Spatiotemporal Patterns of Drought Migration Across the Contiguous United States
Abstract Drought phenomena exhibit three‐dimensional spatiotemporal propagation patterns, often impacting vast regions and lasting for extended periods. Quantifying these spatial and temporal dynamics is essential for understanding their progression and underlying causes. However, there is a lack of...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Water Resources Research |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2024WR039855 |
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| author | Amitesh Sabut Ashok Mishra Dara Entekhabi |
| author_facet | Amitesh Sabut Ashok Mishra Dara Entekhabi |
| author_sort | Amitesh Sabut |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Drought phenomena exhibit three‐dimensional spatiotemporal propagation patterns, often impacting vast regions and lasting for extended periods. Quantifying these spatial and temporal dynamics is essential for understanding their progression and underlying causes. However, there is a lack of studies investigating the spatiotemporal progression and migration of major drought events. In this study, we employed the Spatio‐temporal Density‐Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (ST‐DBSCAN) clustering method to identify significant drought events across the Contiguous United States (CONUS) from 1901 to 2022. This algorithm effectively identifies clusters of arbitrary shapes within a specified three‐dimensional space. By tracking the centroids of these drought clusters, we analyzed the progressive development and migration pathways of these events. Our findings indicate that the Great Plains region acts as a key migration corridor, experiencing a higher frequency of drought events compared to other areas in the CONUS. We observed that droughts can travel hundreds of kilometers, gradually intensifying before eventually dissipating. Moreover, a significant linear relationship exists between migration distances and the duration of droughts. Moreover, over 77% of the analyzed drought events exhibited notable spatial shifts, suggesting that the majority of these events migrated across different regions instead of staying confined to a single area. Furthermore, we identified two primary migration patterns for these drought clusters: eastward and westward movements. These findings offer crucial spatiotemporal frameworks for studying the migration process and provide valuable insights for predicting drought occurrences. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c01db5ed58f147c5863863d5a2416f0b |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0043-1397 1944-7973 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Water Resources Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-c01db5ed58f147c5863863d5a2416f0b2025-08-20T03:31:40ZengWileyWater Resources Research0043-13971944-79732025-06-01616n/an/a10.1029/2024WR039855Spatiotemporal Patterns of Drought Migration Across the Contiguous United StatesAmitesh Sabut0Ashok Mishra1Dara Entekhabi2Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Texas A&M University College Station TX USAZachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Texas A&M University College Station TX USADepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge MA USAAbstract Drought phenomena exhibit three‐dimensional spatiotemporal propagation patterns, often impacting vast regions and lasting for extended periods. Quantifying these spatial and temporal dynamics is essential for understanding their progression and underlying causes. However, there is a lack of studies investigating the spatiotemporal progression and migration of major drought events. In this study, we employed the Spatio‐temporal Density‐Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (ST‐DBSCAN) clustering method to identify significant drought events across the Contiguous United States (CONUS) from 1901 to 2022. This algorithm effectively identifies clusters of arbitrary shapes within a specified three‐dimensional space. By tracking the centroids of these drought clusters, we analyzed the progressive development and migration pathways of these events. Our findings indicate that the Great Plains region acts as a key migration corridor, experiencing a higher frequency of drought events compared to other areas in the CONUS. We observed that droughts can travel hundreds of kilometers, gradually intensifying before eventually dissipating. Moreover, a significant linear relationship exists between migration distances and the duration of droughts. Moreover, over 77% of the analyzed drought events exhibited notable spatial shifts, suggesting that the majority of these events migrated across different regions instead of staying confined to a single area. Furthermore, we identified two primary migration patterns for these drought clusters: eastward and westward movements. These findings offer crucial spatiotemporal frameworks for studying the migration process and provide valuable insights for predicting drought occurrences.https://doi.org/10.1029/2024WR039855droughtmigrationclimate extreme |
| spellingShingle | Amitesh Sabut Ashok Mishra Dara Entekhabi Spatiotemporal Patterns of Drought Migration Across the Contiguous United States Water Resources Research drought migration climate extreme |
| title | Spatiotemporal Patterns of Drought Migration Across the Contiguous United States |
| title_full | Spatiotemporal Patterns of Drought Migration Across the Contiguous United States |
| title_fullStr | Spatiotemporal Patterns of Drought Migration Across the Contiguous United States |
| title_full_unstemmed | Spatiotemporal Patterns of Drought Migration Across the Contiguous United States |
| title_short | Spatiotemporal Patterns of Drought Migration Across the Contiguous United States |
| title_sort | spatiotemporal patterns of drought migration across the contiguous united states |
| topic | drought migration climate extreme |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2024WR039855 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT amiteshsabut spatiotemporalpatternsofdroughtmigrationacrossthecontiguousunitedstates AT ashokmishra spatiotemporalpatternsofdroughtmigrationacrossthecontiguousunitedstates AT daraentekhabi spatiotemporalpatternsofdroughtmigrationacrossthecontiguousunitedstates |