CHM_Drought: A New High-Resolution Multi-Drought Indices Dataset for Mainland China

CHM_Drought,an innovative and comprehensive long-term meteorological drought dataset with a spatial resolution of 0.1° and data collected from 1961 to 2022 in mainland China. It features six pivotal meteorological drought indices: the standardized precipitation index (SPI), standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI), evaporative demand drought index (EDDI), Palmer drought severity index (PDSI), self-calibrating Palmer drought severity index (SC-PDSI), and vapor pressure deficit (VPD), of which SPI, SPEI, and EDDI contain multi-scale features for periods of 2 weeks and 1–12 months.

The dataset features a comprehensive application of high-density meteorological station data and a complete framework starting from basic meteorological elements (the China Hydro-Meteorology dataset, CHM).

Global attributes:

· Variable = SPEI-xx, SPI-xx, EDDI-xx, PDSI, SC-PDSI, VPD

· Date format = NetCDF

· Temporal Range = 1961-01-01 to 2022-12-31

· Spatial Resolution = 0.1 degree

· Spatial extent = 18°N–54°N, 72°E–136°E

· Missing value = NA

References:1. Zhang, Q., Miao, C., Su, J., Gou, J., Hu, J., Zhao, X., & Xu, Y. (2025). A new high-resolution multi-drought-index dataset for mainland China. Earth System Science Data, 17(3), 837–853. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-837-2025

2. Hu, J., Miao, C., Su, J., Zhang, Q., Gou, J., and Sun, Q.: A new upgraded high-precision gridded precipitation dataset considering spatiotemporal and physical correlations for mainland China, Earth System Science Data Discussions. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-20, in review, 2025.

3. Han, J., Miao, C., Gou, J., Zheng, H., Zhang, Q., & Guo, X. (2023). A new daily gridded precipitation dataset for the Chinese mainland based on gauge observations. Earth System Science Data, 15(7), 3147–3161. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3147-2023