https://zhiyingli-geo.com/tag/drought-nonstationarity/drought nonstationarityWowchemy (https://wowchemy.com)en-usMon, 24 Apr 2023 14:08:47 +0000https://zhiyingli-geo.com/media/icon_hu34a78c1291ddf21d55c44d82204d2e45_9026_512x512_fill_lanczos_center_3.pnghttps://zhiyingli-geo.com/tag/drought-nonstationarity/https://zhiyingli-geo.com/project/drought-monitoring/Mon, 24 Apr 2023 14:08:47 +0000https://zhiyingli-geo.com/project/drought-monitoring/<p>Drought is often monitored using thresholds that assume stable hydroclimate conditions over time and space. Our work examines how those assumptions can break down under climate variability, climate change, and local differences in drought impacts.</p> <p>One dimension is <strong>temporal nonstationarity</strong>: long-term shifts in precipitation, evaporative demand, runoff, soil moisture, and terrestrial water storage can change the meaning of historical drought percentiles and classifications. As hydroclimate baselines evolve, drought monitoring systems must distinguish short-term anomalies from emerging climate trends.</p> <p>Another dimension is <strong>spatial nonstationarity</strong>: the same drought index value or classification can correspond to different impacts across places, seasons, sectors, and water systems. We develop regionally relevant, impacts-based approaches that connect drought indicators with observed consequences such as streamflow deficits and agricultural losses, improving the local interpretability of drought thresholds.</p> <p>Overall, this theme of research asks how drought monitoring can remain useful in a nonstationary climate, including whether current methods are sensitive to evolving baselines, grounded in local impacts, and informative for risk management and adaptation.</p>