Tracking 3D Drought Events Across Global River Basins: Climatology, Spatial Footprint, and Temporal Changes

Abstract Understanding the spatial and temporal patterns of drought is essential for mitigating drought‐induced impacts. To date, less attention is paid to drought characterization and changes across global river basins within a 3D clustering drought identification framework. Here, we characterized drought events across 59 global river basins during 1979–2020 based on standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index and a three‐dimensional clustering method, together with exploration of relationships between drought indicators. The results show that drought characteristics did not change significantly over time in most basins, but the frequency tended to decrease in the Middle East and North Africa and showed increase at high latitudes. Droughts in Amazon, Nile and La Plata basins are severer than other basins with higher severities on the whole. Moreover, for most all basins, drought affected area and severity both increased with duration.