Spatiotemporal patterns of future meteorological drought in the Yellow River Basin based on SPEI under RCP scenarios

Purpose The purpose of this study is to assess the spatiotemporal patterns of future meteorological drought in the Yellow River Basin under different representative concentration pathway (RCP) scenarios. Design/methodology/approach Delta method is used to process the future climate data of the global climate models, then analyzed the spatiotemporal variation trend of drought in the Yellow River Basin based on standardized precipitation evaporation index (SPEI) under four RCP scenarios. Findings This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41901239), Soft Science Research Project of Henan Province (212400410077, 192400410085), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFA0602703), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2018M640670) and the special fund of top talents in Henan Agricultural University (30501031). Originality/value This study can provide support for future meteorological drought management and prevention in the Yellow River Basin and provide a theoretical basis for water resources management.