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Regional agricultural drought vulnerability (RADV) is a complex nonlinear problem caused by the interaction of multiple factors, and an objective and systematic method is proposed by this paper to identify its influencing factors, which plays an important role in preventing and regulating the risks of regional agricultural drought. Firstly, to provide a reference for the evaluation problem in selecting the number of factors, the influencing factors affecting RADV are revealed by using the method of phase space reconstruction (PSR). Secondly, to rank the importance of influencing factors, a grey trend relational analysis (TGRA) method is proposed, considering the dynamic development relationship between the RADV index and the influencing factors and integrating the absolute and relative variation of sequences in each corresponding period. Finally, to reduce the collinearity between the influencing factors, a grey trend relational clustering (TGRC) analysis method is proposed. According to the above steps, the process of identifying factors based on PSR-TGRC method is formed. Taking Henan Province as an example, 14 main influencing factors and their effects on RADV are identified from all 42 factors, and the identification results which are consistent with the actual drought relief work show the rationality and practicality of PSR-TGRC method and provide theoretical support for formulating strategies of regional agricultural disaster prevention and mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought-induced risk has attracted the attention of many scholars, but the risk of combined events caused by drought and high-temperature heat waves still needs further study. Based on MODIS products and meteorological data, the spatiotemporal variation characteristics of summer drought and high-temperature heat waves in the North China Plain from 2000 to 2018 were analyzed by the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI), crop water stress index (CWSI) and high-temperature threshold, and their combined-events risk was evaluated. The results showed that (1) from 2000 to 2018, summer drought in the North China Plain became more severe. Especially in Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu Provinces, drought increased significantly. (2) From 2000 to 2018, the frequency and intensity of high-temperature heat wave events in the North China Plain gradually increased at rates of 0.28 times/10 year and 1.6 °C/10 year, respectively. (3) The slightly high risk and high risk caused by summer drought were mainly distributed in Hebei Province and Tianjin Municipality in the north, and the risk change was characterized by a decrease in the north and an increase in the south. (4) The combined-events risk of summer drought and high-temperature heat waves did not increase significantly, with an increase rate of approximately 0.01/10 year. Among them, the increase rate of combined-events risk in Henan Province was the largest (0.14/10 year), followed by the obvious increase in northern Anhui, Jiangsu and southern Shandong, while the risk in Beijing showed a decreasing trend. The research results have scientific guiding significance for formulating disaster prevention and reduction strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Drought loss models of wheat are built using two different statistical models. • The important SPEI variables recognized by two methods are different. • The random forest-derived model outperforms the stepwise regression model. Agricultural drought loss models provide services for the rapid risk assessment of agricultural disasters, and regional disaster prevention and mitigation efforts. This paper takes wheat as an example, and chooses counties dominated by rain-fed farmland in Henan Province as the study area. Counties dominated by rain-fed farmland are determined by setting a rain-fed threshold that is related to the proportion of the effective irrigation area to the cultivated land area. Modeling samples are screened by considering both drought occurrence time and wheat yield reductions. Under different thresholds (30%, 40%, 50% and 60%), we use the yield loss ratio as the dependent variable and 24 standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index parameters as independent variables to build drought loss models using both a multivariate stepwise regression model and a random forest model. Yield loss ratio from 1990 to 2015 is calculated by decomposing historical wheat yield time series. 24 standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index variables are 1–3 months' time scale standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index during the growth period (from October to May of the following year) of winter wheat in Henan Province. The results show that the random forest-derived model outperforms the stepwise regression model in all tests. The accuracy of all the models increases with an increase of the proportion of the rain-fed threshold. When the rain-fed threshold is 60%, the R2 values of the random forest model and the multivariate stepwise regression equation are 0.720 and 0.523, respectively. The validation results show that the mean absolute error and the root mean square error of the multivariate stepwise regression are 1.38 times and 1.31 times larger than the mean absolute error and the root mean square error from the random forests model. Moreover, both models identify that standardized precipitation evapotranspiration indices in October (sowing/planting stage) and February (overwintering stage) are important variables. However, the multivariate stepwise regression model fails to recognize the importance of standardized precipitation evapotranspiration indices during April–May (filling stage). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]