Research papersThe propagation from meteorological to hydrological drought and its potential influence factors

- The propagation time from meteorological to hydrological drought was examined.
- The propagation time shows obvious seasonal characteristics.
- ENSO and AO are strongly correlated with the propagation time on long timescales.
- The parameter w values of the Fu's equation exhibit positive linkages with the propagation time.

It is important to investigate the propagation from meteorological to hydrological drought and its potential influence factors, which helps to reveal drought propagation process, thereby being helpful for drought mitigation. In this study, Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Standardized Streamflow Index (SSI) were adopted to characterize meteorological and hydrological droughts, respectively. The propagation time from meteorological to hydrological drought was investigated. The cross wavelet analysis was utilized to examine the correlations between hydrological and meteorological droughts in the Wei River Basin (WRB), a typical arid and semi-arid region in China. Moreover, the potential influence factors on the propagation were explored from the perspectives of large-scale atmospheric circulation anomaly and underlying surface characteristics. Results indicated: (1) the propagation time from meteorological to hydrological drought has noticeably seasonal characteristics, that in spring and summer is short, whilst that in autumn and winter is long; (2) hydrological and meteorological droughts are primarily characterized by statistically positive linkages on both long and short time scales; (3) El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Arctic Oscillation (AO) are strongly correlated with actual evaporation, thus strongly impacting the propagation time from meteorological to hydrological drought. Additionally, the propagation time has roughly positive associations with the parameter w of the Fu's equation from the Budyko framework.