Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
HESS
Articles | Volume 29, issue 20
Articles | Volume 29, issue 20
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-5555-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-5555-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Articles | Volume 29, issue 20
Research article
 | 
28 Oct 2025
Research article |  | 28 Oct 2025

Historical trends of seasonal droughts in Australia

Matthew O. Grant, Anna M. Ukkola, Elisabeth Vogel, Sanaa Hobeichi, Andy J. Pitman, Alex Raymond Borowiak, and Keirnan Fowler

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-5555-2025-supplement

Data sets

Australian Gridded Climate Data (AGCD) v1.0.0/Australian Water Availability Project (AWAP) Australian Bureau of Meteorology https://doi.org/10.25914/6009600b58196

The Bureau of Meteorology’s National Hydrological Projection data collection on changes to Australia's hydrological water balance Australian Bureau of Meteorology https://doi.org/10.25914/6130680dc5a51

CAMELS-AUS v2: updated hydrometeorological timeseries and landscape attributes for an enlarged set of catchments in Australia (2.03) K. Fowler et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14289037

Model code and software

MattGrant1998/AUS_historical_drought_trends: Historical trends of seasonal droughts in Australia - Analysis code (1.0) MattGrant1998 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17290804

Download
Short summary
Australia is regularly subjected to severe and widespread drought. By using multiple drought indicators, we show that although there have been widespread decreases in droughts since the beginning of the 20th century, many regions have seen an increase in droughts in more recent decades. Despite these changes, our analysis shows that they remain within the range of observed variability and are not unprecedented in the context of past droughts.
Read more
Share