Qi et al. (2025) Spatiotemporal Patterns, Driving Mechanisms, and Response to Meteorological Drought of Terrestrial Ecological Drought in China

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Identification

• Journal: Agronomy
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-08-26
• Authors: Qingqing Qi, Ruyi Men, Fei Wang, Mengting Du, Wenhan Yu, Hexin Lai, Kai Feng, Yanbin Li, Shengzhi Huang, Haibo Yang
• DOI: 10.3390/agronomy15092044

Research Groups

Not explicitly stated in the provided text.

Short Summary

This study analyzed the spatiotemporal dynamics and driving mechanisms of ecological drought in China from 1982 to 2022, revealing a significant intensification trend and the dominant roles of evapotranspiration, soil moisture, and air humidity in its development.

Objective

• To identify the spatial distribution and temporal variability of ecological drought in China, elucidate its dynamic evolution and return periods, unveil the scale-dependent effects of climatic factors, and decipher its response mechanisms to meteorological drought.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: China
• Temporal Scale: 1982 to 2022 (41 years)

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Not explicitly named, but a dynamic assessment framework was constructed.
• Data sources: Meteorological and remote sensing datasets.

Main Results

• Terrestrial ecological drought in China showed a pronounced intensification trend, with the standardized ecological water deficit index (SEWDI) reaching a minimum of −1.21 in February 2020. The Alpine Vegetation Region (AVR) experienced the most significant deterioration in severity (−0.032 per decade).
• A seasonal abrupt change in SEWDI was detected in January 2003 (probability: 99.42%), with trend component mutation points in January 2003 (probability: 96.35%) and November 2017 (probability: 43.67%).
• The most severe drought event (severity: 6.28) occurred from September 2019 to April 2020, exceeding a 10-year return level.
• Gridded trend eigenvalues ranged from −1.06 in winter to 0.19 in summer; 87.01% of the area experienced aggravated ecological drought in winter, peaking in January (88.51%).
• Evapotranspiration (ET) was the dominant univariate driver (percentage of significant power (POSP): 18.75%). Under multivariate conditions, the synergistic effects of ET, soil moisture (SM), and air humidity (AH) had the strongest explanatory power (POSP: 19.21%).
• The response of ecological drought to meteorological drought exhibited regional asynchrony, with an average maximum correlation coefficient of 0.48 and lag times spanning 1 to 6 months.

Contributions

• Provided a systematic analysis of ecological drought dynamics and driving mechanisms in China.
• Constructed a dynamic assessment framework for ecological drought.
• Strengthened the scientific basis for regional drought risk early-warning systems and spatially tailored adaptive management strategies.

Funding

Not explicitly stated in the provided text.

Citation

@article{Qi2025Spatiotemporal,
  author = {Qi, Qingqing and Men, Ruyi and Wang, Fei and Du, Mengting and Yu, Wenhan and Lai, Hexin and Feng, Kai and Li, Yanbin and Huang, Shengzhi and Yang, Haibo},
  title = {Spatiotemporal Patterns, Driving Mechanisms, and Response to Meteorological Drought of Terrestrial Ecological Drought in China},
  journal = {Agronomy},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.3390/agronomy15092044},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15092044}
}