Yang et al. (2025) Divergent Drought Paradigms and Their Driving Mechanisms in the Yangtze and Yellow River Basins

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Identification

• Journal: Water
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-10-22
• Authors: Lan Yang, Tingting Wang, He Li, Dejian Wang, Yanfang Wang, Hui Zhang, Xinjia Wu
• DOI: 10.3390/w17213030

Research Groups

Not explicitly mentioned in the provided text.

Short Summary

This study compares drought patterns and their underlying mechanisms in China's Yangtze and Yellow River Basins (1961-2022), revealing the Yangtze experiences high-frequency, short-duration droughts driven by precipitation deficits, while the Yellow River faces low-frequency, long-duration droughts amplified by evaporative demand.

Objective

• To compare drought characteristics and identify their drivers in China's Yangtze and Yellow River Basins to understand the underlying mechanisms of their divergent drought patterns.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Yangtze River Basin and Yellow River Basin, China.
• Temporal Scale: 1961 to 2022 (62 years).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Attribution models, interpretable machine learning.
• Data sources: Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI).

Main Results

• The Yangtze Basin is characterized by high-frequency (over 14% in all seasons), short-duration droughts, reflecting a rapid hydrological response, primarily driven by precipitation deficits. Its large-scale drivers are mainly the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and Arctic Oscillation (AO).
• The Yellow River Basin experiences low-frequency, long-duration events, indicative of strong soil moisture memory, and is a composite phenomenon amplified by evaporative demand. Atmospheric evaporative demand (VPD) contributes over 20% to soil drought in the Yellow River Basin, significantly more than its 14.4% contribution in the Yangtze Basin. Its large-scale drivers are mainly solar activity and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).

Contributions

• Reveals two distinct drought paradigms and their underlying mechanisms in the Yangtze and Yellow River Basins.
• Quantifies the differential role of atmospheric evaporative demand (VPD) in drought amplification between the two basins.
• Identifies fundamentally different large-scale climate drivers influencing drought patterns in each basin.
• Provides critical insights for developing basin-specific water management strategies.

Funding

Not explicitly mentioned in the provided text.

Citation

@article{Yang2025Divergent,
  author = {Yang, Lan and Wang, Tingting and Li, He and Wang, Dejian and Wang, Yanfang and Zhang, Hui and Wu, Xinjia},
  title = {Divergent Drought Paradigms and Their Driving Mechanisms in the Yangtze and Yellow River Basins},
  journal = {Water},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.3390/w17213030},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.3390/w17213030}
}