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The dynamic variations of agricultural drought can reflect the water shortage situation of the agricultural system, and there is a progressive relationship in the response of agricultural drought to meteorological drought on a spatiotemporal scale. In this study, the vegetation health index and the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index were adopted as agricultural and meteorological drought indicators, respectively. Additionally, using the three‐dimensional spatiotemporal clustering technology, the dynamic evolutions of typical drought events were clarified, and the spatiotemporal response characteristics of agricultural drought to meteorological drought were revealed. The results indicated that: (a) there were 81 agricultural drought events in the North China Plain (NCP) during 1982–2020, with a largest drought severity (12.82 × 104 month km2), a 6‐month duration, and a 23.24 × 104 km2 affected area occurring in the No. 4 event; (b) from the 1980s to the 2010s, the agricultural drought gradually decreased and large‐scale droughts mainly concentrated in the border areas of Hebei, Shandong, and Henan; and (c) a total of 13 drought event pairs were successfully matched in the NCP, including 7 pairs of "one‐to‐one," 4 pairs of "one‐to‐many," 1 pair of "many‐to‐one," and 1 pair of "many‐to‐many." The spatiotemporal responses of agricultural drought were elucidated in a three‐dimensional perspective, which can propose a new approach for establishing drought propagation model, predicting future agricultural drought conditions, improving ecological environment quality, and can also be applied for the investigation of other drought types. Plain Language Summary: There is a certain delay effect and time lag between agricultural drought and meteorological drought, thus, it is crucial to investigate the dynamic variation of agricultural drought and its response to meteorological drought to understand the impact of climate change on vegetation, which has important scientific significance and application value for improving ecological environment quality and restoring ecosystem functions. However, the dynamic variation of agricultural drought and its response to meteorological drought are still unclear from a three‐dimensional perspective. Based on the Center for Satellite Applications and Research and Famine Early Warning Systems Network Land Data Assimilation System data set, the vegetation health index and the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index were adopted as agricultural and meteorological drought indicators, respectively. Additionally, using the three‐dimensional spatiotemporal clustering technology, the temporal variations and spatial patterns of drought were explored, the dynamic evolutions of typical drought events were clarified, and the spatiotemporal response characteristics of agricultural drought to meteorological drought were revealed from a three‐dimensional perspective. This study sheds new viewpoints into the identification of agricultural drought variation and its relationships with meteorological drought, which can also be applied in other areas. Key Points: There were 81 agricultural drought events in the North China Plain during 1982–2020The drought gradually decreased from the 1980s to the 2010sA total of 13 drought event pairs were successfully matched [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a politically and culturally important city cluster, the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region (BTH) has huge electricity and water consumption, while the local power generation capacity and water resources may not be sustainable long term according to the current power generation ratio. We introduced up-to-date strategic policies in China, carbon peaking and carbon neutrality (dual carbon goals), to assess their impact on environmental protection and economic development. Thus, we constructed a dynamic multi-regional computable general equilibrium model to simulate these changes in BTH. We designed four carbon reduction scenarios to explore the impact of policies including carbon taxes, investment, and renewable energy subsidies individually or combined. The findings reveal that implementing these policies together can increase the proportion of renewable energy in power generation to 17.2% (Beijing), 9.4% (Tianjin), and 33.2% (Hebei) by 2060. Under various policy scenarios, the Tax Scenario shows the largest water withdrawal savings, while the Investment Scenario shows the largest GDP growth by 2060. The combined implementation of these policies may minimize the negative impact on the economy while developing an environmentally friendly region. The results of the Combination Scenario are closest to carbon neutrality, narrowing the gap to 10.71%, 9.98%, and 9.85%, respectively. Conservation (water and electricity) and carbon reduction can provide significant support for carbon neutrality and sustainable development strategies. This study contributes to the evaluation of mitigation policies in BTH and provides a concrete policy option to achieve carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological drought is a natural disaster caused by the shortage of water supply, which can lead to many problems such as the reduction of vegetation greenness, shrinkage of water area, and destruction of biological habitats. In view of the increasingly serious problem of ecological drought in the North China Plain (NCP), the remotely sensed vegetation health index (VHI) was adopted to characterize the ecological drought phenomenon. In this study, the modified Mann-Kendall (MMK) and Hurst index methods were used to analyze the spatio-temporal coupling dynamic variation of ecological drought. Subsequently, the Breaks for Additive Seasons and Trend (BFAST) algorithm was employed to explore the segmented trend characteristics and mutation point types. Furthermore, the cross wavelet transform and multiple wavelet coherence were applied to reveal the mutual effect of atmospheric circulation factors on ecological drought. The results indicated that: (1) the ecological drought showed an overall alleviation trend from 1982 to 2020 in the NCP; (2) the trend type of VHI was interrupted increase in Tianjin (TJ) and Hebei (HB) with a mitigated drought trend, and was decrease to increase in Beijing (BJ) and Henan (HN) with a slight increase and then significant decrease drought trend, and all the mutation points occurred before 2000 during the study period; (3) the most severe ecological drought occurred in winter with a minimal VHI of 0.519, and the least severe ecological drought appeared in summer with a maximal VHI of 0.581; and (4) the combination of atmospheric circulation factors, North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)-Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO)-Arctic Oscillation (AO), had the strongest driving effect on ecological drought, which can be adopted as input variables of drought pre-warning mechanism for improving the accuracy of drought prediction. [Display omitted] • The ecological drought showed an alleviation trend during 1982–2020 in the NCP. • The most serious ecological drought occurred in 1989. • The most severe ecological drought occurred in winter with a minimal VHI of 0.519. • Atmospheric circulation factors had significant impacts on ecological drought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]