One-Line Description:
- Dai Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI).
Temporal Coverage:
- 1870/01 to 2005/12
Spatial Coverage:
- 2.5 degrees latitude by 2.5 degrees longitude global grid (144x73)
- 75.0N - 60.0S , 1.25E - 358.75E
Levels:
- N/A
Update Schedule:
- Irregular, when source updates
Download/Plot Data:
| Variable | Statistic | Level | Download File | Create Plot/Subset |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PDSI | Monthly Long Term Mean | Surface | pdsi.mon.mean.nc | 
|
Usage Restrictions:
- None
Detailed Description:
-
PDSI from the Dai dataset. The Palmer Drought
Severity Index (PDSI) is devised by Palmer (1965) to represent the
severity of dry and wet spells over the U.S. based on monthly
temperature and precipitation data as well as the soil-water holding
capacity at that location. These data consist of the monthly PDSI over
global land areas from 1870 to 2003 derived using monthly surface air
temperature (from Jones and Moberg 2003 and updates) and precipitation
from Dai et al. 1997 before 1948 and Chen et al. 2002 for 1948-2003) data.
More details can be found in Dai et. al. (2004).
The providers plan to update the dataset past 2003 soon.
Update and other information are available at NCAR/GGD.
Please let the author (Dai at adai@ucar.edu know what you are using the dataset for.
Caveats:
- None
Related File Naming & Structure Information:
File Names:
- pdsi.mon.mean.nc (In directory: /Datasets/dai_pdsi/)
- >http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/opendap/nph-nc/Datasets/dai_pdsi/pdsi.mon.mean.nc
Dataset Format and Size:
- PSD standard NetCDF 51 Mbyte file for each monthly file
Missing Data:
- Missing data is flagged with a value of -99999.
Citation:
- Dai, A., K. E. Trenberth, and T. Qian, 2004: A global data set of Palmer Drought Severity Index for 1870-2002: Relationship with soil moisture and effects of surface warming. J. Hydrometeorology, 5, 1117-1130.
- Please note: If you acquire Dai Palmer Drought Severity Index data products from PSD, we ask that you acknowledge us in your use of the data. This may be done by including text such as Dai Palmer Drought Severity Index data provided by the NOAA/OAR/ESRL PSD, Boulder, Colorado, USA, from their Web site at http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/ in any documents or publications using these data. We would also appreciate receiving a copy of the relevant publications. This will help PSD to justify keeping the Dai Palmer Drought Severity Index data set freely available online in the future. Thank you!
References:
- Chen, M., P. Xie, J.E. Janowiak, and P.A. Arkin, 2002: Global land precipitation: a 50-yr monthly analysis based on gauge observations. J. Hydrometeorol., 3, 249-266.
- Dai, A., I. Fung, and A. D. Del Genio, 1997: Surface observed global land precipitation variations during 1900-1988. J. Climate, 10, 2943-2962.
- Dai, A., K. E. Trenberth, and T. Karl, 1998: Global variations in droughts and wet spells: 1900-1995. Geophys. Res. Lett., 25, 3367-3370.
- Dai, A., K. E. Trenberth, and T. Qian, 2004: A global data set of Palmer Drought Severity Index for 1870-2002: Relationship with soil moisture and effects of surface warming. J. Hydrometeorol., in press.
- Jones, P.D., and A. Moberg, 2003: Hemispheric and large-scale surface air temperature variations: An extensive revision and an update to 2001. J. Climate, 16, 206-223.
- Palmer, W. C, 1965: Meteorological Drought. Res. Paper No.45, 58pp., Dept. of Commerce, Washington, D.C.
- Webb, R. S., C. E. Rosenzweig, and E. R. Levine, 1993: Specifying land surface characteristics in general circulation models: soil profile dataset and derived water-holding capacities. Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 7, 97-108.
Original Source:
- NCAR's CGD (Climate and Global Dynamics Division) PDSI webpage
Contact:
- Physical Sciences Division: Data Management
NOAA/ESRL/PSD
325 Broadway
Boulder, CO 80305-3328
esrl.psd.data@noaa.gov