Temporal and Spatial Evolution Characteristics of Drought Under Climate Change
A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water and Climate Change".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 December 2026 | Viewed by 118
Editors
Interests: drought assessment; drought monitoring; drought propagation; remote sensing; extreme precipitation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: drought monitoring; drought prediction; drought propagation; hydrological model; carbon cycling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Drought exhibits significant temporal and spatial evolution characteristics across global land surfaces under climate change. Temporally, drought frequency, duration, and severity have increased, and there has been a rising trend in flash droughts driven by intensified evapotranspiration and precipitation deficits, with significant interannual and interdecadal variability. Spatially, drought expansion and intensification are most pronounced in mid-latitude semi-arid and arid regions, the Mediterranean, East Asia, and parts of Africa and Australia, while humid zones also experience elevated drought risks, which leads to strong spatial heterogeneity in drought propagation and transition patterns. Overall, climate warming heightens the water cycle imbalance and thus reshapes the spatiotemporal distribution of drought, increasing the likelihood of concurrent droughts across multiple regions.
We are therefore pleased to announce the launch of a Special Issue titled “Temporal and Spatial Evolution Characteristics of Drought Under Climate Change”, which aims to systematically gather cutting-edge research results on the occurrence, development, spatiotemporal dynamics, evolution laws, and driving mechanisms of drought events under global climate change. This Special Issue hopes to promote academic exchanges and share achievements in the fields of drought monitoring and early warning, evolution simulation, disaster assessment, and response strategies, and to provide theoretical support and a scientific basis for drought disaster prevention and control, water resource security, and regional sustainable development under climate change.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Temporal and spatial evolution patterns and long‑term trends of drought under climate change;
- Driving mechanisms of drought evolution, including climate warming, precipitation variability, circulation patterns, and human activities;
- Drought monitoring indices, identification approaches, multi‑source data application, and assessment methods;
- Drought propagation processes, drought–flood abrupt alternation, and regional teleconnection characteristics;
- Impacts of drought on the hydrological cycle, water resources, agricultural production, and ecosystem stability;
- Drought risk assessment, early warning systems, adaptation strategies, and disaster prevention countermeasures.
Dr. Fei Wang
Dr. Kai Feng
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- droughts indicators
- drought propagation
- spatiotemporal evolution
- remote sensing
- drought mitigation strategies
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