The Yarlung Zangbo River (YZR) basin occupies a crucial position in the formation and development of atmospheric circulation and climate change in the Tibetan Plateau, where is the potential trigger and amplifier in global climate fluctuations. Previous studies mainly focused on meteorological drought induced by variations of precipitation and temperature. In this study, a multi-index evaluation of drought characteristics from the perspective of meteorology and agriculture was implemented. GLDAS (Global Land Data Assimilation System) precipitation, surface air temperature and soil moisture data from 1982 to 2015 were used to calculate the meteorological drought index (Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index) and agricultural drought index (Soil Water Deficit Index), respectively. Meanwhile, the scPDSI (self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index) dataset provided by CRU (Climate Research Unit) was also utilized to represent the meteorological drought, with the aim of comprehensively investigating the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of drought in the YZR basin. Results indicated that although there was a slightly wetting tendency of the whole basin from 1982 to 2015, drought condition from the perspective of meteorology and agriculture at both annual and growing seasonal scales showed a transition from alleviation to aggravation during 1982–2015, with an abrupt change from wetting to drying occurring at the year of 2000 detected by multiple statistical tests including Mann-Kendall test, Moving t-test and Yamamoto test. Specifically, since the twenty-first century, the meteorological drought in the YZR basin has changed from moderate wet to moderate dry, while the agricultural drought relieved to moderate dry from severe dry with a much more complicated fluctuation. From the perspective of spatial pattern, the annual and growing season variation trends of all three drought indices were identically consistent during 1982–2015. Areas with extremely significant decreasing trend (2.24~21.09%) were mostly distributed in the west upstream and southwest downstream dominating the overall wetting trend of the YZR basin during the period of 1982–2015, while the transition from wet to dry after 2000 was attributed to the aggravating drought of the western upstream and southeastern downstream. Results of this study have important implications for drought monitoring and eco-environmental sustainability in alpine regions.

雅鲁藏布江流域在青藏高原大气环流和气候变化的形成和发展中占据着至关重要的位置，是全球气候波动的潜在触发和放大。以前的研究主要集中在降水和温度变化引起的气象干旱上。在这项研究中，从气象学和农业的角度对干旱特征进行了多指标评估。分别使用1982年至2015年的GLDAS（全球土地数据同化系统）降水量，地表气温和土壤湿度数据来计算气象干旱指数（标准降水蒸散指数）和农业干旱指数（土壤缺水指数）。与此同时，CRU（气候研究单位）提供的scPDSI（自校准Palmer干旱严重程度指数）数据集也用于表示气象干旱，目的是全面调查YZR盆地干旱的时空演变特征。结果表明，尽管从1982年到2015年整个盆地都有轻微的湿润趋势，但是从气象学和农业角度看，干旱状况在年度和增长季节尺度上都显示出从1982年到2015年从缓解到恶化的转变，并且突然发生。通过多种统计检验（包括Mann-Kendall检验，“移动”）在2000年发生的从润湿到干燥的变化 目的是全面调查YZR盆地干旱的时空演变特征。结果表明，尽管从1982年到2015年整个盆地都有轻微的湿润趋势，但是从气象学和农业角度看，干旱状况在年度和增长季节尺度上都显示出从1982年到2015年从缓解到恶化的转变，并且突然发生。通过多种统计检验（包括Mann-Kendall检验，“移动”）在2000年发生的从润湿到干燥的变化 目的是全面调查YZR盆地干旱的时空演变特征。结果表明，尽管从1982年到2015年整个盆地都有轻微的湿润趋势，但是从气象学和农业角度看，干旱状况在年度和增长季节尺度上都显示出从1982年到2015年从缓解到恶化的转变，并且突然发生。通过多种统计检验（包括Mann-Kendall检验，“移动”）从2000年的湿润转变为干燥Ť-test和Yamamoto测试。具体而言，自二十一世纪以来，YZR盆地的气象干旱已从中度湿润转变为中度干燥，而农业干旱从重度干旱减轻到中度干燥，波动更为复杂。从空间格局的角度来看，1982-2015年这三个干旱指数的年度和生长季节变化趋势是一致的。1982-2015年期间，YZR盆地总体湿润趋势主要表现在下降趋势极显着的区域（2.24〜21.09％）分布在西部上游和西南下游。西部上游和东南下游加剧的干旱。