A multi-timescale daily drought dataset over Qinghai-Tibet Plateau from 1981 to 2022

Based on reanalysis meteorological data, this study developed a daily time-series dataset of the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) for the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau spanning 1981 to 2022. The dataset covers four timescales of 30, 90, 180, and 360 days, with a spatial resolution of 0.1° × 0.1°. The dataset consists of 8 files in total and are named in the format “TP-DroughtIndex-DD.nc”, where DroughtIndex refers to either SPI or SPEI, and DD denotes the accumulation timescale (30, 90, 180, or 360 days).Validation results demonstrate that the dataset is highly accurate and effectively reflects the occurrence, duration, and intensity characteristics of drought events across different timescales. This dataset is in NetCDF file format and can be read, displayed, viewed, and statistically analyzed using software such as MATLAB, Python, R, and QGIS.