A quantitative approach for hydrological drought characterization in southwestern China using GRACE

A quantitative approach for hydrological drought characterization, based on non-seasonal water storage deficit data from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission, is assessed. Non-seasonal storage deficit is the negative terrestrial water storage after deducting trend, acceleration and seasonal signals, and it is designated as a drought event when it persists for three or more continuous months. The non-seasonal water storage deficit is used for measuring the hydrological drought in southwestern China. It is found that this storage-deficit method clearly identifies hydrological drought onset, end and duration, and quantifies instantaneous severity, peak drought magnitude, and time to recovery. Moreover, it is found that severe droughts have frequently struck southwestern China in the past several decades, among which, the drought of 2011–2012 was the most severe; the duration was 10 months, the severity was −208.92 km³/month, and the time to recovery was 17 months. These results compare well with the National Climate Center of China drought databases, which signifies that the GRACE-based non-seasonal water storage deficit has a quantitative effect on hydrological drought characterization and provides an effective tool for researching droughts.