Open AccessThe evolution, propagation, and spread of flash drought in the Central United States during 2012
Author(s) -
Jeffrey B. Basara,
Jordan I. Christian,
Ryann A. Wakefield,
Jason A. Otkin,
Eric Hunt,
David Brown
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
environmental research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.37
H-Index - 124
ISSN - 1748-9326
DOI - 10.1088/1748-9326/ab2cc0
Subject(s) - flash flood , flash (photography) , environmental science , climatology , weather patterns , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , geography , geology , climate change , oceanography , art , archaeology , visual arts , flood myth
During 2012, flash drought developed and subsequently expanded across large areas of the Central United States (US) with severe impacts to overall water resources and warm-season agricultural production. Recent efforts have yielded a methodology to detect and quantify flash drought occurrence and rate of intensification from climatological datasets via the standardized evaporative stress ratio (SESR). This study utilizes the North American Regional Reanalysis and applied the SESR methodology to quantify the spatial and temporal development and expansion of flash drought conditions during 2012. Critical results include the identification of the flash drought epicenter and subsequent spread of flash drought conditions radially outward with varying rates of intensification. Further, a comparison of the SESR analyses with surface-atmosphere coupling metrics demonstrated that a hostile environment developed across the region, which limited the formation of deep atmospheric convection, exacerbated evaporative stress, and perpetuated flash drought development and enhanced its radial spread across the Central US.