Impacts of the superimposed climate trends on droughts over 1961–2013 in Xinjiang, China

This study reveals the impacts of climatic variable trends on drought severity in Xinjiang, China. Four drought indices, including the self-calibrating Palmer drought severity index (sc-PDSI), Erinç’s index (I_m), Sahin’s index (I_sh), and UNEP aridity index (AI), were used to compare drought severity. The ensemble empirical mode decomposition and the modified Mann-Kendall trend test were applied to analyze the nonlinear components and trends of the climatic variable and drought indices. Four and six climatic scenarios were generated in sc-PDSI, I_m, I_sh, and AI with different combinations of the observed and detrended climatic variables, respectively. In Xinjiang, generally increasing trends in minimal, average, and maximal air temperature (T_min, T_ave, T_max) and precipitation (P) were found, whereas a decreasing trend in wind speed at 2 m height (U₂) was observed. There were significantly increasing trends in all of the four studied drought indices. Drought relief was more obvious in northern Xinjiang than in southern Xinjiang. The strong influences of increased P on drought relief and the weak influences of increased T_min, T_ave, and T_max on drought aggravation were shown by comparing four drought indices under different climate scenarios. Decreased U₂ had a weak influence on drought, as shown by the AI in different climate scenarios. The weak influences of T and U₂ were considered to be masked by the strong influences of P on droughts. Droughts were expected to be more severe if P did not increase, but were likely milder without an increase in air temperature and with a decrease in U₂.