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Arid Land Geography ›› 2026, Vol. 49 ›› Issue (7): 1323-1335.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2025.499

• Climate Change • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Spatiotemporal characteristics and driving factors of vegetation drought in Inner Mongolia from 1958 to 2023

CHEN Xianlin1(), YAN Zhiyuan1,2(), LIU Quanming1,2,3, ZHANG Shengwei1,2,3,4   

  1. 1 College of Water Conservancy and Civil Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010018, Inner Mongolia, China
    2 State Key Laboratory of Water Engineering Ecology and Environment in Arid Area, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010018, Inner Mongolia, China
    3 Autonomous Region Collaborative Innovation Center for Integrated Management of Water Resources and Water Environment in the Inner Mongolia Reaches of the Yellow River, Hohhot 010018, Inner Mongolia, China
    4 Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Key Laboratory of Water Resources Protection and Utilization, Hohhot 010018, Inner Mongolia, China
  • Received:2025-08-19 Revised:2025-10-06 Online:2026-07-25 Published:2026-07-07
  • Contact: YAN Zhiyuan E-mail:chenxl@emails.imau.edu.cn;yanzy@imau.edu.cn

Abstract:

Drought is among the most prevalent extreme climate events in Inner Mongolia, China, resulting in diminished crop yields and the degradation of grasslands. This phenomenon poses a significant threat to the stability of the regional ecological environment and the safety of agricultural production. To better understand the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics and driving mechanisms of drought, this study analyzed the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics, changing trends, and driving factors of vegetation drought in Inner Mongolia from 1958 to 2023 based on the crop water stress index (CWSI). Additionally, the time-lag effect of CWSI on the main driving factors was further explored. The results indicate that: (1) The distribution characteristics of the multi-year average CWSI in Inner Mongolia exhibit evident spatial heterogeneity, with higher values observed in the southwest and lower values in the northeast. Furthermore, the proportion of areas demonstrating a monotonically increasing CWSI trend from 1958 to 2023 reached 70.5%, and the abrupt breakpoints primarily occurred around 2000, with 1998 being the most significant. (2) Precipitation and temperature are the primary driving factors of vegetation drought in Inner Mongolia. The q values of the interaction between precipitation and temperature are nearly all above 0.8, indicating a highly significant relationship between the two factor. (3) The precipitation response of the CWSI in the entire region exhibits an average lag of 1.61 months, whereas the response to temperature is weaker but with a shorter lag time, averaging 1.33 months. This study quantitatively analyzed the time-lag effect of vegetation drought on climatic factors, thereby providing a theoretical foundation and technical support for drought monitoring in Inner Mongolia.

Key words: crop water shortage index (CWSI), geographic detector, spatiotemporal changes, driving factors, time-delay effect, Inner Mongolia