Global drought severity (1901-2008)

Drought severity measures the average length of droughts times the dryness of the droughts from 1901 to 2008. Drought is defined as a contiguous period when soil moisture remains below the 20th percentile. Length is measured in months, and dryness is the average number of percentage points by which soil moisture drops below the 20th percentile.

Data and Resources

Field Value
access_constraints ["Unless otherwise specified, no restriction applies."]
bbox-east-long 180
bbox-north-lat 90
bbox-south-lat -90
bbox-west-long -180
contact-email meyer_chloe@yahoo.com
coupled-resource []
dataset-reference-date [{"type": "publication", "value": "2017-01-29T23:00:00Z"}]
graphic-preview-description Thumbnail for 'Global drought severity (1901-2008)'
graphic-preview-file http://ihp-wins.unesco.org/uploaded/thumbs/layer-483f7656-e6dc-11e6-8719-005056bf7531-thumb.png?v=b2aecf20
graphic-preview-type image/png
guid 483f7656-e6dc-11e6-8719-005056bf7531
licence []
metadata-date 2020-12-10T20:07:05Z
progress completed
resource-type dataset
responsible-party [{"name": "UNESCO-IHP", "roles": ["originator"]}]
spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-180.0, -90.0], [180.0, -90.0], [180.0, 90.0], [-180.0, 90.0], [-180.0, -90.0]]]}
spatial-reference-system 4326
spatial_harvester true
Tags
  • amerigeo
  • amerigeoss
  • drought
  • geo
  • geoss
  • global
  • sdg
  • unesco
  • water
isopen False
metadata_created 2025-11-24T19:27:07.094005
metadata_modified 2025-11-24T19:27:07.094009
notes Drought severity measures the average length of droughts times the dryness of the droughts from 1901 to 2008. Drought is defined as a contiguous period when soil moisture remains below the 20th percentile. Length is measured in months, and dryness is the average number of percentage points by which soil moisture drops below the 20th percentile.
num_resources 19
num_tags 9
title Global drought severity (1901-2008)