Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1038/s41586-025-09047-2
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) Warming accelerates global drought severity
Author Gebrechorkos, S.H.; Sheffield, J.; Vicente-Serrano, S.M.; Funk, C.; Miralles, D.G.; Peng, J. ORCID logo ; Dyer, E.; Talib, J.; Beck, H.E.; Singer, M.B.; Dadson, S.J.
Source Titel Nature
Year 2025
Department RS
Volume 642
Issue 8068
Page From 628
Page To 635
Language englisch
Topic T5 Future Landscapes
Data and Software links https://doi.org/10.5285/ac43da11867243a1bb414e1637802dec
Abstract Drought is one of the most common and complex natural hazards affecting the environment, economies and populations globally. However, there are significant uncertainties in global drought trends, and a limited understanding of the extent to which a key driver, atmospheric evaporative demand (AED), impacts the recent evolution of the magnitude, frequency, duration and areal extent of droughts. Here, by developing an ensemble of high-resolution global drought datasets for 1901–2022, we find an increasing trend in drought severity worldwide. Our findings suggest that AED has increased drought severity by an average of 40% globally. Not only are typically dry regions becoming drier but also wet areas are experiencing drying trends. During the past 5 years (2018–2022), the areas in drought have expanded by 74% on average compared with 1981–2017, with AED contributing to 58% of this increase. The year 2022 was record-breaking, with 30% of the global land area affected by moderate and extreme droughts, 42% of which was attributed to increased AED. Our findings indicate that AED has an increasingly important role in driving severe droughts and that this tendency will likely continue under future warming scenarios.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=30971
Gebrechorkos, S.H., Sheffield, J., Vicente-Serrano, S.M., Funk, C., Miralles, D.G., Peng, J., Dyer, E., Talib, J., Beck, H.E., Singer, M.B., Dadson, S.J. (2025):
Warming accelerates global drought severity
Nature 642 (8068), 628 - 635 10.1038/s41586-025-09047-2