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DROUGHT INDICES
Self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index (scPDSI)

Quick links : Global 0.5° 1901-2022 : Europe 5° 1750-2003 : Alps 10' 1800-2003

The scPDSI metric was introduced by Wells et al. (2004), who give detailed information about its calculation. The scPDSI is a variant on the original PDSI of Palmer (1965), with the aim to make results from different climate regimes more comparable. As with the PDSI, the scPDSI is calculated from time series of precipitation and temperature, together with fixed parameters related to the soil/surface characteristics at each location.

For Europe (van der Schrier et al., 2006a) and North America (van der Schrier et al., 2006b), we calculated the scPDSI values using as input the interpolated fields of monthly precipitation and temperature observations available in the CRU high-resolution surface climate data set CRU TS 2.1 (Mitchell and Jones, 2005). These span the period 1901-2002 and are on a resolution of 0.5° longitude by 0.5° latitude. These regional datasets have been superseded by the global land scPDSI on the same 0.5° grid (van der Schrier et al., 2013), calculated using a preliminary version of the CRU TS 3.23 high-resolution monthly climate data set (Harris et al., 2014). These have then been updated each year using newer versions of CRU TS input data, currently to the end of 2022 using a preliminary version of CRU TS 4.07.

For the European Alps region (van der Schrier et al., 2007), we have calculated the scPDSI values using as input the interpolated fields of monthly precipitation and temperature observations published by Efthymiadis et al. (2006). These span the period 1800-2003 and are on a resolution of 10 minutes longitude by 10 minute latitude.

Funding and support

These data sets and their associated papers were produced with funding from a variety of sources, especially UK NERC (under the Rapid Climate Change programme, grant NER/T/S/2002/00440) and NCAS (the NERC-funded National Centre for Atmospheric Science). Additional support for co-authors was provided by: the European Commission under the SO&P project (EVK2-CT-2002-00160) for Europe and North America; by the European Commission under the ALP-IMP project (EVK2-CT-2002-00148) for European Alps; by NOAA (NAO30AR4320179) for North America; by NERC (NE/G018863/1), European Commission (EURO4M, FP7/20072013-242093) and Chilean Government (CONICYT) for the original global version; by NERC (SMURPHS, NE/N006348/1) for the 2015 global update; and by (CR)2 Chile (CONICYT/FONDAP/15110009) and NERC (Belmont Forum/JPI-Climate INTEGRATE project, NE/P006809/1) for the 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 global updates; and by Chile FONDECYT (grant 1181956), UK NERC (GloSAT project NE/S015582/1) and UK NCAS for the 2020, 2021 and 2022 global updates.

Quick links : Global 0.5° 1901-2021 : Europe 5° 1750-2003 : Alps 10' 1800-2003


scPDSI for global land (1901-present using CRU TS, 0.5° lat-lon resolution)

Latest version

Period CRU TS version README Data Size
1901-2022 Preliminary 4.07 README
see note about the effect of limited data coverage
gzip'd netCDF file 208 MB

Previous versions

Period CRU TS version README Data Size
1901-2021 Preliminary 4.06 README gzip'd netCDF file 204 MB
1901-2020 Preliminary 4.05 README gzip'd netCDF file 209 MB
1901-2019 Preliminary 4.04 README gzip'd netCDF file 203 MB
1901-2018 Preliminary 4.03 README gzip'd netCDF file 201 MB
1901-2017 Preliminary 3.26 README gzip'd netCDF file 202 MB
1901-2016 Preliminary 3.25 README gzip'd netCDF file
gzip'd text file
217 MB
3.6 GB
1901-2015 Preliminary 3.24 README gzip'd netCDF file 194 MB

When using these data, please cite:

(1901-2021 update) Barichivich J, Osborn TJ, Harris I, van der Schrier G and Jones PD (2022) Monitoring global drought using the self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index [in “State of the Climate in 2021“]. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 103 (8), S31–S33, (https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-22-0092.1).

(1901-2020 update) Barichivich J, Osborn TJ, Harris I, van der Schrier G and Jones PD (2021) Monitoring global drought using the self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index [in "State of the Climate in 2020" eds. Dunn RJH, Aldred F, Gobron N, Miller JB & Willett KM]. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 102, S68-S70. (https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-21-0098.1)

(1901-2019 update) Barichivich J, Osborn TJ, Harris I, van der Schrier G and Jones PD (2020) Drought [in "State of the Climate in 2019"]. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 101, S1-S429. (doi:10.1175/2020BAMSStateoftheClimate.1)

(1901-2018 update) Barichivich J, Osborn TJ, Harris I, van der Schrier G and Jones PD (2018) Drought [in "State of the Climate in 2018"]. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 100, S1-S306. (doi:10.1175/2019BAMSStateoftheClimate.1)

(1901-2017 update) Osborn TJ, Barichivich J, Harris I, van der Schrier G and Jones PD (2018) Drought [in "State of the Climate in 2017"]. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 99, S36-S37. (doi:10.1175/2018BAMSStateoftheClimate.1)

(1901-2016 update) Osborn TJ, Barichivich J, Harris I, van der Schrier G and Jones PD (2017) Monitoring global drought using the self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index [in "State of the Climate in 2016"]. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 98, S32-S33 (doi:10.1175/2017BAMSStateoftheClimate.1) (available here).

(1901-2015 update) Osborn TJ, Barichivich J, Harris I, van der Schrier G and Jones PD (2016) Monitoring global drought using the self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index [in "State of the Climate in 2015"]. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 97, S32-S36 (available here).



(Click for larger image)

See Barichivich et al. (2022) for more details



(Click for larger image)

See Barichivich et al. (2022) for more details


scPDSI for Europe (1750-2003, 5° lat-lon resolution and 22 stations)

When using these data, please cite:

Briffa KR, van der Schrier G and Jones PD (2009) Wet and dry summers in Europe since 1750: evidence of increasing drought. International Journal of Climatology 29, 1894-1905 (DOI: 10.1002/joc.1836).


Click for larger image


scPDSI for Europe (1901-2002, 0.5° lat-lon resolution)

These data have been superseded by the global 0.5°-resolution scPDSI

When using these data, please cite:

van der Schrier G, Briffa KR, Jones PD and Osborn TJ (2006a) Summer moisture variability across Europe. Journal of Climate 19, 2818-2834 (doi:10.1175/JCLI3734.1).


scPDSI for North America (1901-2002, 0.5° lat-lon resolution)

These data have been superseded by the global 0.5°-resolution scPDSI

When using these data, please cite:

van der Schrier G, Briffa KR, Osborn TJ and Cook ER (2006b) Summer moisture availability across North America. Journal of Geophysical Research 111, D11102 (doi:10.1029/2005JD006745).


scPDSI for European Alps (1800-2003, 10-minute lat-lon resolution)

When using these data, please cite:

van der Schrier G, Efthymiadis D, Briffa KR and Jones PD (2007) European Alpine moisture variability for 1800-2003. International Journal of Climatology 27, 415-427 (doi:10.1002/joc.1411).


References

Barichivich J, Osborn TJ, Harris I, van der Schrier G and Jones PD (2020) Drought [in "State of the Climate in 2019"]. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 101, S1-S429. (doi:10.1175/2020BAMSStateoftheClimate.1)

Efthymiadis D, Jones PD, Briffa KR, Auer I, Bohm R, Schoner W, Frei C, Schmidli J (2006) Construction of a 10-min-gridded precipitation dataset for the Greater Alpine Region 1800-2003. Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres 111, D01105 (doi:10.1029/2005JD006120).

Harris I, Jones PD, Osborn TJ and Lister DH (2014) Updated high-resolution grids of monthly climatic observations - the CRU TS3.10 dataset. International Journal of Climatology 34, 623-642 (doi:10.1002/joc.3711).

Harris, I., Osborn, T.J., Jones, P. et al. Version 4 of the CRU TS monthly high-resolution gridded multivariate climate dataset. Sci Data 7, 109 (2020). (doi:10.1038/s41597-020-0453-3).

Mitchell TD and Jones PD (2005) An improved method of constructing a database of monthly climate observations and associated high-resolution grids. International Journal of Climatology 25, 693-712 (doi:10.1002/joc.1181).

Osborn TJ, Barichivich J, Harris I, van der Schrier G and Jones PD (2016) Monitoring global drought using the self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index [in "State of the Climate in 2015"]. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 97, S32-S36 (available here).

Osborn TJ, Barichivich J, Harris I, van der Schrier G and Jones PD (2017) Monitoring global drought using the self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index [in "State of the Climate in 2016"]. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 98, S32-S33 (doi:10.1175/2017BAMSStateoftheClimate.1).

Osborn TJ, Barichivich J, Harris I, van der Schrier G and Jones PD (2018) Drought [in "State of the Climate in 2017"]. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 99, S36-S37. (doi:10.1175/2018BAMSStateoftheClimate.1).

Palmer WC (1965) Meteorological drought. Weather Bureau Paper 45, US Dept. of Commerce, Washington D.C.

van der Schrier G, Briffa KR, Jones PD and Osborn TJ (2006a) Summer moisture variability across Europe. Journal of Climate 19, 2818-2834 (doi:10.1175/JCLI3734.1).

van der Schrier G, Briffa KR, Osborn TJ and Cook ER (2006b) Summer moisture availability across North America. Journal of Geophysical Research 111, D11102 (doi:10.1029/2005JD006745).

van der Schrier G, Efthymiadis D, Briffa KR and Jones PD (2007) European Alpine moisture variability for 1800-2003. International Journal of Climatology 27, 415-427 (doi:10.1002/joc.1411).

van der Schrier G, Barichivich J, Briffa KR and Jones PD (2013) A scPDSI-based global data set of dry and wet spells for 1901-2009. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 118, 4025-4048 (10.1002/jgrd.50355).

van der Schrier G, Barichivich J, Harris I, Jones PD and Osborn TJ (2015) Monitoring global drought using the self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index [in "State of the Climate in 2014"]. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 96, S30-S31 (available here).

Wells N, Goddard S and Hayes MJ (2004) A self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index. Journal of Climate 17, 2335-2351 (doi:10.1175/1520-0442(2004)017<2335:ASPDSI>2.0.CO;2).

License

These datasets are made available under the Open Database License. Any rights in individual contents of the datasets are licensed under the Database Contents License under the conditions of Attribution and Share-Alike.

Please use the attribution Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia

Updated: September 2023, Ian Harris