Assessing the driving process of meteorological and agricultural drought in the Yellow River Basin

Study region: The Yellow River Basin. Study focus: This study examines six-month anomalies in precipitation (SPI), runoff (SRI), surface-layer soil moisture (SMI), and vegetation health (VHI), covering the period from 1990 to 2020. Multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA) measures the ti...

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Main Authors: Xiufen Gu, Yuqi Li, Sajad Jamshidi, Lailei Gu, HongGuang Sun, Dayong Wang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-10-01
Series:Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214581825005336
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author Xiufen Gu
Yuqi Li
Sajad Jamshidi
Lailei Gu
HongGuang Sun
Dayong Wang
author_facet Xiufen Gu
Yuqi Li
Sajad Jamshidi
Lailei Gu
HongGuang Sun
Dayong Wang
author_sort Xiufen Gu
collection DOAJ
description Study region: The Yellow River Basin. Study focus: This study examines six-month anomalies in precipitation (SPI), runoff (SRI), surface-layer soil moisture (SMI), and vegetation health (VHI), covering the period from 1990 to 2020. Multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA) measures the time-dependent fractal memory of each index, and wavelet coherence shows the links between different drought types. New hydrological insights for the region: MF-DFA shows that SMI is persistent at both seasonal and semi-annual windows. SRI goes from being persistent at 3 months to being anti-persistent at 12 months, and VHI shows a random-walk pattern at the seasonal scale before becoming persistent at longer scales. The average coherence between SRI and SMI is 0.55, with coefficients > 0.60 across a quarter of the basin and a significant-coherence area (PASC) > 50 % in 10 % of grids. Memory has the most direct effect on SMI, which has a mean coherence with its own past of more than 0.4 at all three timeframes. Our results collectively indicate that (i) fractal memory enhances soil moisture retention, (ii) hydrological drought serves as the principal pathway for meteorological deficits to impact the root zone, and (iii) vegetation stress exhibits a weaker and more heterogeneous response, particularly beyond agricultural areas. These insights enhance the comprehension of drought progression and establish a scale-sensitive framework for early warning throughout the Yellow River Basin.
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spelling doaj-art-e7ee9b658e5a4a4a8c6377d62cbbe20f2025-08-20T04:02:26ZengElsevierJournal of Hydrology: Regional Studies2214-58182025-10-016110270410.1016/j.ejrh.2025.102704Assessing the driving process of meteorological and agricultural drought in the Yellow River BasinXiufen Gu0Yuqi Li1Sajad Jamshidi2Lailei Gu3HongGuang Sun4Dayong Wang5School of Mathematics and Information Sciences, Yantai University, Yantai 264005, ChinaSchool of Mathematics and Information Sciences, Yantai University, Yantai 264005, ChinaDepartment of Agronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47906, USACollege of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Northwest University, Xi’an 710100, ChinaThe National Key Laboratory of Water Disaster Prevention, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China; College of Mechanics and Engineering Science, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, ChinaSchool of Health Management, Binzhou Medical University, Yantai 264003, China; Corresponding author.Study region: The Yellow River Basin. Study focus: This study examines six-month anomalies in precipitation (SPI), runoff (SRI), surface-layer soil moisture (SMI), and vegetation health (VHI), covering the period from 1990 to 2020. Multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA) measures the time-dependent fractal memory of each index, and wavelet coherence shows the links between different drought types. New hydrological insights for the region: MF-DFA shows that SMI is persistent at both seasonal and semi-annual windows. SRI goes from being persistent at 3 months to being anti-persistent at 12 months, and VHI shows a random-walk pattern at the seasonal scale before becoming persistent at longer scales. The average coherence between SRI and SMI is 0.55, with coefficients > 0.60 across a quarter of the basin and a significant-coherence area (PASC) > 50 % in 10 % of grids. Memory has the most direct effect on SMI, which has a mean coherence with its own past of more than 0.4 at all three timeframes. Our results collectively indicate that (i) fractal memory enhances soil moisture retention, (ii) hydrological drought serves as the principal pathway for meteorological deficits to impact the root zone, and (iii) vegetation stress exhibits a weaker and more heterogeneous response, particularly beyond agricultural areas. These insights enhance the comprehension of drought progression and establish a scale-sensitive framework for early warning throughout the Yellow River Basin.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214581825005336Agricultural droughtMeteorological DroughtMemory behaviorTemporal scalesYellow River Basin
spellingShingle Xiufen Gu
Yuqi Li
Sajad Jamshidi
Lailei Gu
HongGuang Sun
Dayong Wang
Assessing the driving process of meteorological and agricultural drought in the Yellow River Basin
Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies
Agricultural drought
Meteorological Drought
Memory behavior
Temporal scales
Yellow River Basin
title Assessing the driving process of meteorological and agricultural drought in the Yellow River Basin
title_full Assessing the driving process of meteorological and agricultural drought in the Yellow River Basin
title_fullStr Assessing the driving process of meteorological and agricultural drought in the Yellow River Basin
title_full_unstemmed Assessing the driving process of meteorological and agricultural drought in the Yellow River Basin
title_short Assessing the driving process of meteorological and agricultural drought in the Yellow River Basin
title_sort assessing the driving process of meteorological and agricultural drought in the yellow river basin
topic Agricultural drought
Meteorological Drought
Memory behavior
Temporal scales
Yellow River Basin
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214581825005336
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