Application of relative drought indices in assessing climate-change impacts on drought conditions in Czechia

The common versions (referred to as self-calibrated here) of the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) are calibrated and then applied to the same weather series. Therefore, the distribution of the index values is about the same for any weather series. We introduce here the relative SPI and PDSI, abbreviated as rSPI and rPDSI. These are calibrated using a reference weather series as a first step, which is then applied to the tested series. The reference series may result from either a different station to allow for the inter-station comparison or from a different period to allow for climate-change impact assessments. The PDSI and 1–24 month aggregations of the SPI are used here. In the first part, the relationships between the self-calibrated and relative indices are studied. The relative drought indices are then used to assess drought conditions for 45 Czech stations under present (1961–2000) and future (2060–2099) climates. In the present climate experiment, the drought indices are calibrated by using the reference station weather series. Of all drought indices, the PDSI exhibits the widest spectrum of drought conditions across Czechia, in part because it depends not only on precipitation (as does the SPI) but also on temperature. In our climate-change impact experiments, the future climate is represented by modifying the observed series according to scenarios based on five Global Climate Models (GCMs). Changes in the SPI-based drought risk closely follow the modeled changes in precipitation, which is predicted to decrease in summer and increase in both winter and spring. Changes in the PDSI indicate an increased drought risk at all stations under all climate-change scenarios, which relates to temperature increases predicted by all of the GCMs throughout the whole year. As drought depends on both precipitation and temperature, we conclude that the PDSI is more appropriate (when compared to the SPI) for use in assessing the potential impact of climate change on future droughts.     

1961～2016年中国春季极端低温事件的时空特征分析

利用1961～2016年中国529个台站逐日最低气温资料,研究了中国春季极端低温事件的时空变异特征。旋转经验正交分解结果显示,中国春季极端低温事件的频次在空间上可以分为5个区域,即东北—华北东部地区、江南地区、西北东部—华北西部地区、西南地区和新疆北部地区。小波分析表明,这5个区域春季极端低温事件的频次在年际尺度上呈现出2～4年的振荡周期,其中江南地区、西北东部—华北西部地区和新疆北部地区2～4年的振荡周期在整个研究时段都显著,但东北—华北东部地区和西南地区2～4年的显著周期分别出现在20世纪80年代之前和80年代到90年代中期。在长期变化上,这5个区域春季极端低温事件的频次总体均呈减少趋势,但突变年份具有明显差异。Mann-Kendall和滑动t检验结果表明,东北—华北东部地区春季极端低温事件频次的突变时间为1987/1988年、江南地区为1995/1996年、西北东部—华北西部地区为1990/1991年、西南地区为1987/1988年、新疆北部地区为1997/1998年。伴随着春季极端低温事件频次的降低,5个区域春季极端低温事件的强度在过去半个多世纪也呈现出显著的下降趋势。但近10年来,中国东部地区春季极端低温事件的频次和强度却有所增加,需要引起关注。     

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.     

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 meteorological 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 CI and IWAP both showed weak decreasing trends, the two mean-integrated indices both showed increasing but not significant trends. However, the results of IWAP were more reasonable than CI’s in two aspects. Firstly, the monthly frequency 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 presented 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 following 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.     

Determining optimum tilt angles of solar surfaces in Sakarya,Turkey

Climate change constitutes a major challenge for high productivity in wheat, the most widely grown crop in Germany. Extreme weather events including dry spells and heat waves, which negatively affect wheat yields, are expected to aggravate in the future. It is crucial to improve the understanding of the spatiotemporal development of such extreme weather events and the respective crop-climate relationships in Germany. Thus, the present study is a first attempt to evaluate the historic development of relevant drought and heat-related extreme weather events from 1901 to 2010 on county level (NUTS-3) in Germany. Three simple drought indices and two simple heat stress indices were used in the analysis. A continuous increase in dry spells over time was observed over the investigated periods from 1901–1930, 1931–1960, 1961–1990 to 2001–2010. Short and medium dry spells, i.e., precipitation-free periods longer than 5 and 8 days, respectively, increased more strongly compared to longer dry spells (longer than 11 days). The heat-related stress indices with maximum temperatures above 25 and 28 °C during critical wheat growth phases showed no significant increase over the first three periods but an especially sharp increase in the final 1991–2010 period with the increases being particularly pronounced in parts of Southwestern Germany. Trend analysis over the entire 110-year period using Mann-Kendall test revealed a significant positive trend for all investigated indices except for heat stress above 25 °C during flowering period. The analysis of county-level yield data from 1981 to 2010 revealed declining spatial yield variability and rather constant temporal yield variability over the three investigated (1981–1990, 1991–2000, and 2001–2010) decades. A clear spatial gradient manifested over time with variability in the West being much smaller than in the east of Germany. Correlating yield variability with the previously analyzed extreme weather indices revealed strong spatiotemporal fluctuations in explanatory power of the different indices over all German counties and the three time periods. Over the 30 years, yield deviations were increasingly well correlated with heat and drought-related indices, with the number of days with maximum temperature above 25 °C during anthesis showing a sharp increase in explanatory power over entire Germany in the final 2001–2010 period.     

基于日降水量的江西省极端降水变化研究

利用STARDEX研究计划提出的PQ90、PX5D、PINT、PFL90、PNL90等5项主要极端降水指数,对江西省83个气象台站1961—2005年逐日降水量资料进行计算,并据此分析了45 a来江西省逐日极端降水强度和发生频率的变化情况。分析结果表明,江西省大多数台站逐日极端降水指数的年变化均呈上升趋势,且部分通过了信度为0.05的显著性检验;从指数的年代际变化看,所有指数在20世纪60—80年代变化不是很明显,但在90年代变化明显增大。总的来说,江西省逐日极端降水强度、极端降水临界值、极端降水的发生频率均呈增大趋势。     

华北地区极端干旱事件的变化特征

利用华北地区1961—2015年72个测站的月降水资料,采用一元线性回归、M-K非参数检验、小波变换、分形理论等方法,研究了华北地区极端干旱事件的变化特征。结果表明,华北地区极端干旱事件频次呈波动递增趋势,递增率为0.21次/10a。1981—1993年极端干旱事件频次低于平均值;1994—2015年的高于平均值,处于极端干旱期。极端干旱事件频次距平值年代际变化差异较大:1961—1980年极端干旱发生频次距平值正负交替;1981—1993年的为负值;1994—2015年的为正值。华北地区极端干旱事件频次在2003年发生了突变性增加,极端干旱事件频次Hurst指数值为0.55,具有长相关性,未来10年内华北地区极端干旱频次呈递增的发展趋势。     

Spatiotemporal characteristics of dryness and drought in the Republic of Moldova

This paper presents the results of a study on the estimation of climatic conditions of dryness and drought in the Republic of Moldova. The evaluation of drought was based on data from 18 weather stations, which were selected according to the length of the period of measurement (1945–2006) and from the Chisinau observatory, which has the longest statistical series from Moldova (1891–2006). Some of the basic principles in the selection of the drought identification indices were: to characterize the same period of time, provide information on the regional hydrothermic regime, and not to rely on constants that are specific to certain physical/geographical regions. Firstly, the registers of the droughts for spring, summer and autumn have been identified and processed. Secondly, the frequency, duration and tendency of the dryness and drought phenomena have been evaluated. Thirdly, the manifestation of dryness and drought, as well as their spatial distribution, have been estimated with a probability of 95%. As a result of the analysis of the drought register for a period of over 100 years, an increase in tendencies of frequency and intensities of the given phenomena after the 1980s was revealed. The longest drought periods were noticed at the beginning of the 1950s and 1960s, reaching their highest points in the decades of 1981–1990 and 1991–2001, with the lowest point in the 1970s. Accordingly, during the past 20 years, in 11 cases of drought, 9 of them were registered as being of either a severe or extreme intensity degree.     

Pacific and Atlantic influences on Mesoamerican climate over the past millennium

A new tree-ring reconstruction of the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) for Mesoamerica from AD 771 to 2008 identifies megadroughts more severe and sustained than any witnessed during the twentieth century. Correlation analyses indicate strong forcing of instrumental and reconstructed June PDSI over Mesoamerica from the El Ni?o/Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Spectral analyses of the 1,238-year reconstruction indicate significant concentrations of variance at ENSO, sub-decadal, bi-decadal, and multidecadal timescales. Instrumental and model-based analyses indicate that the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation is important to warm season climate variability over Mexico. Ocean-atmospheric variability in the Atlantic is not strongly correlated with the June PDSI reconstruction during the instrumental era, but may be responsible for the strong multidecadal variance detected in the reconstruction episodically over the past millennium. June drought indices in Mesoamerica are negatively correlated with gridded June PDSI over the United States from 1950 to 2005, based on both instrumental and reconstructed data. Interannual variability in this latitudinal moisture gradient is due in part to ENSO forcing, where warm events favor wet June PDSI conditions over the southern US and northern Mexico, but dryness over central and southern Mexico (Mesoamerica). Strong anti-phasing between multidecadal regimes of tree-ring reconstructed June PDSI over Mesoamerica and reconstructed summer (JJA) PDSI over the Southwest has also been detected episodically over the past millennium, including the 1950–1960s when La Ni?a and warm Atlantic SSTs prevailed, and the 1980–1990s when El Ni?o and cold Atlantic SSTs prevailed. Several Mesoamerican megadroughts are reconstructed when wetness prevailed over the Southwest, including the early tenth century Terminal Classic Drought, implicating El Ni?o and Atlantic SSTs in this intense and widespread drought that may have contributed to social changes in ancient Mexico.     

Future change in the frequency of warm and cold spells over Pakistan simulated by the PRECIS regional climate model

Climate change caused by anthropogenic activities has generated a variety of research focusing on investigating the past climate, predicting the future climate and quantifying the change in climate extreme events by using different climate models. Climate extreme events are valuable to evaluate the potential impact of climate change on human activities, agriculture and economy and are also useful to monitor the climate change on global scale. Here, a Regional Climate Model (RCM) simulation is used to study the future variations in the temperature extreme indices, particularly change in frequency of warm and cold spells duration over Pakistan. The analyses are done on the basis of simulating two 30 years simulations with the Hadley Center’s RCM PRECIS, at a horizontal resolution of 50 km. Simulation for the period 1961–1990 represents the recent climate and simulation for the period 2071–2100 represents the future climate. These simulations are driven by lateral boundary conditions from HadAM3P GCM of Hadley centre UK. For the validation of model, observed mean, maximum and minimum temperatures for the period 1961–1990 at all the available stations in Pakistan are first averaged and are then compared with the PRECIS averaged grid-box data. Also the observed monthly gridded data set of Climate Research Unit (UK) data is used to validate the model. Temperature indices in the base period as well as in future are then calculated and the corresponding change is observed. Percentile based spatial change of temperature shows that in summer, increase in daily minimum temperature is more as compared to the increase of daily maximum temperature whereas in winter, the change in maximum temperature is high. The occurrence of annual cold spells shows significantly decreasing trend while for warm spells there is slight increasing trend over Pakistan.     

西北地区旱涝指标的研究

根据西北地区８３个台站１９６１－１９９０年月降水量资料,对降水距平百分离,降水标准化变量和Ｚ指数进行了对比分析,并怼Ｚ指数的旱涝等级标准进行了重新确定,认为经修正后的Ｚ指数更适合于西北地区单 站各旱涝时段的划分。     

近50年四川地区旱涝时空变化特征研究

根据1961-2007年四川地区123个测站的逐日降水资料和NCEP/NCAR逐月再分析资料,采用Z指数作为旱涝等级划分标准,分析了四川地区旱涝出现的频率,采用EOF、REOF分析、趋势分析、滑动t检验以及小波分析等方法,研究了四川地区旱涝灾害发生、发展的空间演变特征及时间变化趋势。结果表明,该地区旱涝事件的空间分布可...     

Drought frequency in central California since 101 B.C. recorded in giant sequoia tree rings

Well replicated tree-ring width index chronologies have been developed for giant sequoia at three sites in the Sierra Nevada, California. Extreme low-growth events in these chronologies correspond with regional drought events in the twentieth century in the San Joaquin drainage, in which the giant sequoia sites are located. This relationship is based upon comparison of tree-ring indices with August Palmer Drought Severity Indices for California Climate Division 5. Ring-width indices in the lowest decile from each site were compared. The frequency of low-growth events which occurred at all three sites in the same year is reconstructed from 101 B.C. to A.D. 1988. The inferred frequency of severe drought events changes through time, sometimes suddenly. The period from roughly 1850 to 1950 had one of the lowest frequencies of drought of any one hundred year period in the 2089 year record. The twentieth century so far has had a below-average frequency of extreme droughts.Contribution to Clima Locarno — Past and Present Climate Dynamics; Conference September 1990, Swiss Academy of Sciences — National Climate Program     

中国东部的降水区划及备区旱涝变化的特征

为了研究我国旱涝发生的规律、成因和预测，事先掌握降水的气候型区和各区降水变化的气候特征是十分必要的。本文利用１９５１—１９８６年中国东部１４０个站的月降水资料，分析了下半年降水相对系数、月际和年际标准差等参量时空变化的特征，并综合应用逐级归并法和成批调整法，对中国东部地区进行了降水气候区的划分。在此基础上，进一步探讨了各区旱涝的频数和长期变化的趋势。     

Trends in temperature and rainfall extremes in the Yellow River source region, China

Spatial and temporal changes in daily temperature and rainfall indices are analyzed for the source region of Yellow River. Three periods are examined: 1960–1990, 1960–2000 and 1960–2006. Significant warming trends have been observed for the whole study region over all the three periods, particularly over the period 1960–2006. This warming is mainly attributed to a significant increase in the minimum temperature, and characterized by pronounced changes in the low temperature events composing a significant increase in the magnitude and a significant decrease in the frequency. In contrast to the temperature indices, no significant changes have been observed in the rainfall indices at the majority of stations. However, the rainfall shows noticeable increasing trends during winter and spring from a basin-wide point of view. Conversely, the frequency and contribution of moderately heavy rainfall events to total rainfall show a significant decreasing trend in summer. To conclude, this study shows that over the past 40–45 years the source region of the Yellow River has become warmer and experienced some seasonally varying changes in rainfall, which also supports an emerging global picture of warming and the prevailing positive trends in winter rainfall extremes over the mid-latitudinal land areas of the Northern Hemisphere.     

Impact of climate change and irrigation technology advancement on agricultural water use in China

The impact of climate change and irrigation technology advancement on agricultural water use in China is analyzed for the period of 1949–2005. The Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) is adopted to characterize climate change, and the Gross Irrigation Quota (GIQ) is used to examine the relationship between agricultural water use and climate change in China. The results show that the GIQ correlates well with the PDSI in Chinese irrigated areas for the period of 1949–1990. A quantitative relationship between the GIQ and PDSI is statistically regressed; a new GIQ dataset is generated with the PDSI based on this relationship over the period 1949–2005. The generated GIQ data with climate-only information follow the pattern of the actual GIQ for the period 1949–1990. Since 1991, the actual GIQ becomes much smaller than the generated GIQ, indicating that irrigation technology advancement exerts a dominant impact on reducing agricultural water use intensity in China.     

Recent tree-growth reduction in north central China as a combined result of a weakened monsoon and atmospheric oscillations

Tree-ring records are a valuable source of information for understanding long-term, regional-scale drought changes. In this study, a tree ring width chronology spanning the last 330?years (A.D. 1681–2010) is developed for the northern fringe of the Asian summer monsoon in north central China based on tree ring widths of the Chinese pine (Pinus tabulaeformis) at three sites in the Hasi Mountain (HSM). An annual (running from the previous August to the present July) Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) series is reconstructed for the period A.D. 1698 to 2010 using a linear regression model. This reconstruction accounts for 49?% of the actual PDSI variance during the calibration period (A.D.1951–2005). During the last past 330?years, the year 1759 drought was the most severe and the 1926–1932 drought was the most long-lasting. These drought episodes resulted in huge economic losses and severe famine. Similar periods of drought are also found in the Great Bend of the Yellow River region, northeastern Tibetan Plateau and northern China. Our drought reconstruction is consistent with the dry-wet index derived from historical documents for the Great Bend of the Yellow River region for the last three centuries, revealing that our annual PDSI reconstruction reflects broad-scale climate anomalies and represents drought variations in the northern fringe of the Asian summer monsoon. The PDSI reconstruction correlates significantly with sea surface temperature (SST) in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean and northern Indian Ocean at an annual timescale, implying that El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation and the Indian monsoon might be influencing drought variability in the study area. Some extremely dry years of 1707, 1764, 1837, 1854, 1878, 1884, 1926 and 1932 coincided with major El Ni?o events in historical times. The decadal-scale variability is linked to Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and SST variations in the Atlantic Ocean. The observed recent tree growth reduction is unusual when viewed from a long-term perspective.     

准全球陆表干旱严重程度的多传感器遥感监测方法研究

在全球气候变暖的背景下,持续的干旱事件将对生态系统和人类社会产生不利影响。尽管存在多源卫星遥感资料及多种干旱指数,然而区域和全球尺度干旱事件的监测仍具有挑战。采用TRMM（Tropical RainfallMeasuring Mission）数据量化降水异常、MODIS（Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer）归一化植被指数（Normalized Difference Vegetation Index,NDVI）和陆表温度（Land Surface Temperature,LST）数据表征植被生长异常,构建了一种兼顾降水异常和植被生长状况异常的多传感器陆表干旱严重程度指数（Multi-sensorsDrought Severity Index,MDSI）。结果表明:MDSI 能够准确检测准全球范围（50°S～50°N,0°～180°～0°）的气象干旱事件,如亚马逊流域2005 和2010 年干旱、中国川渝地区2006 年干旱、中国云南2010 年干旱、非洲东部2011 年干旱、2012 年美国中部干旱等;MDSI 与PDSI（Palmer Drought Severity Index）呈现出大致相同的干湿空间格局,并且MDSI 有助于湿润地区干旱程度的检测。     

Analysis of drought determinants for the Colorado River Basin

Ongoing drought in the Colorado River Basin, unprecedented urban growth in the watershed, and numerical model simulations showing higher temperatures and lower precipitation totals in the future have all combined to heighten interest in drought in this region. In this investigation, we use principal components analysis (PCA) to independently assess the influence of various teleconnections on Basin-wide and sub-regional winter season Palmer Hydrological Drought Index (PHDI) and precipitation variations in the Basin. We find that the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) explains more variance in PHDI than El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), and the planetary temperature combined for the Basin as a whole. When rotated PCA is used to separate the Basin into two regions, the lower portion of the Basin is similar to the Basin as a whole while the upper portion, which contains the high-elevation locations important to hydrologic yield for the watershed, demonstrates poorly defined relationships with the teleconnections. The PHDI for the two portions of the Basin are shown to have been out of synch for much of the twentieth century. In general, teleconnection indices account for 19% of the variance in PHDI leaving large uncertainties in drought forecasting.     

Variability of droughts in the Czech Republic, 1881–2006

We analyze droughts in the Czech Republic from 1881–2006 based on the Palmer drought severity index (PDSI) and the Z-index using averaged national temperature and precipitation series for the calculations. The standardized precipitation index (SPI), PDSI and Z-index series show an increasing tendency towards longer and more intensive dry episodes in which, for example, droughts that occurred in the mid-1930s, late 1940s–early 1950s, late 1980s–early 1990s and early 2000s were the most severe. Cycles at periods of 3.4–3.5, 4.2–4.3, 5.0–5.1 and 15.4 years exceeded 95% confidence levels in application of maximum entropy spectral analysis. These are expressed at different intensities throughout the period studied. The occurrence of extremely dry and severely dry months is associated with a higher frequency of anticyclonic situations according to the classification employed by the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute. Principal component analysis documents the importance of the ridge from the Siberian High over Central Europe when extreme and severe droughts in months of the winter half-year are considered in terms of sea-level pressure. In the summer half-year, the ridge of the Azores High over Central Europe is the most important. Drought episodes have a profound effect on national and regional agricultural production, with yields being consistently lower than in normal years, as is documented through the example of spring barley, winter wheat, forage crops on arable land, and hay from meadows. Seasons with pronounced drought during the April–June period (e.g., 1947 and 2000) show the most significant yield decreases. Forests appear to be very vulnerable to long-term drought episodes, as it was the case during the dry years of 1992–1994. This study clearly confirms the statistically significant tendency to more intensive dry episodes in the region, driven by temperature increase and precipitation decrease, which has already been suggested in other studies.