Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1038/s41558-025-02458-z
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Title (Primary) Anthropogenic enhancement of subsurface soil moisture droughts
Author Guan, Y.; Gu, X.; Dai, A.; Zhou, T.; Yuan, X.; Mishra, A.K.; Zscheischler, J. ORCID logo ; Pokhrel, Y.; Wang, L.; Li, J.; Huang, S.; Luo, S.; Li, L.; Kong, D.; Zhang, X.
Source Titel Nature Climate Change
Year 2025
Department CER
Volume 15
Issue 12
Page From 1355
Page To 1362
Language englisch
Topic T5 Future Landscapes
Data and Software links https://doi.org/10.20783/DIAS.501
https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.13624543
https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.4700264
Supplements Supplement 1
Abstract Anthropogenic climate change has exacerbated soil moisture droughts globally, yet this exacerbation in their spatiotemporal evolution in terms of soil vertical structure remains unclear. Here we propose a Lagrangian four-dimensional tracking framework to identify a type of spatial (horizontal and vertical)–temporal contiguous drought events, that is, deep droughts characterized by bottom-heavy deep-dominated shapes, with more extensive moisture deficits in deep than surface soils. These deep droughts, accounting for a quarter of total events, are ignored in surface-based soil moisture monitoring. Both reanalyses and climate models show significantly increasing duration and intensity of the deep droughts over the past four decades, attributable to anthropogenic climate change. Relative to the past, future deep droughts are projected to become longer-lasting and more intense globally, with larger increases in deeper soil layers under higher-emission scenarios. These deep droughts hidden below the surface pose challenges for satellite-based agricultural drought monitoring and cause an underestimation of adverse impacts of droughts on ecosystems.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=31729
Guan, Y., Gu, X., Dai, A., Zhou, T., Yuan, X., Mishra, A.K., Zscheischler, J., Pokhrel, Y., Wang, L., Li, J., Huang, S., Luo, S., Li, L., Kong, D., Zhang, X. (2025):
Anthropogenic enhancement of subsurface soil moisture droughts
Nat. Clim. Chang. 15 (12), 1355 - 1362 10.1038/s41558-025-02458-z