Publications related to the GRACE Missions (no abstracts)

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GRACE-based hydrological droughts are less frequent but more severe than meteorological droughts in global major basins

Ren, Chanyue, Zhang, Xuanze, Tian, Jing, Li, Xiaojie, Wang, Shijia, Tang, Zixuan, Wang, Xian, and Zhang, Yongqiang, 2026. GRACE-based hydrological droughts are less frequent but more severe than meteorological droughts in global major basins. Journal of Hydrology, 664:134582, doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2025.134582.

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@ARTICLE{2026JHyd..66434582R,
       author = {{Ren}, Chanyue and {Zhang}, Xuanze and {Tian}, Jing and {Li}, Xiaojie and {Wang}, Shijia and {Tang}, Zixuan and {Wang}, Xian and {Zhang}, Yongqiang},
        title = "{GRACE-based hydrological droughts are less frequent but more severe than meteorological droughts in global major basins}",
      journal = {Journal of Hydrology},
     keywords = {GRACE, GRACE-FO, Hydrological drought index, Drought characteristics, Climate change, Drought propagation},
         year = 2026,
        month = jan,
       volume = {664},
          eid = {134582},
        pages = {134582},
     abstract = "{Satellite observations from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment
        and its follow-on mission (GRACE/-FO) enable an integrated
        monitoring of terrestrial water storage (TWS) dynamics, offering
        a novel perspective for hydrological drought assessment.
        Existing studies utilizing TWS data often rely on simplistic
        indices, limiting their diagnostic capability. To address this
        gap, we develop a Standardized Terrestrial Water Storage Index
        (STWSI) by optimizing probability distribution fitting across
        five parametric models (Beta, Johnson-SB, Gamma, Weibull, and
        Pearson III) for monthly TWS changes in 40 globally distributed
        major river basins. Results indicate that the Johnson-SB
        distribution provides the optimal fit for STWSI construction in
        34 basins, outperforming traditional Gamma/Pearson â…¢
        distributions used in meteorological drought indices (SPI/SPEI).
        Multi-scale comparisons (1- to 12-month) reveal significantly
        stronger correlations between STWSI and SPI/SPEI at longer
        timescales (R = 0.40â”€0.80 at 12 months) over global major
        basins. Crucially, STWSI detects hydrological droughts with
        lower frequency but longer duration and higher intensity than
        meteorological droughts across most basins, except for tropical
        basins (e.g., Amazon). At the moderate drought category and
        different time scales, the total basin area proportion detected
        by STWSI (44â”€54 \%) is approximately twice that identified by
        meteorological indices (17â”€28 \%). This divergence underscores
        the dominant control of long-term TWS depletion on hydrological
        drought genesis. Our findings establish STWSI as a
        transformative tool for monitoring composite hydrological
        droughts in a warming and changing climate.}",
          doi = {10.1016/j.jhydrol.2025.134582},
       adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2026JHyd..66434582R},
      adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}
}

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