TY - JOUR
T1 - Complex influences of meteorological drought time-scales on hydrological droughts in natural basins of the contiguous Unites States
AU - Peña-Gallardo, Marina
AU - Vicente-Serrano, Sergio M.
AU - Hannaford, Jamie
AU - Lorenzo-Lacruz, Jorge
AU - Svoboda, Mark
AU - Domínguez-Castro, Fernando
AU - Maneta, Marco
AU - Tomas-Burguera, Miquel
AU - Kenawy, Ahmed El
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2019/1
Y1 - 2019/1
N2 - We analyzed the relationships between meteorological drought and hydrological drought using very dense and diverse network of gauged natural drainage basins across the conterminous U.S. Specifically, this work utilized a dataset of 289 gauging stations, covering the period 1940–2013. Drainage basins were obtained for each gauging station using a digital terrain model. In addition to meteorological data (e.g., precipitation, air temperature and the atmospheric evaporative demand), we obtained a number of topographic, soil and remote sensing variables for each defined drainage basin. A hydrological drought index (the Standardized Streamflow Index; SSI) was computed for each basin and linked to the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), which was used as a metric of climatic drought severity. The relationships between different SPEI time-scales and their corresponding SSI were assessed by means of a Pearson correlation coefficient. Also, the general patterns of response of hydrological droughts to climatic droughts were identified using a principal component analysis. Overall, results demonstrate a positive response of SSI to SPEI at shorter time-scales, with strong seasonality and clear spatial differences. We also assessed the role of some climatic and environmental factors in explaining these different responses using a predictive discriminant analysis. Results indicate that elevation and vegetation coverage are the main drivers of the diverse response of SSI to SPEI time-scales. Similar analyses were made for three sub-periods (1940–1964, 1965–1989 and 1989–2013), whose results confirm considerable differences in the response of SSI to SPEI over the past eighty years.
AB - We analyzed the relationships between meteorological drought and hydrological drought using very dense and diverse network of gauged natural drainage basins across the conterminous U.S. Specifically, this work utilized a dataset of 289 gauging stations, covering the period 1940–2013. Drainage basins were obtained for each gauging station using a digital terrain model. In addition to meteorological data (e.g., precipitation, air temperature and the atmospheric evaporative demand), we obtained a number of topographic, soil and remote sensing variables for each defined drainage basin. A hydrological drought index (the Standardized Streamflow Index; SSI) was computed for each basin and linked to the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), which was used as a metric of climatic drought severity. The relationships between different SPEI time-scales and their corresponding SSI were assessed by means of a Pearson correlation coefficient. Also, the general patterns of response of hydrological droughts to climatic droughts were identified using a principal component analysis. Overall, results demonstrate a positive response of SSI to SPEI at shorter time-scales, with strong seasonality and clear spatial differences. We also assessed the role of some climatic and environmental factors in explaining these different responses using a predictive discriminant analysis. Results indicate that elevation and vegetation coverage are the main drivers of the diverse response of SSI to SPEI time-scales. Similar analyses were made for three sub-periods (1940–1964, 1965–1989 and 1989–2013), whose results confirm considerable differences in the response of SSI to SPEI over the past eighty years.
KW - Climate variability
KW - Climatic drought
KW - Drought propagation
KW - Hydrological drought
KW - Natural basins
KW - SPEI
KW - Time-scales
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85056882728&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.11.026
DO - 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.11.026
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85056882728
SN - 0022-1694
VL - 568
SP - 611
EP - 625
JO - Journal of Hydrology
JF - Journal of Hydrology
ER -