Blended Dry and Hot Events Index for Monitoring Dry‐Hot Events Over Global Land Areas

Abstract The amplifying effects of disasters caused by compound dry and hot extremes (dry‐hot events) have attracted widespread attention. This study presents a novel Blended Dry and Hot Events Index (BDHI) considering various dry and hot conditions (i.e., dry/hot, dry/cool, wet/hot, and wet/cool conditions). BDHI was applied to monitor dry‐hot events over global land areas during the 1950–2019 period and its performance was compared against that of the Standardized Compound Event Indicator (SCEI), which includes certain unsatisfactory or unclear features. We found that BDHI comprehensively reflected the characteristics of meteorological drought and temperature anomalies in monitoring dry‐hot events. Many regions around the globe have been experiencing more severe dry‐hot events since the 1990s, especially Russia, the USA, China, India, Australia, southern Africa, Europe, and South America. The proposed index is expected to serve as a potential tool for monitoring dry‐hot events and will be useful for managing and mitigating associated risks.