Arid Zone Research ›› 2023, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (6): 849-962.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2023.06.01

• Weather and Climate • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Characterization of the evolution of drought events in China based on 3D identification

LYU Xiaoyu1(),GUO Hao1(),MENG Xiangchen1,BAO Anming2,TIAN Yunfei1,ZHU Li1   

  1. 1. School of Geography and Tourism, Qufu Normal University, Rizhao 276826, Shandong, China
    2. Xinjing Institute of Ecology and Geography, CAS, Urumqi 830011, Xinjiang, China
  • Received:2022-10-11 Revised:2023-02-20 Online:2023-06-15 Published:2023-06-21

Abstract:

Globally, China is one of the country’s most frequently and severely affected by drought. These frequent drought events have subsequently caused serious economic, social development, and ecological environment losses. Drought simultaneously leads to alterations in both space and time, and this paper aims to identify drought events and quantify their spatial and temporal dynamic evolution using a three-dimensional clustering algorithm for mainland China, from 1981-2020. The three-dimensional clustering algorithm can be used to effectively identify drought events and describe their dynamic processes. From 1981-2020 there were 102 drought events lasting 2 months or more in mainland China. Spatially, the trajectory of drought events was found to show a tendency to develop from east to west. Temporally, there are high time overlaps between different drought events. In addition, drought events with wide coverage and high severity were concentrated in the period from 2005-2010. The findings of this paper will help to elucidate the spatial and temporal evolution patterns of drought events and provide scientific references for drought monitoring and drought risk management in mainland China.

Key words: three-dimensional clustering algorithm, drought event, three-dimensional evolutionary features, dynamic evolution, SPEI, China