Dai Global Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) 

This dataset consists of monthly Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) over global land areas on a 2.5 degree grid computed using observed monthly surface air temperature and precipitation, plus other surface meteorological forcing data for the self calibrating PDSI Penman Monteith (sc_PDSI_pm) case. Additionally, ensemble mean monthly sc_PDSI_pm data on a 2.5 degree grid has been calculated from 1900-2099 (for CMIP5) and 1900-2100 (for CMIP6) based on one historical and future (under RCP4.5 for CMIP5), and  SSP2-4.5 (similar to RCP4.5) and SSP5-8.5 (similar to RCP8.5 for CMIP5) simulation by each of the 14 CMIP5 models and 25 CMIP6 models. These sc_PDSI_pm data from individual runs were simply averaged to produce the multiple model ensemble mean. The PDSI can be used as a measure of surface aridity anomalies and changes on seasonal to longer time scales. It is correlated with observed soil moisture and water storage variations over land.

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Temporal Range

  • Begin:  1850-01-01T000000+00
    End:  2018-12-31T230000+00

Keywords

Resource Type dataset
Temporal Range Begin 1850-01-01T000000+00
Temporal Range End 2018-12-31T230000+00
Temporal Resolution N/A
Bounding Box North Lat N/A
Bounding Box South Lat N/A
Bounding Box West Long N/A
Bounding Box East Long N/A
Spatial Representation N/A
Spatial Resolution N/A
Related Links N/A
Additional Information N/A
Resource Format NetCDF
Standardized Resource Format NetCDF
Asset Size 265.959 MB
Legal Constraints

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Access Constraints None
Software Implementation Language N/A

Resource Support Name N/A
Resource Support Email datahelp@ucar.edu
Resource Support Organization N/A
Distributor NSF NCAR Geoscience Data Exchange
Metadata Contact Name N/A
Metadata Contact Email datahelp@ucar.edu
Metadata Contact Organization NSF NCAR Geoscience Data Exchange

Author Dai, Aiguo
Publisher NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research
Publication Date 2017-05-01
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) https://doi.org/10.5065/D6QF8R93
Alternate Identifier d299000
Resource Version N/A
Topic Category climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere
Progress onGoing
Metadata Date 2025-10-09T01:23:02Z
Metadata Record Identifier edu.ucar.gdex::d299000
Metadata Language eng; USA
Suggested Citation Dai, Aiguo. (2017). Dai Global Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI). NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research. https://doi.org/10.5065/D6QF8R93. Accessed 24 October 2025.

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