Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
HESS
Articles | Volume 24, issue 9
Articles | Volume 24, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-4541-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-4541-2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Articles | Volume 24, issue 9
Research article
 | 
21 Sep 2020
Research article |  | 21 Sep 2020

A universal Standardized Precipitation Index candidate distribution function for observations and simulations

Patrick Pieper, André Düsterhus, and Johanna Baehr

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Short summary
The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) is a widely accepted drought index. SPI normalizes the precipitation distribution via a probability density function (PDF). However, which PDF properly normalizes SPI is still disputed. We suggest using a previously mostly overlooked PDF, namely the exponentiated Weibull distribution. The proposed PDF ensures the normality of the index. We demonstrate this – for the first time – for all common accumulation periods in both observations and simulations.
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