evaluate whether these indices are applicable for a given region.This study evaluated the ability of the self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index(sc PDSI),the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index(SPEI),and the Standardized Moisture Anomaly Index(SZI) to describe the dry-wet conditions and drought events in the core zone of the “westerlies-dominated climatic regime”.The results showed that the 12-month SZI(SZI12) and SPEI(SPEI12) have good correlations with precipitation and PET respectively,while the sc PDSI can capture the changes in precipitation and soil moisture.In Xinjiang region of China,the SZI12 and sc PDSI showed that this region gradually became wetter during 1961–2014,which was consistent with increased precipitation,decreased PET,and improved vegetation.However,the SPEI12 showed significant drying due to the strong influence of the PET,suggesting that this index exaggerated the drought conditions in this region.Precipitation in Kazakhstan and the southern Central Asian regions has increased slightly over the past 50 years,but the PET has greatly increased,altogether,all three indices suggested a drying trend in Central Asia.The evaluation of the ability of these drought indices to identify typical drought events in Xinjiang region of China suggested that the sc PDSI can better detect the typical drought events compared with the SZI12.In conclusion,the sc PDSI is the most suitable index for characterizing the long-term trend of hydroclimate conditions and drought events in the core zone of the “westerlies-dominated climatic regime”.This study provides a theoretical basis for the rational utilization and improvement of the drought index,which is critical for monitoring,attributing,and predicting of drought events in arid areas.

Spatiotemporal variations in moisture conditions across Monsoon Asia during the last 500 years

Spatial and temporal variations in moisture conditions across monsoon Asia were investigated using 347 Monsoon Asia Drought Atlas(MADA)grid points and 100 Chinese historical documents sites during the years 14702000.We applied Rotated Empirical Orthogonal Function(REOF)analysis to evaluate spatial moisture variability during the past 530 years.The first 13 principal components together explained 61.35%of the total variance,with the First Principal Component(PC1)accounting for 14.1%.After varimax rotation to the first 13 EOFs,we obtained new time series and spatial patterns.These patterns divided monsoon Asia into 13 regions with coherent moisture variability.Drought events were analyzed within these 13 regions.The results indicate that there has been a prominent drying trend in eastern and central Mongolia,Southeast Asia and east China during the last 50 years.Conversely,India and the Tibetan Plateau show a significant in crease in moisture around the late 20th century.We found four drought periods,A.D.16251644,A.D.17101729,A.D.1920s,and A.D.19751999 occurred widely across monsoon Asia during the past 530 years.On inter-annual time scales,moisture variations in the northwest region of monsoon Asia,the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia are influenced by the El Ni o-Southern Oscillation(ENSO).Thirty-year running correlation coefficient diagnostic analysis revealed that moisture variability in monsoon Asia is associated with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation(PDO).

A Comparative Analysis of Primary and Extreme Characteristics of Dry or Wet Status between Asia and North America

In this study, the Palmer Drought Severity Index （PDSI） was used to analyze the average and extreme dry/wet states of Asia and North America from 1953 to 2003. The results indicate that the two continents underwent drying trends during this period. Compared with North America, Asia showed more severe drought trends. However, more significant and regular seasonal variation for drought was found in North America. The driest regions in Asia were located in the northern region of China, Mongolia, and eastern mid-Siberian plateau. Most regions in central North America were relatively wetter than other regions. The northern and southwestern regions of North America, as well as the Atlantic and Pacific coastal areas, experienced the most drought during this period. A sharp increase of the drought area and the number of extreme drought events took place from 1997 to 2003 in both Asia and North America. Severe drought events were more likely to occur during the summer on both continents. Asia had the most extreme drought events during July, but North America reached its highest drought frequency from June to September. In Asia, a persistent increasing trend of extreme drought emerged throughout the studied period. However, a more complex evolution of drought emerged in North America： a decreasing trend appeared before the mid-1960s and an increasing trend appeared after the late 1970s. A relatively steady dry/wet status was observed between the mid-1960s and the late 1970s. The role of exceptional, extreme drought events with respect to the La Nin？a event was considered during 1997–2003.

Features of Climate Change in Northwest China during 1961-2010

In this study, observational data from 141 meteorological stations in Northwest China, including temperature, precipitation, dust storm, gale days and wind speed, were analyzed statistically to gain insight of the features of basic climate index and extreme climate events. The results showed that the annual mean temperature and seasonal mean temperature rose significantly, and the rising rate of the annual mean temperature is 0.27℃ per decade; the extreme high temperature days have increased; the interdecadal change of annual precipitation is marked, and the precipitation in winter and summer increased slightly, while decreased slightly in spring and autumn. The annual precipitation increased in the area west of the Yellow River, whereas decreased in the area east of the river. The drought had an increasing trend. There were 17 droughts during 1961-2010, and 10 droughts from 1991 to 2010. The number of droughts in spring and autumn increased, while decreased in summer.

Low-frequency variability of terrestrial water budget in China using GRACE satellite measurements from 2003 to 2010

Mass variations in terrestrial water storage（TWS） obtained from eight years of satellite data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment（GRACE） are used to describe low frequency TWS through Empirical Orthogonal Function（EOF） analysis. Results of the second seasonal EOF mode show the influence of the Meiyu season. Annual variability is clearly shown in the precipitation distribution over China, and two new patterns of interannual variability are presented for the first time from observations, where two periods of abrupt acceleration are seen in 2004 and 2008. GRACE successfully measures drought events in southern China, and in this respect, an association with the Arctic Oscillation and El Nino-Southern Oscillation is discussed. This study demonstrates the unique potential of satellite gravity measurements in monitoring TWS variations and large-scale severe drought in China.

A daily drought index based on evapotranspiration and its application in regional drought analyses

With climate warming, frequent drought events have occurred in recent decades, causing huge losses to industrial and agricultural production, and affecting people’s daily lives. The monitoring and forecasting of drought events has drawn increasing attention. However, compared with the various monthly drought indices and their wide application in drought research,daily drought indices, which would be much more suitable for drought monitoring and forecasting, are still scarce. The development of a daily drought index would improve the accuracy of drought monitoring and forecasting, and facilitate the evaluation of existing indices. In this study, we constructed a new daily drought index, the daily evapotranspiration deficit index(DEDI), based on actual and potential evapotranspiration data from the high-resolution ERA5 reanalysis dataset of the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. This new index was then applied to analyze the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of four drought events that occurred in southwest, north, northeast, and eastern northwest China in the spring and summer of 2019. Comparisons with the operationally used Meteorological Drought Composite Index and another commonly used index, the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index, indicated that DEDI characterized the spatiotemporal evolution of the four drought events reasonably well and was superior in depicting the onset and cessation of the drought events,as well as multiple drought intensity peaks. Additionally, DEDI considers land surface conditions, such as vegetation coverage,which enables its potential application not only for meteorological purposes but also for agricultural drought warning and monitoring.

Role of Intraseasonal Oscillation in a Compound Drought and Heat Event over the Middle of the Yangtze River Basin during Midsummer 2018

In late July 2018, a compound drought and heat event(CDHE) occurred in the middle of the Yangtze River basin(MYRB) and caused great damage to the national economy. The CDHE over the MYRB has been documented to be linked with intraseasonal oscillations(ISOs) from different regions. However, specific roles of different ISOs on the development of the CDHE cannot be separated in the observational analysis. By using partial lateral forcing experiments driven by ISO in the Weather Research and Forecasting(WRF) model, we found that the midlatitude ISO generated by a westerly wave train in the upper troposphere played an important role in this heatwave and drought event in the northern MYRB, causing a regional average temperature rise of 1.65°C and intensification of drought over23.49% of the MYRB area. On the other hand, the ISO associated with the Pacific-Japan(PJ)-like teleconnection wave train in the lower troposphere induced a more pronounced impact on the event, causing an average temperature rise of 2.44°C, intensifying drought over 29.62% of the MYRB area. The MYRB was mainly affected by northward warm advection driven by the westward extension of the western North Pacific subtropical high in the early period of the CDHE development. In the late period, because of the establishment of a deep positive geopotential height field through the troposphere leading to intensive local subsidence, there was a remarkable temperature rise and moisture decrease in the MYRB. The results will facilitate a better understanding of the occurrence of CDHE and provide empirical precursory signals for subseasonal forecast of CDHE.