Abstract. Drought monitoring and Early Warning Systems (DEWS) are seen as helpful tools to tackle drought at an early stage and reduce the possibility of harm or loss. They usually include indices attributed to meteorological, agricultural and/or hydrological drought: physically based drought drivers. These indices are used to determine the onset, end and severity of a drought event. Drought impacts are less monitored or even not included in DEWS. Therefore, the likelihood of experiencing drought impacts is often simply linearly linked to drivers of drought. The aim of this study is to evaluate the validity of the assumed direct linkage between drivers of drought and drought impact. We reviewed scientific literature on both drivers and impacts of drought. We conducted a bibliometric analysis based on 5000+ scientific studies in which selected drought indices (drivers) and drought impacts were mentioned in relation to a geographic area. Our review shows that there is a tendency in scientific literature to focus on drivers of drought, with the preferred use of meteorological and remotely sensed drought indices. Studies reporting drought impacts are more localised, with relatively many studies focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa and Australasia for impacts with regard to food security and water security, respectively. Our review further suggests that drought-impacts studies are dependent on both the physical and human processes occurring in the geographic area, i.e. the local context. With the aim of increasing the relevance and utility of the information provided by DEWS, we argue in favour of additional consideration of drought impact indices oriented towards sustainable development and human welfare.

中文翻译：

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干旱指数回顾：驱动因素对影响的主导地位和当地环境的重要性

摘要。干旱监测和预警系统 (DEWS) 被视为早期应对干旱和减少危害或损失可能性的有用工具。它们通常包括归因于气象、农业和/或水文干旱的指数：基于物理的干旱驱动因素。这些指数用于确定干旱事件的发生、结束和严重程度。干旱影响的监测较少，甚至不包括在 DEWS 中。因此，遭受干旱影响的可能性通常与干旱的驱动因素呈线性关系。本研究的目的是评估干旱驱动因素与干旱影响之间假设的直接联系的有效性。我们回顾了有关干旱驱动因素和影响的科学文献。我们根据 5000 多项科学研究进行了文献计量分析，其中提到了与某个地理区域相关的选定干旱指数（驱动因素）和干旱影响。我们的审查表明，科学文献倾向于关注干旱的驱动因素，优先使用气象和遥感干旱指数。报告干旱影响的研究更加局部化，相对较多的研究分别侧重于撒哈拉以南非洲和澳大拉西亚对粮食安全和水安全的影响。我们的审查进一步表明，干旱影响研究取决于地理区域内发生的自然过程和人类过程，即当地环境。为了提高 DEWS 提供的信息的相关性和实用性，