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Abstract During summer and fall 2023, Louisiana experienced a historic local drought while dry conditions elsewhere in the central US withheld vital runoff from the Mississippi River, leading to below‐normal discharge into the Gulf of Mexico. Thus, by late October 2023, Louisiana was gripped by two super‐imposed water crises: a severe local drought and saltwater contamination in the Mississippi River channel. This study frames the development of the water emergency through the lens of flash drought using the Evaporative Demand Drought Index (EDDI). The EDDI shows south Louisiana experience a flash drought during June 2023, while the Mississippi River basin was subsequently characterized by large expanses of high‐percentile EDDI in August‐September 2023 shortly before the saltwater intrusion episode along the lower Mississippi River. Over the last 15 years, MRB‐wide EDDI percentile has oscillated between years‐long elevated and depressed states, accounting for 23.7% of the monthly discharge anomaly near New Orleans.
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Characterizing the 2019-2021 drought in La Plata River Basin with GLDAS and SMAP
The La Plata River Basin (LPRB) is an area of interest, as there was a significant drought event from 2019 to 2021. With the LPRB being the second largest river basin in South America, this drought affected all aspects of life for over 100 million people who inhabit this area.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1829004
- PAR ID:
- 10548222
- Publisher / Repository:
- Elsevier BV
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies
- Volume:
- 52
- Issue:
- C
- ISSN:
- 2214-5818
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 101679
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2024.101679
