This dataset contains high-resolution (5 km) Standardized Precipitation Evaporation Index (SPEI-HR) drought data for Central Asia. There are forty-eight different SPEI time scales and the available period is from 1981 - 2018, the data was produced using Climate Hazards group InfraRed Precipitation with Station’s (CHIRPS) precipitation dataset and Global Land Evaporation Amsterdam Model’s (GLEAM) potential evaporation dataset. The SPEI-HR dataset, over time and space, correlates fairly well with SPEI values estimated from coarse-resolution Climate Research Unit (CRU) dataset. Furthermore, the SPEI-HR dataset, for 6-month timescale, displayed a good correlation of 0.66 with GLEAM root zone soil moisture and a positive correlation of 0.26 with normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from Global Inventory Monitoring and Modelling System (GIMMS).

This dataset consists of high spatial resolution Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) drought dataset over the whole Africa at different time scales from 1 month to 48 months. It is calculated based on precipitation estimates from the satellite-based Climate Hazards group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS) and potential evaporation estimates by the Global Land Evaporation Amsterdam Model (GLEAM). The SPEI dataset covers the whole of the African continent for a 36-year-long period (1981–2016) at a horizontal resolution of 5 km (0.05 deg) and a monthly time resolution. The dataset is provided in NetCDF format with in a Geographic Lat/Lon projection. Due to the lower reliability of SPEI over areas with low hydro-climatic variability, the areas with barren or sparsely vegetated areas in Africa were masked out based on data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land surface type product (MCD12Q1).

Standardised Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) data for Integrated Hydrological Units (IHU) Hydrometric Areas (Kral et al. [1]). SPEI is a drought index based on the probability of occurrence of the Climatic Water Balance (CWB) - which is equivalent to the amount of precipitation minus the amount of evapotranspiration - for a given accumulation period as defined by Vicente-Serrano et al. [2]. SPEI is calculated for different accumulation periods: 1, 3, 6, 12, 18, 24 months. Each of these is in turn calculated for each of the twelve calendar months. Note that values in monthly (and for longer accumulation periods also annual) time series of the data therefore are likely to be autocorrelated. The standard period which was used to fit the gamma distribution is 1961-2010. The dataset covers the period from 1961 to 2012. [1] Kral, F., Fry, M., Dixon, H. (2015). Integrated Hydrological Units of the United Kingdom: Hydrometric Areas without Coastline. NERC-Environmental Information Data Centre https://doi.org/10.5285/3a4e94fc-4c68-47eb-a217-adee2a6b02b3 [2] Vicente-Serrano, S. M., Beguería, S., & López-Moreno, J. I. (2010) A Multiscalar Drought Index Sensitive to Global Warming: The Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index. J. Climate, 23, 1696-1718. https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JCLI2909.1 Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/19c230b2-415b-456a-9e93-7b00b730a465

Standardised Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) data for Integrated Hydrological Units (IHU) groups (Kral et al. [1]). SPEI is a drought index based on the probability of occurrence of the Climatic Water Balance (CWB) - which is equivalent to the amount of precipitation minus the amount of evapotranspiration - for a given accumulation period as defined by Vicente-Serrano et al. [2]. SPEI is calculated for different accumulation periods: 1, 3, 6, 12, 18, 24 months. Each of these is in turn calculated for each of the twelve calendar months. Note that values in monthly (and for longer accumulation periods also annual) time series of the data therefore are likely to be autocorrelated. The standard period which was used to fit the general logistic distribution is 1961-2010. The dataset covers the period from 1961 to 2012. [1] Kral, F., Fry, M., Dixon, H. (2015). Integrated Hydrological Units of the United Kingdom: Groups. NERC-Environmental Information Data Centre https://doi.org/10.5285/f1cd5e33-2633-4304-bbc2-b8d34711d902 [2] Vicente-Serrano, S. M., Beguería, S., López-Moreno, J. I. (2010) A Multiscalar Drought Index Sensitive to Global Warming: The Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index. J. Climate, 23, 1696 to 1718. https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JCLI2909.1 Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/9b550cc5-4cba-45fb-ab92-8408454fa1d4

1km and 5km gridded Standardised Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) data for Great Britain, which is a drought index based on the probability of Climatic Water Balance (CWB) - which is equivalent to the amount of precipitation minus the amount of evapotranspiration - for a given accumulation period as defined by Vicente Serrano et al. (2010). SPEI is calculated for different accumulation periods: 1, 3, 6, 12, 18, 24 months. Each of these is in turn calculated for each of the twelve calendar months. Note that values in monthly (and for longer accumulation periods also annual) time series of the data therefore are likely to be autocorrelated. The standard period which was used to fit the generalised logistic distribution is 1961-2010. The dataset covers the period from 1961 to 2012. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/d201a2af-568e-4195-bf02-961fb6954c72