ESSIC assistant research scientists Jicheng Liu and Jifu Yin have a new article in Water Resources Research that describes the progress made in developing a “Blended Drought Index.” The new Blended Drought Index showed the best performances of several other indices as compared to official drought records. One of the events used for the analysis was the 2011 drought in the U.S. Southwest.
![Satellite seasonal temperature difference maps indicate how the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem and its organisms may respond to the temperature changes. Here, the maps show warmer than average water temperatures from January through March 2020, cooler than average from April through June, near average July through September, and slightly warmer than average October through December. The long-term baseline is from the years 2008-2019.]](https://essic.umd.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/rv-chesapeake2-150x150.jpg)
