Process / pipelineDrought and water balance analysis

Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index

The Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) is a climate index that combines precipitation and temperature (via reference evapotranspiration) to characterize water deficits and droughts. Developed by Vicente-Serrano and colleagues in 2010, SPEI extends the SPI framework to account for the combined effect of precipitation deficiency and increased evaporative demand from warming, providing a more physically-based drought metric than precipitation-only indices.

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Sources

  1. Vicente-Serrano, S. M., Beguería, S., & López-Moreno, J. I. (2010). A multiscalar drought index sensitive to global warming: the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index. Journal of Climate, 23(7), 1696-1718. DOI: 10.1175/2009JCLI2909.1

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Referenced by

ScholarGateStandardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index). Retrieved 2026-06-04 from https://scholargate.app/en/geophysics/standardized-precipitation-evapotranspiration-index