Drought Variability over the Conterminous United States for the Past Century

We examine the drought variability over the conterminous United States (CONUS) for 1915-2018 using the Noah-MP land surface model. We examine different model options on drought reconstruction, including optional representation of groundwater and dynamic vegetation phenology. Over our 104-yr reconstruction period, we identify 12 great droughts that each covered at least 36% of CONUS and lasted for at least 5 months. The great droughts tend to have smaller areas when groundwater and/or dynamic vegetation are included in the model configuration. We detect a small decreasing trend in dry area coverage over CONUS in all configurations. We identify 45 major droughts in the baseline (with a dry area coverage greater than 23.6% of CONUS) that are, on average, somewhat less severe than great droughts. We find that representation of groundwater tends to increase drought duration for both great and major droughts, primarily by leading to earlier drought onset (some due to short-lived recovery from a previous drought) or later demise (groundwater anomalies lag precipitation anomalies). In contrast, representation of dynamic vegetation tends to shorten major droughts duration, primarily due to earlier drought demise (closed stoma or dead vegetation reduces ET loss during droughts). On a regional basis, the U.S. Southwest (Southeast) has the longest (shortest) major drought durations. Consistent with earlier work, dry area coverage in all subregions except the Southwest has decreased. The effects of groundwater and dynamic vegetation vary regionally due to differences in groundwater depths (hence connectivity with the surface) and vegetation types.

Automated summary

The study examined the drought variability over the conterminous United States using the Noah-MP land surface model and found that the representation of groundwater and dynamic vegetation had different effects on drought reconstruction. Different model configurations showed a small decreasing trend in dry area coverage over CONUS, with representation of groundwater tending to increase drought duration and dynamic vegetation tending to shorten major droughts duration. Regional variations were observed, with the U.S. Southwest having the longest major drought durations and other subregions showing a decrease in dry area coverage.