Dai, A., K. E. Trenberth, and T. Qian, 2004: A global data set of Palmer Drought Severity Index for 1870-2002: Relationship with soil moisture and effects of surface warming. J. Hydrometeorology, 5, 1117-1130.
These data consist of the monthly PDSI over global land areas from 1870 to 2003 (updated to 2005 on Nov 7, 2006) derived using monthly surface air temperature (from Jones and Moberg 2003 and updates) and precipitation (from Dai et al. 1997 before 1948 and Chen et al. 2002 for 1948- present) data.
The PDSI data (binary file,
text file,
netCDF file)
and the associated README
file may be obtained by click on the links. To validate the data,
compare the PDSI
maps for January 1950 and 2002.
Temporal (left, black) and spatial (right) patterns of the two leading
EOFs of the monthly PDSI (normalized by its standard deviation prior to
the EOF analysis). Red (blue) areas are dry (wet) for a positive
temporal coefficient. Also shown in the left-lower panel (red) is the
Darwin mean sea level pressure shifted to the right by six months to
obtain the maximum correlation (r=0.62). Variations on < 2 year time
scales were filtered out in the left panels. The percentage variance
explained is shown on the top of the left panels. (From Dai et al.
2004)
REFERENCES:
Chen, M., P. Xie, J.E. Janowiak, and P.A. Arkin, 2002: Global land precipitation: a 50-yr monthly analysis based on gauge observations. J. Hydrometeorol., 3, 249-266.
Dai, A., I. Fung, and A. D. Del Genio, 1997: Surface observed global land precipitation variations during 1900-1988. J. Climate, 10, 2943-2962.
Dai, A., K. E. Trenberth, and T. Karl, 1998: Global variations in droughts and wet spells: 1900-1995. Geophys. Res. Lett., 25, 3367-3370.
Dai, A., K. E. Trenberth, and T. Qian, 2004: A global data set of Palmer Drought Severity Index for 1870-2002: Relationship with soil moisture and effects of surface warming. J. Hydrometeorol., in press.
Jones, P.D., and A. Moberg, 2003: Hemispheric and large-scale surface air temperature variations: An extensive revision and an update to 2001. J. Climate, 16, 206-223.
Palmer, W. C, 1965: Meteorological Drought. Res. Paper No.45, 58pp., Dept. of Commerce, Washington, D.C.
Webb, R. S., C. E. Rosenzweig, and E. R. Levine, 1993: Specifying land surface characteristics in general circulation models: soil profile dataset and derived water-holding capacities. Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 7, 97-108.
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