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The spatial and temporal analysis of dry spells in the Yellow River basin, China

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Abstract

In this research, drought in Yellow River basin has been studied by using dry spells. Three indices, including the maximum length (MxDS), mean length (MDS) and number of dry spells (NDS), and five periods (annual, winter, spring, summer and autumn) are considered. The results show that a south to north gradient for mean MxDS and MDS has been dominantly found in all periods except summer, in which a southwest and southeast to north gradient exists. Mean NDS shows an opposite distribution to that of mean MxDS and MDS. It is surely that the northern part of Yellow River basin, with a higher MxDS and MDS and lower NDS, is much drier than southern part in a regional scale. According to temporal analysis by using the Mann–Kendall trend method, MxDS of most stations show negative but insignificant trends during annual and winter, while the majority of stations show positive trends during spring, summer and autumn. Trends of MDS and NDS dominantly depict positive and negative for most periods, respectively. By comparing the frequency of dry spells during the ENSO events, it can be found that the frequency of intermediate and long dry spells is almost tantamount during the occurrence periods of El Niño and La Niña.

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Acknowledgments

This study is supported by National Science Foundation of P.R. China (Grant No. 41071025) and National Basic Research Program of China (2010CB428406). The meteorological data used in this study were collected from China Meteorological Administration (CMA), which is highly appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Water Cycle & Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing, 100101, China

    Dunxian She & Jun Xia

  2. Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100039, China

    Dunxian She

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  1. Dunxian She
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  2. Jun Xia
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Correspondence to Jun Xia.

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She, D., Xia, J. The spatial and temporal analysis of dry spells in the Yellow River basin, China. Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess 27, 29–42 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-011-0553-x

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