Multifractal characterization of meteorological to agricultural drought propagation over India.

Agricultural drought affects the regional food security and thus understanding how meteorological drought propagates to agricultural drought is crucial. This study examines the temporal scaling trends of meteorological and agricultural drought data over 34 Indian meteorological sub-divisions from 1981 to 2020. A maximum Pearson's correlation coefficient (MPCC) derived between multiscale Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI) and monthly Standardised Soil Moisture Index (SSMI) time series was used to assess the seasonal as well as annual drought propagation time (DPT).