Synchronized Structure and Teleconnection Patterns of Meteorological Drought Events over the Yangtze River Basin, China

Investigating the synchronized structure and teleconnection patterns of meteorological drought events (MDEs) contributes to elucidating drought’s evolution. In this study, the CN05.1 gridded meteorological dataset from 1961 to 2021 was utilized to calculate the 3-month standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI-3) for each grid in the Yangtze River Basin (YRB). Based on these SPEI-3 series, the grid-based MDEs were then extracted. Subsequently, event synchronization and complex networks were employed to construct the MDE synchronized network over the YRB. This network was used to identify the MDEs’ topological structure, synchronized subregions, and representative grids. Finally, the MDE characteristics and MDE teleconnection patterns of individual subregions were investigated. The results of the MDE topological structure show that the northeastern portion of the YRB tends to experience widespread MDEs, while specific areas in the upper reaches are prone to localized MDEs. Synchronous MDEs mainly propagate along the central pathway and the eastern pathway, which display relatively low MDE spatial coherence. The YRB is partitioned into eight MDE synchronized subregions, each exhibiting distinct characteristics in terms of the frequency, duration, total severity, and peak of MDEs, as well as MDE temporal frequency distributions. Among all teleconnection factors, El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) exerts a strong influence on MDEs in all subregions, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) shows a significant association with MDEs in all subregions except for Subregion 3 in the southeast, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) displays a significant influence on MDEs in the southern subregions of the YRB, and the Arctic Oscillation (AO) has a more pronounced influence on MDEs in the northern subregions. This study provides valuable insights on drought’s evolution within the YRB and offers guidance to policymakers for advanced preventive measures.