Spatiotemporal Characteristics of Groundwater Drought and Its Response to Meteorological Drought in Jiangsu Province, China

In this study, the temporal and spatial variations of groundwater drought using a Standardized Groundwater Level Index (SGI) were analyzed based on 40 monthly groundwater level observation wells from 1989 to 2012 in Jiangsu Province, China. Meteorological drought, calculated by the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), was also included to reveal its propagation and impact on the groundwater drought process. Results showed that the southern region of Jiangsu faced more frequent groundwater droughts and lower intensity, while the northern region faced less frequent groundwater drought with higher intensity. Furthermore, the cross-correlation between the spatial average of SGI and SPI for SPI accumulation periods of q = 1 to 12 was computed. The relationship between SGI and SPI varied in different regions. Detailed analysis of the characteristics of groundwater and meteorological drought for each region showed that meteorological droughts happened more frequently than groundwater drought in Jiangsu Province during the study period, while the mean duration and mean magnitude of groundwater droughts were longer and larger than those of meteorological droughts. It is expected that this study will provide useful information for drought monitoring and mitigation in Jiangsu and similar areas.