Flash drought onset over the contiguous United States: sensitivity of inventories and trends to quantitative definitions

Osman, Mahmoud; Zaitchik, Benjamin F.; Badr, Hamada S.; Christian, Jordan I.; Tadesse, Tsegaye; Otkin, Jason A.; Anderson, Martha C.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-565-2021

Articles | Volume 25, issue 2

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-565-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-565-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 25, issue 2

Research article

|

08 Feb 2021

Research article |

| 08 Feb 2021

Flash drought onset over the contiguous United States: sensitivity of inventories and trends to quantitative definitions

Mahmoud Osman, Benjamin F. Zaitchik, Hamada S. Badr, Jordan I. Christian, Tsegaye Tadesse, Jason A. Otkin, and Martha C. Anderson

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-565-2021-supplement

Model code and software

mosman01/Flash_Droughts: Flash Droughts -- SMVI (Version v1.0.0) [Data set], Flash drought onset over the Contiguous United States: Sensitivity of inventories and trends to quantitative definitions Mahmoud Osman, Benjamin F. Zaitchik, Hamada S. Badr, Jordan I. Christian, Tsegaye Tadesse, Jason A. Otkin, and Martha C. Anderson https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4501775

Short summary

Our study of flash droughts' definitions over the United States shows that published definitions yield markedly different inventories of flash drought geography and frequency. Results suggest there are several pathways that can lead to events that are characterized as flash droughts. Lack of consensus across definitions helps to explain apparent contradictions in the literature on trends and indicates the selection of a definition is important for accurate monitoring of different mechanisms.