Standardized Precipitation Evaporation Index for the Upper Green River Basin (1896-2017)

The standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) was summarized for the Upper Green River Basin to quantify climate variability over the last century. The SPEI incorporates both precipitation and temperature data, therefore the index has the capacity to include the effects of temperature variability on drought. The SPEI considers the difference between precipitation and potential evapotranspiration to calculate a climatic water balance at a given time scale (Vicente-Serrano et al. 2010). The number of standard deviations the climatic water balance deviates from the long-term mean for a given time period represents the SPEI for the time period. Here, I calculated the SPEI for each water year (Oct–Sept) between 1896 and [...]