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.

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.

Characterization of Drought and Its Assessment over Sindh,Pakistan During 1951-2010

Drought is one of the complex meteorological disasters affecting water resources, agriculture, livestock, and socioeconomic patterns of a region. Although drought prediction is difficult, it can be monitored based on climatological information. In this study, we provide high spatiotemporal resolution drought climatology, using observational, gridded precipitation data （0.5°×0.5°） from the Global Precipitation Climatological Center and soil moisture data from the Climate Prediction Center for the 60-yr period 1951-2010. The standardized precipitation index （SPI） based on a fitted Gamma distribution and Run method has been calculated from the regional drought identification model （ReDIM） for 3, 6, 9, 12, and 24 months. The results show strong temporal correlations among anomalies of precipitation, soil moisture, and SPI. Analysis of long-term precipitation data reveals that the drought vulnerability concentrates on monsoon season （July- September）, which contributes 72.4% and 82.1% of the annual precipitation in northern and southern Sindh, respectively. Annual and seasonal analyses show no significant changes in the observed precipitation. The category classification criteria are defined to monitor/forecast drought in the selected area. Further analysis identifies two longest episodes of drought, i.e., 1972 1974 and 2000 2002, while 1969, 1974, 1987, and 2002 are found to be the most severe historical drought years. A drought hazard map of Sindh was developed, in which 10 districts are recognized as highly vulnerable to drought. This study helps to explain the time, duration, intensity, and frequency of meteorological droughts over Sindh as well as its neighboring regions, and provides useful information to disaster management agencies and forecasters for assessing both the regional vulnerabilitv of drought and its seasonal predictability in Pakistan.

Comparison of Two Drought Indices in Studying Regional Meteorological Drought Events in China

The composite-drought index （CI）, improved weighted average of precipitation index （IWAP）, and the objective identification technique for regional extreme events （OITREE） were employed to detect China＇s regional meteorolo- gical drought events （CRMDEs） during 1961-2010. Compared with existing references, CI and IWAP both showed strong ability in identifying CRMDEs. Generally, the results of CI and IWAP were consistent, especially for extreme and severe CRMDEs. During 1961-2010, although the frequencies of extreme and severe CRMDEs based on C! and IWAP both showed weak decreasing trends, the two mean-integrated indices both showed increasing but not signifi- cant trends. However, the results of IWAP were more reasonable than CI＇s in two aspects. Firstly, the monthly fre- quency of extreme and severe CRMDEs based on IWAP showed a clear seasonal variation, which coincided with the seasonal variation of the East Asian monsoon over central-eastern China, whereas the frequency based on CI presen- ted a much weaker seasonal variation. Secondly, the two sets of results were sometimes inconsistent with respect to the start and end times of a CRMDE, and CRMDEs based on CI generally showed two unreasonable phenomena： （1） under non-drought conditions, a severe drought stage could suddenly occur in a large area; and （2） during the follow- ing period, drought could alleviate gradually in cases of non-precipitation. Comparative analysis suggested that the IWAP drought index possesses obvious advantages in detecting and monitoring regional drought events.

Relationships Between Anomalies of Land-Sea Thermal Contrast in North Africa and Summer Flood and Drought Across the Jianghuai Region of China

The flood and drought across the Yangtze and Huaihe River（Jianghuai） areas are frequent in summer, especially in June and July.Therefore,predicting the summer flood and drought in the Jianghuai region is always one of the key topics concerned by meteorologists in China.Previous studies focused more on the skin temperature anomalies in a local area,and paid less attention to the connections between the anomalies of land-sea thermal contrast in remote continents and the summer flood and drought in Jianghuai areas of China.By using the US NCEP/NCAR monthly mean reanalysis data and the rainfall data at 743 stations in China,based on the interdecadal variation characteristics of the flood and drought index（FDI） during 51 yr （1954-2004） in the Jianghuai region of China in summer,the North African areas have been selected as the key regions for the correlation analysis.The results show that the surface temperature anomalies in the key regions have good continuity in winter,and the winter North Atlantic Oscillation（NAO） is perhaps one of the important factors that bring about the continuity of the anomalies.By a singular value decomposition（SVD） analysis between the skin temperature in the previous winter in North Africa and the summer rainfall in the Jianghuai region,it is found that when the North African continent is colder（warmer） and its northwestern sea is warmer（colder）,the rainfall increases（decreases） in the Jianghuai region in summer generally.Further analysis finds that the anomaly of the surface temperature contrast between sea and land in North Africa has a good indication for the summer flood and drought in the Jianghuai areas of China.Therefore,a sea and land thermal contrast index（SLTCI） is defined to reflect the intensity of the large-scale land-sea thermal contrast.A positive correlation between the SLTCI in North Africa and the summer FDI in Jianghuai areas is identified,and it can well indicate the extreme flood and drought situations in the Jianghuai region of China.