Copernicus Meteorological Drought Tracking: Global SPI-3 Clusters from ERA5

ERA5 reanalysis data powers a global, near real-time indicator for meteorological drought tracking. The dataset identifies persistent low-precipitation clusters using a 3-month Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI-3) and a DBSCAN algorithm, with a 1991-2020 baseline. Copernicus provides this data in GeoJSON format, last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Tracking the spatial extent and duration of drought clusters based on the SPI-3 indicator.
• Analyzing global patterns of persistent low-precipitation conditions based on near real-time identification.
• Validating climate models against observed drought events based on ERA5 reanalysis data.
• Mapping the historical outline of drought events for risk assessment based on the clustering algorithm.

Strengths

• Data is derived from ERA5, a fifth-generation global climate reanalysis.
• Provides near real-time identification of drought conditions.
• Uses a standardized scientific index (SPI-3) with a defined 1991-2020 baseline.
• Applies a density-based clustering algorithm (DBSCAN) for event identification.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Copernicus, derived from ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis.

Collection Method

Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI-3) calculated from ERA5 data, with drought clusters identified via DBSCAN algorithm.

Time Range

Baseline period is 1991-2020; temporal coverage for drought events is not specified.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03 07:44:18.288107; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global scale.