Woodland Restoration Plot Network: Climatic Drought Index Data, Western Sydney Parklands (Western Sydney Regional Park), Australia, 1887-2014

The Woodland Restoration Plot Network Drought data package contains Hutchinson’s Drought Indices calculated for the Prospect Reservoir, a location in close proximity of the Woodland Restoration Plot Network plots. The Hutchinson climatic drought indices were invented by Professor Michael Hutchinson at the Australian National University in 1992. Professor Hutchinson designed two indices to reflect the duration and the severity of agricultural droughts using precipitation data. Professor Hutchinson subsequently collaborated with Mr Ivan Hanigan at LTERN to extend the drought indices with new methods, and a computer program was written to compute the indices using a range of climatic data sources. The Woodland Restoration Plot Network Drought data package was created from three different data sources: 1) the Bureau of Meteorology Station data 1887-2014, 2) the Australian Water Availability Project’s gridded climate data 1900-2014 and 3) the TERN EMAST gridded climate data 1970-2012. The project conducted a comparative analysis of the different climatic data sources, which differ in terms of their temporal extent and spatial resolution. A synopsis of related data packages which have been collected as part of the Woodland Restoration Plot Network’s full program is provided at http://www.ltern.org.au/index.php/ltern-plot-networks/woodland-restoration

林地恢复样地网络干旱数据集（Woodland Restoration Plot Network Drought data package）包含为普罗斯佩克特水库（Prospect Reservoir）计算得到的哈钦森干旱指数（Hutchinson’s Drought Indices），该水库紧邻林地恢复样地网络的研究样地。
哈钦森气候干旱指数（Hutchinson climatic drought indices）由澳大利亚国立大学的迈克尔·哈钦森教授于1992年提出。哈钦森教授利用降水数据设计了两类指数，用以表征农业干旱的持续时长与严重程度。后续，哈钦森教授与LTERN的伊万·哈尼根先生合作，采用新方法拓展了该干旱指数体系，并研发了计算机程序以基于多套气候数据源计算该指数。
本数据集整合自三类不同数据源：1）1887-2014年澳大利亚气象局（Bureau of Meteorology）站网观测数据；2）1900-2014年澳大利亚水资源可利用项目（Australian Water Availability Project）网格化气候数据；3）1970-2012年TERN EMAST网格化气候数据。
本项目针对不同气候数据源开展了对比分析，这些数据源在时间覆盖范围与空间分辨率上存在差异。
林地恢复样地网络完整项目所收集的相关数据集概览，可通过以下链接获取：http://www.ltern.org.au/index.php/ltern-plot-networks/woodland-restoration