Unraveling the pertinence of drought indices in the changing climate

Abstract The increasing divergence/disagreement between the meteorological drought indicators, majorly due to changing climate conditions, has disputed their pertinency in monitoring and modeling of events. In present study, we attempted quantify divergence widely used indices such as standardized precipitation index (SPI), evapotranspiration (SPEI), newly developed net (SNEPI) traced evolution this divergence/disagreement. A persistent presence enhanced dry extremes annual SPEI with SPI SNEPI was observed, which raises doubts about utility traditional capturing climatic characteristics. seasonal dispersion revealed a strong, spatiotemporally dominant, signal dryness monsoon season by SNEPI, failed unravel. Furthermore, attribution analysis that SPI-SPEI disagreements evolved under influence shortwave radiative fluxes. addition that, is driven characteristics wet spells, relationship strengthening tropical zones. All these findings caution us evaluate need incorporate before deploying operational uses, especially