Abstract: This paper examines daily air temperature and precipitation data from 1960 to 2014 from 527 meteorological stations in China. The improved Meteorological Comprehensive Drought Index (MCI) is taken as indication of drought monitoring to analyze the spatial-temporal characteristics of drought severity, frequency, duration, and regional differences in China. The results show that drought scope has expanded in China, and the severity and frequency has increased in the context of climate warming. The scope of the drought is also changing, with drought intensifying in the north China and increasing substantially in the south China, especially in areas of severe drought. The drought was the most widespread and sustained in the late 1990s and 2001-2010 in China, mainly afflicting to the south of the Yellow River and north of the Yangtze River. In general, the drought level, duration, and frequency were higher in the north China than the south China and higher in the east China than the west China. Drought is likely to occur year-round in China, but the degree of occurrence, range, duration, and frequency differs across years and regions. The north-south differences of drought frequency and duration are significant.

Key words: drought, China, climate change, MCI, drought index