Articles | Volume 28, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1415-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1415-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
On the timescale of drought indices for monitoring streamflow drought considering catchment hydrological regimes
Oscar M. Baez-Villanueva
Hydro-Climate Extremes Lab (H-CEL), Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
Institute for Technology and Resources Management in the Tropics and Subtropics (ITT), TH Köln, Cologne, Germany
Mauricio Zambrano-Bigiarini
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Civil Engineering, Universidad de la Frontera, Temuco, Chile
Center for Climate and Resilience Research, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Diego G. Miralles
Hydro-Climate Extremes Lab (H-CEL), Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
Hylke E. Beck
Climate and Livability Initiative, Physical Sciences and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
Jonatan F. Siegmund
Ernst & Young GmbH, Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, Stuttgart, Germany
Camila Alvarez-Garreton
Center for Climate and Resilience Research, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Koen Verbist
UNESCO International Hydrological Programme, Paris, France
René Garreaud
Department of Geophysics, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Center for Climate and Resilience Research, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Juan Pablo Boisier
Department of Geophysics, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Center for Climate and Resilience Research, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Mauricio Galleguillos
Faculty of Engineering and Sciences, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago, Chile
Center for Climate and Resilience Research, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
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- A novel time-varying threshold level method for evaluating non-stationary hydrological drought M. Wang et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2025.133977
- Satellite-based land surface temperature and soil moisture observed during the 2023–2024 drought–heatwave events in the Amazon Basin V. Miranda et al. https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5295/ae2d89
- Investigating future climate change impacts on streamflow and drought characterization in the Arno River basin, Tuscany, Italy, using CMIP6 and SWAT+ modelling H. Talpur et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watcyc.2026.03.006
- Increasing water stress in Chile revealed by novel datasets of water availability, land use and water use J. Boisier et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-5185-2025
- Understanding meteorological, runoff, and agricultural drought propagation and their influencing factors in an ensemble of multiple datasets Y. Liu et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-30-2775-2026
- Future Streamflow and Hydrological Drought Under CMIP6 Climate Projections T. Liu et al. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos16060691
- Integrated Multi-scale Assessment of CHIRPS and PERSIANN-CDR for Meteorological, Agricultural, and Hydrological Drought Monitoring in Semi-arid Environments O. Laassilia et al. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41748-026-01120-8
- South by Southwest: Shifting Streamflow Drought in Catchments with an Intermittent Streamflow Regime in the Conterminous United States W. Choi & J. Choi https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2026.2681727
- New insights into 21st-century drought characteristics under climate change from CMIP6 multimodel ensemble analysis F. Khan https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-025-03096-9
- Integrating distributed hydrologic simulation with low-flow resilience: a spatiotemporal perspective Y. Zhou et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135112
- Areas with High Fractional Vegetation Cover in the Mu Us Desert (China) Are More Susceptible to Drought L. Miao et al. https://doi.org/10.3390/land14101932
- The coupled impacts of land management and climate variability on the hydrology of the Crocodile River Catchment in South Africa M. Nkosi & F. Mathivha https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2026.1751055
- Elevated vapor pressure deficit drives compound drought intensification across spatiotemporal scales Y. Pang et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2026.105552
- Development of a Novel Non-Stationary Daily Hydrological Drought Index C. Yu et al. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-026-04777-y
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- Meteorological to Hydrological Drought Propagation: the Role of Catchment Properties in Contrasting Climatic Regions T. Abraham et al. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-025-04485-z
- Spatial variation of flow regime in the Zap Basin (Türkiye): an analysis based on centroid timing (Ct) and seasonality index (SI) İ. Demirel https://doi.org/10.17714/gumusfenbil.1856195
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- A comparative analysis of the gridded and observed precipitation dataset for drought detection using the Standardized Precipitation Index E. Mwanga et al. https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2026.2664062
- Technical note: What does the Standardized Streamflow Index actually reflect? Insights and implications for hydrological drought analysis F. Lema et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1981-2025
- Meteorological to hydrological drought propagation: The influence of future climate change at grid scale T. Abraham et al. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-025-05963-5
- Assessing the Flood and Drought Regulation Capacity of Dams in a Changing Climate: An Application to the Largest Hydropower Dam in Africa T. Abraham et al. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41748-025-00815-8
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- Spatiotemporal dynamics of drought and wet extremes across Gujarat's agro-climatic zones: Insights from multi-index analysis and return period modelling V. Tyagi & M. Resmi https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egycc.2026.100257
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- HYD-RESPONSES: daily hydro-meteorological catchment-level time series to analyse HYDrological drought dynamics in RESPONSE to (cumulative) water deficits in Swiss catchments C. von Matt et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-4113-2026
- Spatiotemporal Dynamics and Lagged Hydrological Impacts of Compound Drought and Heatwave Events in the Poyang Lake Basin N. Li et al. https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology13010016
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- Storylines of summer streamflow droughts in western Canadian watersheds: historical attribution and future projections R. Shrestha & A. Cannon https://doi.org/10.1038/s44304-026-00204-9
- Distributed Composite Drought Index Based on Principal Component Analysis and Temporal Dependence Assessment J. Santos et al. https://doi.org/10.3390/w17010017
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- Distinguishing drought and flash drought: definitions, processes, and consequences A. Sabut et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135851
- An extension of the logistic function to account for nonstationary drought losses T. Zhao et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-2429-2025
Saved (final revised paper)
Latest update: 21 Jul 2026
Short summary
Various drought indices exist, but there is no consensus on which index to use to assess streamflow droughts. This study addresses meteorological, soil moisture, and snow indices along with their temporal scales to assess streamflow drought across hydrologically diverse catchments. Using data from 100 Chilean catchments, findings suggest that there is not a single drought index that can be used for all catchments and that snow-influenced areas require drought indices with larger temporal scales.
Various drought indices exist, but there is no consensus on which index to use to assess...