Ma et al. (2026) Differences in compound drought–heatwave events between the atmosphere and soil during the growing season in the Huai River Basin: Insights from atmospheric evapotranspiration demand and surface energy distribution

Identification

• Journal: Agricultural Water Management
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-09-07
• Authors: Dongxiang Ma, Haishen Lü, Yonghua Zhu, Yinghao Fu, Yiling Yao, Yiding Ding, Siqing Yang, Zhaohua Ge
• DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2026.110741

Research Groups

• State Key Laboratory of Water Disaster Prevention, Hohai University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
• College of Hydrology and Water Resources, Hohai University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
• College of Geography and Remote Sensing, Hohai University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
• Engineer school, Qinghai Institute of Technology, Xining, Qinghai, China
• Water Resources Comprehensive Development Center of Shandong Province, Jinan, Shandong, China

Short Summary

This study investigates the differences in compound drought–heatwave events between the atmosphere and soil during the growing season in the Huai River Basin. The results show that both atmospheric and soil compound dry-hot trends intensified significantly from 1981 to 2025, with the soil exhibiting a more severe intensification trend.

Objective

• To systematically compare the spatiotemporal variations in compound dry-hot trend in the atmosphere and soil during the growing season in the Huai River Basin.
• To understand the underlying mechanisms behind the differences in CDHEs between the atmosphere and soil from the perspectives of atmospheric evapotranspiration demand and surface energy distribution.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: The study was conducted at a regional scale, focusing on the Huai River Basin (HRB) in China.
• Temporal Scale: The study period spanned 45 years (1981-2025), with data analyzed at both growing-season and monthly scales.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) regression models were developed to simulate the variations in BDHIa and BDHIs.
• Data sources: ERA5-Land reanalysis dataset, which includes variables such as 2 m dewpoint temperature, 2 m temperature, total precipitation, soil temperature, volumetric soil water, surface latent heat flux, surface sensible heat flux, surface net solar radiation, surface net thermal radiation, and potential evaporation.

Main Results

• Both BDHIa and BDHIs showed significant decreasing trends from 1981 to 2025.
• The intensification of soil compound dry-hot trends was mainly reflected in the increases in the persistence and severity of CDHEs.
• Atmospheric CDHEs were characterized by higher frequency, shorter duration, and lower severity, whereas soil CDHEs were characterized by lower frequency, longer duration, and greater severity.

Contributions

• This study provides novel insights into the research on CDHEs and has considerable potential value for the prediction and assessment of future extreme climate risks.
• The findings highlight systematic differences between atmosphere and soil based CDHEs at the regional scale, providing a new perspective for the study of such events in the context of global warming.

Funding

• This study was funded by projects from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51979007) and the Key Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDA23050101).

Citation

@article{Ma2026Differences,
  author = {Ma, Dongxiang and Lü, Haishen and Zhu, Yonghua and Fu, Yinghao and Yao, Yiling and Ding, Yiding and Yang, Siqing and Ge, Zhaohua},
  title = {Differences in compound drought–heatwave events between the atmosphere and soil during the growing season in the Huai River Basin: Insights from atmospheric evapotranspiration demand and surface energy distribution},
  journal = {Agricultural Water Management},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1016/j.agwat.2026.110741},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2026.110741}
}