Developing a novel framework to re-examine half a century of compound drought and heatwave events in mainland China

Lin Zhao; Xinxin Li; Zhijiang Zhang; Moxi Yuan; Shao Sun; Sai Qu; Mengjie Hou; Dan Lu; Yajuan Zhou; Aiwen Lin

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162366

Developing a novel framework to re-examine half a century of compound drought and heatwave events in mainland China

Sci Total Environ. 2023 May 20:874:162366. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162366. Epub 2023 Feb 26.

Authors

Lin Zhao¹, Xinxin Li², Zhijiang Zhang³, Moxi Yuan⁴, Shao Sun⁵, Sai Qu¹, Mengjie Hou¹, Dan Lu¹, Yajuan Zhou¹, Aiwen Lin¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China.
² School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China. Electronic address: lixinxin_better@whu.edu.cn.
³ School of Geography Science and Geomatics Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215009, China.
⁴ School of Public Administration and Human Geography, Hunan University of Technology and Business, Changsha 410205, China.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather (LASW), Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.

PMID: 36848990
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162366

Abstract

Compound drought and heatwave events (CDHEs) are more devastating than single drought or heatwave events and have gained widespread attention. However, previous studies have not investigated the impacts of the precipitation attenuation effect (PAE) (i.e., the effect of previous precipitation on the dryness and wetness of the current system is attenuated) and event merging (EM) (i.e., merging two CDHEs with short intervals into a single event). Moreover, few studies have assessed short-term CDHEs within monthly scales and their variation characteristics under different background temperatures. Here we propose a novel framework for assessing CDHEs on a daily scale and considering the PAE and EM. We applied this framework to mainland China and investigated the spatiotemporal variation of the CDHE indicators (spatial extent (CDHE_spa), frequency (CDHE_fre), duration (CHHE_dur), and severity (CDHE_sev)) from 1968 to 2019. The results suggested that ignoring the PAE and EM led to significant changes in the spatial distribution and magnitude of the CDHE indicators. Daily-scale assessments allowed for monitoring the detailed evolution of CDHEs and facilitated the timely development of mitigation measures. Mainland China experienced frequent CDHEs from 1968 to 2019 (except for the southwestern part of Northwest China (NWC) and the western part of Southwest China (SWC)), whereas, hotspot areas of CDHE_dur and CDHE_sev had a patchy distribution in different geographical subregions. The CDHE indicators were higher in the warmer 1994-2019 period than in the colder 1968-1993 period, but the rate of increase of the indicators was lower or there was a downward trend. Overall, CDHEs in mainland China have been in a state of remarkable continuous strengthening over the past half a century. This study provides a new quantitative analysis approach for CDHEs.

Keywords: CDHEs; Daily scale assessment; Event merging; Precipitation attenuation effect.