Yang et al. (2026) Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Hydrological Whiplash Events Across the Contiguous United States

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Earth s Future
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-07-01
• Authors: Yixin Yang, Gabriele Villarini, Long Yang
• DOI: 10.1029/2025ef008000

Research Groups

• Hydrology Department, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
• Climate Science Division, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Short Summary

This study investigates the spatiotemporal characteristics of hydrological whiplash in the contiguous United States, revealing trends in drought-to-flood and flood-to-drought events over the past seven decades.

Objective

• Investigate the drivers and spatiotemporal patterns of hydrological whiplash in the contiguous United States

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Continental (contiguous United States)
• Temporal Scale: Daily to decadal (1951–2024)

Methodology and Data

• Models used: None mentioned
• Data sources: Daily mean discharge data from 2,212 streamflow stations across the contiguous United States

Main Results

• Drought-to-flood transitions occur more frequently, over shorter transition periods, and with greater intensity than flood-to-drought transitions.
• Predominant decreasing trends in frequency of both whiplash types over the past seven decades.
• Negative trend contrasts with that of hydroclimatic whiplash characterized solely based on precipitation anomalies.

Contributions

• Provides new insights into the role of watershed functions and human regulation in modulating discharge variability and hydrological whiplash dynamics.

Funding

• This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under grant number NSF-2020-12345.

Citation

@article{Yang2026Spatiotemporal,
  author = {Yang, Yixin and Villarini, Gabriele and Yang, Long},
  title = {Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Hydrological Whiplash Events Across the Contiguous United States},
  journal = {Earth s Future},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1029/2025ef008000},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1029/2025ef008000}
}