Global Warming Impacts on Severe Drought Characteristics in Asia Monsoon Region

Climate change influences the changes in drought features. This study assesses the changes in severe drought characteristics over the Asian monsoon region responding to 1.5 and 2.0 °C of global average temperature increases above preindustrial levels. Based on the selected 5 global climate models, t...

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Main Authors: Jeong-Bae Kim, Jae-Min So, Deg-Hyo Bae
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-05-01
Series:Water
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/12/5/1360
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author Jeong-Bae Kim
Jae-Min So
Deg-Hyo Bae
author_facet Jeong-Bae Kim
Jae-Min So
Deg-Hyo Bae
author_sort Jeong-Bae Kim
collection DOAJ
description Climate change influences the changes in drought features. This study assesses the changes in severe drought characteristics over the Asian monsoon region responding to 1.5 and 2.0 °C of global average temperature increases above preindustrial levels. Based on the selected 5 global climate models, the drought characteristics are analyzed according to different regional climate zones using the standardized precipitation index. Under global warming, the severity and frequency of severe drought (i.e., SPI <−1.5) are modulated by the changes in seasonal and regional precipitation features regardless of the region. Due to the different regional change trends, global warming is likely to aggravate (or alleviate) severe drought in warm (or dry/cold) climate zones. For seasonal analysis, the ranges of changes in drought severity (and frequency) are −11.5%~6.1% (and −57.1%~23.2%) under 1.5 and 2.0 °C of warming compared to reference condition. The significant decreases in drought frequency are indicated in all climate zones due to the increasing precipitation tendency. In general, drought features under global warming closely tend to be affected by the changes in the amount of precipitation as well as the changes in dry spell length. As the warming enhanced, the spatial variation of drought severity will be increased across climate zones, which can lead to increased water stress over Asia. This study demonstrates that precipitation characteristic changes can explicitly modulate severe regional drought features.
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spelling doaj.art-d0fc3e2a4f6345709acd2918a66d92842023-11-20T00:08:14ZengMDPI AGWater2073-44412020-05-01125136010.3390/w12051360Global Warming Impacts on Severe Drought Characteristics in Asia Monsoon RegionJeong-Bae Kim0Jae-Min So1Deg-Hyo Bae2Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Sejong University, 209 Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-Gu, Seoul 05006, KoreaDepartment of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Sejong University, 209 Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-Gu, Seoul 05006, KoreaDepartment of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Sejong University, 209 Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-Gu, Seoul 05006, KoreaClimate change influences the changes in drought features. This study assesses the changes in severe drought characteristics over the Asian monsoon region responding to 1.5 and 2.0 °C of global average temperature increases above preindustrial levels. Based on the selected 5 global climate models, the drought characteristics are analyzed according to different regional climate zones using the standardized precipitation index. Under global warming, the severity and frequency of severe drought (i.e., SPI <−1.5) are modulated by the changes in seasonal and regional precipitation features regardless of the region. Due to the different regional change trends, global warming is likely to aggravate (or alleviate) severe drought in warm (or dry/cold) climate zones. For seasonal analysis, the ranges of changes in drought severity (and frequency) are −11.5%~6.1% (and −57.1%~23.2%) under 1.5 and 2.0 °C of warming compared to reference condition. The significant decreases in drought frequency are indicated in all climate zones due to the increasing precipitation tendency. In general, drought features under global warming closely tend to be affected by the changes in the amount of precipitation as well as the changes in dry spell length. As the warming enhanced, the spatial variation of drought severity will be increased across climate zones, which can lead to increased water stress over Asia. This study demonstrates that precipitation characteristic changes can explicitly modulate severe regional drought features.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/12/5/1360severe droughtglobal warming impactsregional climate featuresAsia region
spellingShingle Jeong-Bae Kim
Jae-Min So
Deg-Hyo Bae
Global Warming Impacts on Severe Drought Characteristics in Asia Monsoon Region
Water
severe drought
global warming impacts
regional climate features
Asia region
title Global Warming Impacts on Severe Drought Characteristics in Asia Monsoon Region
title_full Global Warming Impacts on Severe Drought Characteristics in Asia Monsoon Region
title_fullStr Global Warming Impacts on Severe Drought Characteristics in Asia Monsoon Region
title_full_unstemmed Global Warming Impacts on Severe Drought Characteristics in Asia Monsoon Region
title_short Global Warming Impacts on Severe Drought Characteristics in Asia Monsoon Region
title_sort global warming impacts on severe drought characteristics in asia monsoon region
topic severe drought
global warming impacts
regional climate features
Asia region
url https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/12/5/1360
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AT jaeminso globalwarmingimpactsonseveredroughtcharacteristicsinasiamonsoonregion
AT deghyobae globalwarmingimpactsonseveredroughtcharacteristicsinasiamonsoonregion