Analysis of spring drought in Northeast China from the perspective of atmosphere, snow cover, and soil.

• Analyzes the spring drought in the cold region of Northeast China from 1980 to 2020. • Considering the impact of early spring snowfall, the spring drought was analyzed. • A novel cutoff radius approach for the PP information entropy model. Northeast China is an important grain-producing area, and spring is the sowing time for crops. Drought hinders crop germination and leads to crop failure. Spring drought analysis helps to understand the characteristics of regional spring drought and provides a reference for formulating disaster prevention and reduction measures. Considering the characteristics of seasonally frozen soil regions in northeastern China, sampling at a resolution of 0.5 degrees, accounting for the snow cover factors in the early spring, as well as precipitation, temperature, evapotranspiration, and soil moisture during the spring planting period, and uses the projection pursuit information entropy model to analyze the spatial and temporal variability of spring drought in Northeast China. In the model, a new method was proposed to calculate the cutoff radius by adjusting the radius size with the parameter. The optimal parameters were ultimately determined using the Shapiro-Wilk test, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, and Epps-Pulley test. The results are as follows: drought is relatively severe in the eastern parts of Inner Mongolia, as well as in the northwest of Liaoning. The central and northern parts of Inner Mongolia, the northern and northeastern parts of Heilongjiang, the southeastern parts of Jilin, and the eastern parts of Liaoning are relatively humid, while the drought situation in other regions is relatively moderate. Regional spring drought shows an increasing trend, and most regions show statistical significance. Areas with high temperatures and low precipitation, as well as low snow cover in the early spring, are prone to spring drought. Moist regions are characterized by high precipitation, low evapotranspiration, and abundant snow resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]