Comprehensive identification of drought events is of great significance for monitoring and evaluating drought processes. Based on the date of daily precipitation, temperature and drought-affected area of 403 meteorological stations in North China from 1960 to 2019, the Comprehensive Drought Process Intensity Index (CDPII) has been developed by using the Meteorological-drought Composite Index (MCI) and regional drought process identification method, as well as the EIDR theory method. The regional drought processes in the past 60 years in North China, including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi and Middle Inner Mongolia, were analyzed and identified. The result shows that the distribution characteristic of droughts with different intensities is as follows: The number of days of all annual-average mild droughts, moderate droughts and severe droughts was highest in Tianjin and that of extreme droughts was highest in Shanxi. The number of days of mild droughts was highest in May and lowest in January. The number of days of moderate droughts was highest in June. The number of days with mild and moderate drought showed an overall increasing trend, while the number of days with severe drought and above showed an overall decreasing trend (through a 95% significance test). The number of drought days was the highest in the 1990s. The annual frequency of drought is between 66.7% and 86.7%; the drought frequency in Hebei is the highest at 86.7%, followed by Beijing at 80%. There were 75 regional drought processes in North China from 1960 to 2019, and the correlation coefficient between process intensity and the drought-affected area was 0.55, which passed the 99% significance test. The comprehensive intensity of drought process from 27 April to 1 September 1972 was the strongest. From 18 May to 31 October 1965, the drought lasted 167 days. The overall drought intensity had a slight weakening trend in the past 60 years. A total of 75 regional drought processes occurred in North China, and the process intensity showed a trend of wavy decline with a determination coefficient (R²) of 0.079 (95% significance test). Overall, the regional drought process identification method and strength assessment result tally with the drought disaster, which can better identify the regional drought process. Furthermore, including the last days, the average intensity, average scope comprehensive strength, there are many angles to monitor and evaluate the drought and drought process. These provide a reference for drought control and decision-making.

Ground-based zenith scattered light differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) measurements were performed in summer and autumn (27 May–30 November) 2020 at Golmud (94°54′ E, 36°25′ N; 2807.6 m altitude) to investigate the abundances and temporal variations of ozone (O₃) and its depleting substances over the northern Tibetan Plateau (TP). The differential slant column densities (dSCDs) of O₃, nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), bromine monoxide (BrO), and chlorine dioxide (OClO) were simultaneously retrieved from scattered solar spectra in the zenith direction during the twilight period. The O₃ vertical column densities (VCDs) were derived by applying the Langley plot method, for which we investigated the sensitivities to the chosen wavelength, the a-priori O₃ profile and the aerosol extinction profile used in O₃ air mass factor (AMF) simulation as well as the selected solar zenith angle (SZA) range. The mean O₃ VCDs from June to November 2020 are 7.21 × 10¹⁸ molec·cm⁻² and 7.18 × 10¹⁸ molec·cm⁻² at sunrise and sunset, respectively. The derived monthly variations of the O₃ VCDs, ranging from a minimum of 6.9 × 10¹⁸ molec·cm⁻² in October to 7.5 × 10¹⁸ molec·cm⁻² in November, well matched the OMI satellite product, with a correlation coefficient R = 0.98. The NO₂ VCDs at SZA = 90°, calculated by a modified Langley plot method, were systematically larger at sunset than at sunrise as expected with a pm/am ratio of ~1.56. The maximum of the monthly NO₂ VCDs, averaged between sunrise and sunset, was 3.40 × 10¹⁵ molec·cm⁻² in July. The overall trends of the NO₂ VCDs were gradually decreasing with the time and similarly observed by the ground-based zenith DOAS and OMI. The average level of the BrO dSCD_90°–80° (i.e., dSCD between 90° and 80° SZA) was 2.06 × 10¹⁴ molec·cm⁻² during the period of June–November 2020. The monthly BrO dSCD_90°–80° presented peaks in August and July for sunrise and sunset, respectively, and slowly increased after October. During the whole campaign period, the OClO abundance was lower than the detection limit of the instrument. This was to be expected because during that season the stratospheric temperatures were above the formation temperature of polar stratospheric clouds. Nevertheless, this finding is still of importance, because it indicates that the OClO analysis works well and is ready to be used during periods when enhanced OClO abundances can be expected. As a whole, ground-based zenith DOAS observations can serve as an effective way to measure the columns of O₃ and its depleting substances over the TP. The aforementioned results are helpful in investigating stratospheric O₃ chemistry over the third pole of the world.

Based on the daily temperature and precipitation data from 1961 to 2021 obtained from 2019 national meteorological stations of China, and by means of Meteorological Drought Comprehensive Index (MCI) and some improved identification methods, we identified all drought event processes in all the seven regions of China in this paper. We also carefully analyzed these regional droughts and made following conclusions: drought was spreading towards southern China with an increasing frequency; consecutive drought year group occurred in all the seven regions of China with an increasing frequency under the background of global warming; both drought duration and comprehensive intensity consistently changed with the area affected by drought, with a correlation coefficient of 0.52–0.67 and 0.88–0.99 respectively, and passed the significance test of 0.05. The method used in this paper could be employed to effectively monitor and evaluate drought processes from multiple dimensions including duration, comprehensive intensity and area affected by drought. Thus, it actually provided a helpful decision-making basis for governments to prevent the risk of drought.