Applicability analysis of comprehensive drought index based on GRACE data in ten major river basins in China

• Published in: Journal of hydrology (Amsterdam) 2024-12, Vol.645, p.132275, Article 132275
• Main Authors: Wu, Rong, Wang, Zijun, Cui, Chenfeng, Li, Yongxiang, Tang, Miao, Chu, Jiangdong, Xv, Renjie, Zhu, Chenrui, Wang, Shuo, Li, Yuli, Zhang, Chengyuan, Huang, Zhannan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applicability; Arid and Humid Basins; CCDI; China; climate change; Comprehensive Drought; decision making; drought; drought tolerance; DSI; GRACE; humans; hydrology; rivers; water storage
• ISSN: 0022-1694
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2024.132275

•Precipitation and TWSA changes show significant inconsistency in arid basins, whereas their changes are more synchronized in humid basins.•Two GRACE-based drought indices: CCDI and DSI show spatiotemporal consistency with common drought indices in arid and humid basins, respectively.•The applicability of CCDI and DSI in drought monitoring over arid and humid basins was verified respectively.•GRACE-based drought indices successfully detected humid and arid basins experienced drought period from 2002 to 2006 and 2013 to 2017, respectively. As hydroclimatic extremes, drought triggered by climate change and human activities are recurrent over China. Selecting an appropriate comprehensive drought index is an important measure to comprehensively monitor drought characteristics. Precipitation and Terrestrial Water Storage Anomalies (TWSA) are important variables for assessing drought triggered by water deficiency in the atmosphere and terrestrial systems. The study aims to compare and discuss the applicability of drought index based solely on TWSA (DSI) and based on the combined effects of precipitation and TWSA (CCDI) in monitoring comprehensive drought in China. The results reveal that precipitation anomalies do not align with TWSA in arid basins, while they are synchronized in humid basins. CCDI reveals more favorable spatiotemporal agreement with the traditional drought indices, whereas DSI shows more consistency with common drought indices in humid basins. CCDI and DSI are suitable for assessing comprehensive drought in arid and humid basins, respectively. Moreover, almost both DSI and CCDI successfully monitored major drought periods in humid and arid basins during 2002–2006 and 2013–2017, respectively. Overall, this study highlights the applicability of CCDI and DSI in comprehensive drought assessment in arid and humid basins, respectively, providing valuable support for optimizing water resources utilization, management, and drought resistance decision-making.