DATASET

EDO Standardized Precipitation Index, 6-month accumulation period (SPI-6), blended and interpolated (version 1.2.0, dismissed)

Collection: DROUGHT : Drought Observatories datasets 

Description

The 6-month Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI-6) is a meteorological drought indicator to monitor precipitation anomalies over 6-month accumulation periods and is a proxy indicator for medium-term impacts, for example, reduced streamflow and reservoir storage. This indicator has a temporal resolution of 1 month and is derived from daily rainfall observations at SYNOP (Surface Synoptic Observations) stations from the MARS database (https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/mars) interpolated at 0.25 decimal degrees, and blended with Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC - http://gpcc.dwd.de/) monthly total precipitation at 1 decimal degree. Interpolation at 0.25 decimal degree resolution and blending with GPCC data are according to Barnes iterative correction objective analysis (Koch, S. E., M. DesJardins, and P. J. Kocin, 1983: An interactive Barnes objective map analysis scheme for use with satellite and conventional data. J. Climate Appl. Meteor.,22, 1487–1503.). The SPI represents precipitation anomalies at a given location and time, as the deviation from the long-term mean in a standard normal distribution, with more negative values representing a more severe drought. SPI is calculated by comparing the observed total precipitation amounts for an accumulation period of a number of months, indicated by a number following SPI-, with the long-term “climatological” rainfall distribution for that same period of the year, derived from historical rainfall records in a specific reference period. A given accumulation period corresponds to different potential impacts of drought, with shorter accumulation periods generally representing fast-changing aspects of the water system such as surface soil moisture and flow in small rivers, and longer accumulation periods representing slower changing aspects of the water system such as groundwater and baseflow in larger rivers. However, the exact relationship between accumulation period and impacts depends on the natural environment (e.g. geology, soils) and human interference (e.g. irrigation). Details on the calculation of the SPI and blending and interpolation procedures are given in the indicator factsheet. The current indicator version is 1.2.0. --- IMPORTANT WARNING: this dataset is not computed or displayed in EDO anymore. Please, consider other SPI indicators instead.

Contact

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

Contributors

  • European Drought Observatory, EDO

How to cite

European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2021): EDO Standardized Precipitation Index, 6-month accumulation period (SPI-6), blended and interpolated (version 1.2.0, dismissed). European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) [Dataset] PID: http://data.europa.eu/89h/566c45e3-6372-4ee1-939a-145709b54102

Keywords

CEMS Copernicus Drought Precipitation Precipitation Anomaly SPI European Drought Observatory (EDO)

Data access

Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) Factsheet
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

Europe

Spatial coverage

Type Value
GML
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GML
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WKT
POLYGON ((-41 76, 76 76, 76 25, -41 25, -41 76))

Temporal coverage

From date To date
1981-01-01 2024-05-03

Additional information

Published by
European Commission, Joint Research Centre
Created date
2021-04-30
Modified date
2024-05-29
Issued date
2021-04-30
Landing page
https://drought.emergency.copernicus.eu/ 
Language(s)
English
Data theme(s)
Environment
Update frequency
monthly
Identifier
http://data.europa.eu/89h/566c45e3-6372-4ee1-939a-145709b54102
Popularity