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Arid Land Geography ›› 2023, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (8): 1227-1237.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2022.546

• Climatology and Hydrology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Changes in meteorological drought characteristics in China under the 2 ℃ temperature rise scenario

LU Dongyan1,2(),ZHU Xiufang1,2,3(),LIU Tingting1,2,ZHANG Shizhe1,2   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Environmental Change and Natural Disaster of Ministry of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
    2. Institute of Remote Sensing Science and Engineering, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
    3. State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
  • Received:2022-10-20 Revised:2022-11-16 Online:2023-08-25 Published:2023-09-21

Abstract:

Drought is one of the most widespread and destructive natural hazards, causing severe impacts on agriculture, energy, society, and ecology. Global warming results in changes in regional precipitation and evapotranspiration patterns, leading to changes in drought characteristics. China is drought prone and is also seriously affected by climate change. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the characteristics of future meteorological drought response to climate warming in China. In this study, using historical climate simulation data and future projection data from 18 climate models of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 (CMIP6), the 2 ℃ temperature rise scenario was determined by applying a time sampling approach, and the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) based on the Penman-Monteith method was calculated at a 1-month time scale as the meteorological drought monitoring index. Based on SPEI, drought events were identified using the three-threshold run theory, and four drought-characteristic indicators (drought frequency, average drought duration, average drought intensity, and average drought peak) were extracted for China under the historical reference period and the 2 ℃ temperature rise scenario. Finally, changes in meteorological drought characteristics in China and its seven natural regions were analyzed under the 2 ℃ temperature rise scenario using the future drought-characteristic indicator values minus those of the historical drought-characteristic indicators. The results show clear spatial differentiation patterns in the four drought-characteristic indicators under the 2 ℃ temperature rise scenario. Drought frequency is high in the northwest desert region of China, and is high in the south and low in the north of the eastern monsoon region, while average drought duration, intensity, and peak values are high in the northwest and low in the southeast. From a national perspective, average future values of drought frequency, average drought duration, average drought intensity, and average drought peak are 1.72 times·a-1, 2.46 months, 1.37, and 1.70 respectively under the 2 ℃ temperature rise scenario, representing increases of 0.17 times·a-1, 0.27 months, 0.14, and 0.25, respectively, compared with the historical reference period. From a regional perspective, the average values of drought frequency, average drought intensity, and average drought peak increase in all regions, while the average value of average drought duration shows a decrease only in the northeast humid/semi-humid temperate region. The region with the largest increases in values of the four drought-characteristic indicators is the northwest desert region. In summary, based on the results of the multi-model ensemble mean from the 18 CMIP6 models, we predict that more frequent and severe droughts will occur in China, and especially in northwest China, under the 2 ℃ temperature rise scenario. This prediction can serve as a warning in terms of future drought management, and the study can provide a basis for drought prevention and response decision-making in the global warming context.

Key words: meteorological drought, global warming, 2 ℃ temperature rise scenario, CMIP6, China