Spatial and temporal patterns of drought in the Continental U.S. during the past century

Abstract This study investigates the spatial and temporal patterns of multiple drought characteristics (duration, severity, and intensity) under different return periods during 1900–2012 in the Continental U.S. (CONUS). We find two significant patterns: Pattern I shows persistent droughts in western...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yan Ge, Tushar Apurv, Ximing Cai
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2016-06-01
Series:Geophysical Research Letters
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069660
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849321787240742912
author Yan Ge
Tushar Apurv
Ximing Cai
author_facet Yan Ge
Tushar Apurv
Ximing Cai
author_sort Yan Ge
collection DOAJ
description Abstract This study investigates the spatial and temporal patterns of multiple drought characteristics (duration, severity, and intensity) under different return periods during 1900–2012 in the Continental U.S. (CONUS). We find two significant patterns: Pattern I shows persistent droughts in western and eastern U.S. and the Great Plains, which experienced large variations in the drought characteristics over long time; Pattern II shows transient droughts in the interior of CONUS, which experienced short‐term variations in drought characteristics. Trend analysis shows that duration, severity, and intensity of droughts under the various return periods are increasing in most of the Pattern I regions. Moreover, spatial distributions of duration, severity, and intensity of more frequent and less severe drought events are found to be different from those of less frequent and more severe droughts in the same time period; trends in these drought characteristics at long and short return periods are different at some locations, showing the different trends of extreme and mild droughts.
format Article
id doaj-art-bc188315ffe8499b904fa2f28a6cbcf5
institution Kabale University
issn 0094-8276
1944-8007
language English
publishDate 2016-06-01
publisher Wiley
record_format Article
series Geophysical Research Letters
spelling doaj-art-bc188315ffe8499b904fa2f28a6cbcf52025-08-20T03:49:37ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072016-06-0143126294630310.1002/2016GL069660Spatial and temporal patterns of drought in the Continental U.S. during the past centuryYan Ge0Tushar Apurv1Ximing Cai2Ven Te Chow Hydrosystems Laboratory, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign Urbana Illinois USAVen Te Chow Hydrosystems Laboratory, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign Urbana Illinois USAVen Te Chow Hydrosystems Laboratory, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign Urbana Illinois USAAbstract This study investigates the spatial and temporal patterns of multiple drought characteristics (duration, severity, and intensity) under different return periods during 1900–2012 in the Continental U.S. (CONUS). We find two significant patterns: Pattern I shows persistent droughts in western and eastern U.S. and the Great Plains, which experienced large variations in the drought characteristics over long time; Pattern II shows transient droughts in the interior of CONUS, which experienced short‐term variations in drought characteristics. Trend analysis shows that duration, severity, and intensity of droughts under the various return periods are increasing in most of the Pattern I regions. Moreover, spatial distributions of duration, severity, and intensity of more frequent and less severe drought events are found to be different from those of less frequent and more severe droughts in the same time period; trends in these drought characteristics at long and short return periods are different at some locations, showing the different trends of extreme and mild droughts.https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069660drought characteristicstrend identificationspatial‐temporal patternsContinental U.S
spellingShingle Yan Ge
Tushar Apurv
Ximing Cai
Spatial and temporal patterns of drought in the Continental U.S. during the past century
Geophysical Research Letters
drought characteristics
trend identification
spatial‐temporal patterns
Continental U.S
title Spatial and temporal patterns of drought in the Continental U.S. during the past century
title_full Spatial and temporal patterns of drought in the Continental U.S. during the past century
title_fullStr Spatial and temporal patterns of drought in the Continental U.S. during the past century
title_full_unstemmed Spatial and temporal patterns of drought in the Continental U.S. during the past century
title_short Spatial and temporal patterns of drought in the Continental U.S. during the past century
title_sort spatial and temporal patterns of drought in the continental u s during the past century
topic drought characteristics
trend identification
spatial‐temporal patterns
Continental U.S
url https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069660
work_keys_str_mv AT yange spatialandtemporalpatternsofdroughtinthecontinentalusduringthepastcentury
AT tusharapurv spatialandtemporalpatternsofdroughtinthecontinentalusduringthepastcentury
AT ximingcai spatialandtemporalpatternsofdroughtinthecontinentalusduringthepastcentury