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Arid Land Geography ›› 2026, Vol. 49 ›› Issue (7): 1336-1346.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2025.683

• Climate Change • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Drought characteristics and their relationship with precipitation and potential evapotranspiration in the Longzhong region

YANG Haofan1(), HUANG Weidong1,2(), NIU Zuirong1   

  1. 1 College of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, Gansu, China
    2 Gansu Provincial Hydrological and Water Resources Center, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu, China
  • Received:2025-10-23 Revised:2025-12-28 Online:2026-07-25 Published:2026-07-07
  • Contact: HUANG Weidong E-mail:appreciates@foxmail.com;gsdxhwd@163.com

Abstract:

The Longzhong region, a critical zone for ecological security within the upper reaches of the Yellow River, has historically been confronted with water scarcity and recurrent droughts, impeding its development. The elucidation of the mechanisms through which climatic factors and drought risk are associated is of practical significance for the support of targeted drought mitigation, the optimization of water resource allocation, and the improvement of the operation of water conservancy projects. This study utilized precipitation and potential evapotranspiration (PET) data from 1980 to 2023 to systematically analyze the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of drought and its coupled relationship with precipitation and PET. This analysis was conducted by applying methods such as the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI), climate tendency rate, and spatial interpolation. The results indicate that: (1) The drought evolution in the Longzhong region is characterized by three distinguishable stages. From 1980 to 1990, the frequency of droughts was 29.55%, from 1991 to 2010, it was 42.49%, and from 2011 to 2023, it was 23.72%. (2) From 1991 to 2023, the frequency of moderate-to-severe droughts during the spring and summer months reached 19.23% or higher, posing a significant threat to key agricultural periods. A notable finding was the highly significant increasing trend (P<0.01) exhibited by spring PET in Dingxi City, which served to exacerbate the ongoing drought conditions. (3) El Niño events increase the risk of drought, with the frequency of moderate-to-severe droughts rising 5.21 percentage points in El Niño years compared to non-El Niño years. The present study discloses the differential patterns between climatic factors and drought risk in the Longzhong region, thereby providing a scientific basis for regional drought mitigation strategies, optimization of agricultural planting structures, and informed scheduling of water conservancy projects.

Key words: drought, spatiotemporal characteristics, precipitation, potential evapotranspiration, Longzhong region