An evaluation of ERA5-Land reanalysis data for drought monitoring: Comparison with drought indices from observational datasets in Sicily
Abstract
Reliable drought monitoring based on standardized indices requires long, gap-free hydrological datasets. Reanalysis products such as ERA5-Land are increasingly used for this purpose due to their spatial coverage and temporal continuity; however, their biases in temperature and precipitation may propagate into drought indices such as SPI and SPEI. This study assesses the suitability of ERA5-Land for drought monitoring over Sicily—an ideal testbed thanks to its complex terrain, recurrent droughts, and availability of long-term observations. ERA5-Land temperature and precipitation were compared with a gridded observational dataset (1951–2013) using Nash–Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE), RMSE, and correlation. ERA5-Land reproduced temperature well (correlation >0.9, NSE >0.8, RMSE
Fields of Study & Subjects
Hydrology and Drought Analysis
Climate variability and models
Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Hydrology research
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Volume
- 57
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 100016–100016
- Publication date
- 1 May 2026
- Language
- EN