Editorial Type:
Article
Article Type:
Research Article

Analysis of the Relationship of U.S. Droughts with SST and Soil Moisture: Distinguishing the Time Scale of Droughts

Renguang Wu Center for Ocean–Land–Atmosphere Studies, Calverton, Maryland

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James L. Kinter III Center for Ocean–Land–Atmosphere Studies, Calverton, Maryland, and Department of Atmospheric, Ocean and Earth Sciences, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia

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Print Publication:
01 Sep 2009
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JCLI2841.1
Page(s):
4520–4538
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Abstract

The impacts of droughts depend on how long droughts persist and the reasons why droughts extend to different time scales may be different. The present study distinguishes the time scale of droughts based on the standardized precipitation index and analyzes the relationship of boreal summer U.S. droughts with sea surface temperature (SST) and soil moisture. It is found that the roles of remote SST forcing and local soil moisture differ significantly for long-term and short-term droughts in the U.S. Great Plains and Southwest. For short-term droughts (≤3 months), simultaneous remote SST forcing plays an important role with an additional contribution from soil moisture. For medium-term and long-term droughts (≥6 months), both simultaneous and antecedent SST forcing contribute to droughts, and the soil moisture is important for the persistence of droughts through a positive feedback to precipitation. The antecedent remote SST forcing contributes to droughts through soil moisture and evaporation changes. The tropical Pacific SST is the dominant remote forcing for U.S. droughts. The most notable impacts of the tropical Pacific SST are found in the Southwest with extensions to the Great Plains. Tropical Indian Ocean SST forcing has a notable influence on medium-term and long-term U.S. droughts. The relationships between tropical Indian and Pacific Ocean SST and boreal summer U.S. droughts have undergone obvious long-term changes, especially for the Great Plains droughts.

Corresponding author address: Renguang Wu, COLA, IGES, 4041 Powder Mill Road, Suite 302, Calverton, MD 20705. Email: renguang@cola.iges.org

Abstract

The impacts of droughts depend on how long droughts persist and the reasons why droughts extend to different time scales may be different. The present study distinguishes the time scale of droughts based on the standardized precipitation index and analyzes the relationship of boreal summer U.S. droughts with sea surface temperature (SST) and soil moisture. It is found that the roles of remote SST forcing and local soil moisture differ significantly for long-term and short-term droughts in the U.S. Great Plains and Southwest. For short-term droughts (≤3 months), simultaneous remote SST forcing plays an important role with an additional contribution from soil moisture. For medium-term and long-term droughts (≥6 months), both simultaneous and antecedent SST forcing contribute to droughts, and the soil moisture is important for the persistence of droughts through a positive feedback to precipitation. The antecedent remote SST forcing contributes to droughts through soil moisture and evaporation changes. The tropical Pacific SST is the dominant remote forcing for U.S. droughts. The most notable impacts of the tropical Pacific SST are found in the Southwest with extensions to the Great Plains. Tropical Indian Ocean SST forcing has a notable influence on medium-term and long-term U.S. droughts. The relationships between tropical Indian and Pacific Ocean SST and boreal summer U.S. droughts have undergone obvious long-term changes, especially for the Great Plains droughts.

Corresponding author address: Renguang Wu, COLA, IGES, 4041 Powder Mill Road, Suite 302, Calverton, MD 20705. Email: renguang@cola.iges.org

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