GDO Standardized Precipitation Index MERRA, 48-month accumulation period (SPI-48) (version 1.0.0)

Description

The 48-month Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI-48) is an indicator used to monitor meteorological drought based on precipitation anomalies over 48-month accumulation periods. SPI-48 serves as a proxy indicator for long-term impacts, such as reduced reservoir and groundwater recharge. The input data for calculating the SPI-48 is MERRA (Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications) global precipitation, provided by the USA NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) GMAO (Global Modeling and Assimilation Office).

Contact

Email: JRC-EMS-DROUGHT (at) ec.europa.eu

Contributors

European and Global Drought Observatories, EDO

How to cite

European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2026): GDO Standardized Precipitation Index MERRA, 48-month accumulation period (SPI-48) (version 1.0.0). European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) [Dataset] PID: http://data.europa.eu/89h/330c6747-3f18-440e-97c7-a04adee722f9

Keywords

CEMS Copernicus Drought European Drought Observatory (EDO) MERRA Precipitation Precipitation Anomaly SPI Global Drought Observatory (GDO)

Data access

Data Download Service URL

Use conditions: European Commission reuse notice
Access conditions: No limitations

URL

Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) Factsheet

Use conditions: European Commission reuse notice
Access conditions: No limitations

Download

Factsheet

Publications

Publication

The relationship of drought frequency and duration to time scale.

McKee, T.B., N.J. Doesken and J. Kleist. 1993. The relationship of drought frequency and duration to time scale. In: Proceedingsof the Eighth Conference on Applied Climatology, Anaheim, California, 17–22 January 1993. Boston, American Meteorological Society, 179–184

URL

Geographic areas

World

Spatial coverage

GML

<gml:Polygon xmlns:gml="http://www.opengis.net/gml">  <gml:outerBoundaryIs>    <gml:LinearRing>      <gml:coordinates>-180,90 180,90 180,-90 -180,-90 -180,90</gml:coordinates>    </gml:LinearRing>  </gml:outerBoundaryIs></gml:Polygon>

GML

<gml:Polygon xmlns:gml="http://www.opengis.net/gml/3.2">  <gml:exterior>    <gml:LinearRing>      <gml:posList>-180 90 180 90 180 -90 -180 -90 -180 90</gml:posList>    </gml:LinearRing>  </gml:exterior></gml:Polygon>

WKT

POLYGON ((-180 90, 180 90, 180 -90, -180 -90, -180 90))

Temporal coverage

From date	To date
1991-01-01	N/A

Additional information

Published by: European Commission, Joint Research Centre
Created date: 2026-01-29
Modified date: 2026-02-17
Issued date: 2026-01-29
Landing page: https://drought.emergency.copernicus.eu/
Language(s): English
Data theme(s): Environment
Update frequency: monthly
Identifier: http://data.europa.eu/89h/330c6747-3f18-440e-97c7-a04adee722f9
Popularity