Articles | Volume 29, issue 23
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-6917-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-6917-2025
Research article
 | 
02 Dec 2025
Research article |  | 02 Dec 2025

Global observations of land-atmosphere interactions during flash drought

Bethan L. Harris, Christopher M. Taylor, Wouter Dorigo, Ruxandra-Maria Zotta, Darren Ghent, and Iván Noguera

Data sets

ESA Soil Moisture Climate Change Initiative (Soil_Moisture_cci): COMBINED product, Version 08.1 W. Dorigo et al. https://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/6f99cdb86a9e4d3da2d47c79612c00a2

CERES and GEO-Enhanced TOA, Within-Atmosphere and Surface Fluxes, Clouds and Aerosols Daily Terra Edition4A NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC https://doi.org/10.5067/TERRA/CERES/SYN1DEGDAY_L3.004A

CERES and GEO-Enhanced TOA, Within-Atmosphere and Surface Fluxes, Clouds and Aerosols Daily Terra-Aqua Edition4A NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC https://doi.org/10.5067/Terra+Aqua/CERES/SYN1degDay_L3.004A

ESA Land Surface Temperature Climate Change Initiative (LST_cci): All-weather MicroWave Land Surface Temperature (MW-LST) global data record (1996-2020), v2.33 C. Jimenez and C. Prigent https://doi.org/10.5285/a7e811fe11d34df5abac6f18c920bbeb

ERA5 hourly data on single levels from 1940 to present C3S https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.adbb2d47

Land cover classification gridded maps from 1992 to present derived from satellite observations C3S https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.006f2c9a

VODCA v2: Multi-sensor, multi-frequency vegetation optical depth data for long-term canopy dynamics and biomass monitoring (Version 1.0.0) R.-M. Zotta et al. https://doi.org/10.48436/t74ty-tcx62

GPM IMERG final precipitation L3 1 day 0.1 degree x 0.1 degree v06 G. Huffman et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/GPM/IMERGDF/DAY/06

Downscaled GOME2 SIF G. Duveiller et al. https://doi.org/10.2905/21935FFC-B797-4BEE-94DA-8FEC85B3F9E1

Model code and software

Code for "Global observations of land-atmosphere interactions during flash drought" Bethan L. Harris https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16876864

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Short summary
An improved understanding of land-atmosphere coupling processes during flash (rapid-onset) droughts is needed to aid the development of forecasts for these events. We use satellite observations to investigate the surface energy budget during flash droughts globally. The most intense events show a perturbed surface energy budget months before onset. In some regions, vegetation observations 1–2 months before onset provide information on the likelihood of heat extremes during an event.
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