The 2022 extreme drought in the Yangtze River Basin: Characteristics, causes and response strategies
Miaomiao Ma
Department of Drought Mitigation and Policy Research, Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorYanping Qu
Department of Drought Mitigation and Policy Research, Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Juan Lyu
Department of Drought Mitigation and Policy Research, Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Correspondence Juan Lyu, Department of Drought Mitigation and Policy Research, Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing 100038, China.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorXuejun Zhang
Department of Drought Mitigation and Policy Research, Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorZhicheng Su
Department of Drought Mitigation and Policy Research, Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorHui Gao
Department of Drought Mitigation and Policy Research, Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorXiaojing Yang
Department of Drought Mitigation and Policy Research, Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorXixi Chen
Department of Drought Mitigation and Policy Research, Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorTianliang Jiang
Department of Drought Mitigation and Policy Research, Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorJiexiang Zhang
Department of Drought Mitigation and Policy Research, Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Department of Hydrology and Water Resources, Faculty of Hydrology and Water Resources, Hohai University, Nanjing, China
Search for more papers by this authorMengyan Shen
Department of Drought Mitigation and Policy Research, Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorZhe Wang
Department of Drought Mitigation and Policy Research, Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Department of Hydrological Sciences, Faculty of Hydrology Sciences and Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
Search for more papers by this authorMiaomiao Ma
Department of Drought Mitigation and Policy Research, Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorYanping Qu
Department of Drought Mitigation and Policy Research, Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Juan Lyu
Department of Drought Mitigation and Policy Research, Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Correspondence Juan Lyu, Department of Drought Mitigation and Policy Research, Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing 100038, China.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorXuejun Zhang
Department of Drought Mitigation and Policy Research, Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorZhicheng Su
Department of Drought Mitigation and Policy Research, Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorHui Gao
Department of Drought Mitigation and Policy Research, Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorXiaojing Yang
Department of Drought Mitigation and Policy Research, Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorXixi Chen
Department of Drought Mitigation and Policy Research, Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorTianliang Jiang
Department of Drought Mitigation and Policy Research, Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorJiexiang Zhang
Department of Drought Mitigation and Policy Research, Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Department of Hydrology and Water Resources, Faculty of Hydrology and Water Resources, Hohai University, Nanjing, China
Search for more papers by this authorMengyan Shen
Department of Drought Mitigation and Policy Research, Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Search for more papers by this authorZhe Wang
Department of Drought Mitigation and Policy Research, Research Center on Flood and Drought Disaster Reduction of the Ministry of Water Resources, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China
Department of Hydrological Sciences, Faculty of Hydrology Sciences and Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
An extreme drought occurred in the Yangtze River Basin in 2022, inflicting huge impacts nationwide. To provide a reference for drought prevention and mitigation, this paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the drought in the Yangtze River Basin in terms of its characteristics, causes, impacts, and response strategies. It concludes that this extreme drought stood out by its long duration, wide impact range, and severe intensity, as a combined result of abnormal high-temperature weather and massive social water consumption. Serious impacts are observed in various fields of the economy, including agricultural irrigation, urban and rural water supply, power generation, and navigation. Finally, drought mitigation measures and effects are examined, and future drought response and mitigation strategies are proposed.
Open Research
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
REFERENCES
- Bevacqua, E., Zappa, G., Lehner, F., & Zscheischler, J. (2022). Precipitation trends determine future occurrences of compound hot–dry events. Nature Climate Change, 12(4), 350–355. https://doi.org/10.1038/S41558-022-01309-5
- Chen, G. N. (2022). China is a sensitive area for global climate change. Ecological Economy, 38(10), 9–12 (in Chinese).
- Chen, Y. (2022). Awareness of the Yangtze River Basin as a sensitive zone to global climate change. Shanghai Science and Technology News, 001 (in Chinese).
- Feng, B. F., Qiu, H., & Ji, G. L. (2022). Characteristics and causes of meteorological drought over Changjiang River Basin in summer of 2022. Yangtze River, pp. 1–13 (Chinese version).
- Hayes, M., Svoboda, M., Wall, N., & Widhalm, M. (2011). The Lincoln declaration on drought indices: Universal meteorological drought index recommended. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 92(4), 485–488.
- Huo, S. Y. (2022). The Yangtze River Basin was hit by the worst drought in 61 years. Grand View Park of Science, 42(18), 14–21 (in Chinese).
- Ionita, M., Tallaksen, L. M., Kingston, D. G., Stagge, J. H., Laaha, G., Van Lanen, H. A. J., Scholz, P., Chelcea, S. M., & Haslinger, K. (2017). The European 2015 drought from a climatological perspective. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 21(3), 1397–1419. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1397-2017
- Jin, J. X., Xiao, Y. Y., Jin, J. L., Zhu, Q. A., Yong, B., & Ji, Y. Y. (2021). Temporal and spatial variations of extreme hydrometeorological events and their effects on vegetation in the Yangtze River Basin. Advances in Water Science, 32(6), 867–876 (in Chinese).
- Liu, Y. B., Zhao, X. S., & Wu, G. P. (2014). A preliminary analysis on the causes of frequent extreme drought events in Poyang Lake region in the last decade. Resources and Environment in the Yangtze Basin 23(1), 131–138 (in Chinese).
- Ma, M., Lv, J., Su, Z., Hannaford, J., Sun, H., Qu, Y., Xing, Z., Barker, L., & Wang, Y. (2020). Linking drought indices to impacts in the Liaoning Province of China. Proceedings of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences, 383, 267–272. https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-383-267-2020
10.5194/piahs-383-267-2020 Google Scholar
- Mcfeeters, S. K. (1996). The use of the normalized difference water index (NDWI) in the delineation of open water features. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 17(7), 1425–1432. https://doi.org/10.1080/01431169608948714
- Mei, X. Y. (2022). High temperature and drought are more likely to be temporary phenomenon rather than long-term trend. Grand View Park of Science, 42(18), 38–41 (in Chinese).
- Mukherjee, S., & Mishra, A. K. (2021). Increase in compound drought and heatwaves in a warming world. Geophysical Research Letters, 48, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL090617
- Nam, W. H., Hayes, M. J., Svoboda, M. D., Tadesse, T., & Wilhite, D. A. (2015). Drought hazard assessment in the context of climate change for South Korea. Agricultural Water Management, 160, 106–117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2015.06.029
- OhIsson, L. (2000). Water conflicts and social resource scarcity. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Part B: Hydrology, Oceans and Atmosphere, 25(3), 213–220. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1464-1909(00)00006-X
10.1016/S1464-1909(00)00006-X Google Scholar
- Ran, Y., Zhong, M., Chen, W., Zhong, Y., & Feng, W. (2021). Monitoring the extreme drought in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in 2019 from GRACE-FO satellites. Chinese Science Bulletin, 66(1), 107–117 (Chinese).
10.1360/TB-2020-0375 Google Scholar
- Song, F., Trnka, M., Hayes, M., & Zhang, Y. J. (2016). Why do different drought indices show distinct future drought risk outcomes in the U.S. Great Plains. Journal of Climate, 30, 265–278. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0590.1
- Sun, B., Wang, H. J., Huang, Y. Y., Yin, Z. C., Zhou, B. T., & Duan, M. J. (2022). Characteristics and causes of the hot-dry climate anomalies in China during summer of 2022. Transactions of Atmospheric Sciences, 45, 1–9 (in Chinese).
- Wilhite, D. A., Svoboda, M. D., & Hayes, M. J. (2007). Understanding the complex impacts of drought: A key to enhancing drought mitigation and preparedness. Water Resources Management, 21(5), 763–774. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-006-9076-5
- Xu, J. F., Deng, Z. Y., & Chen, M. (2006). A summary of studying on characteristics of high temperature and heat wave damage in China. Journal of Arid Meteorology, 27(2), 163–167 (Chinese).
- Zhang, Q. (2022). Scientific interpretation of “Major drought in the Yangtze River Basin in 2022”. Journal of Arid Meteorology, 65(4), 545–548 (Chinese).
