Drought disasters restrict economic and social development. Understanding the evolution of the spatiotemporal characteristics of drought plays a vital role in basin risk response and management. Complex empirical orthogonal function analysis is widely used in meteorological research and is an important tool for studying the spatial-temporal distribution structure of arid fields. This research aims to take the Yellow River Basin (YRB) as an example, separate the temporal and spatial distribution structure of drought based on the CEOF method, and explore the abrupt changes, trends, and periodic characteristics of different temporal and spatial distribution patterns. In addition, the cross-wavelet analysis reveals the lagging correlation relationship between the distribution pattern of the arid field in the basin and the Southern Oscillation factor. Results indicated that: (1) there are three typical spatial and temporal distribution patterns (full basin type, southeast-northwest reversed type and east-west reversed type) of the interannual scale drought in the YRB; (2) interannual drought evolution have obvious spatial propagation characteristics. (3) There are correlations between the three types and the Southern Oscillation on the temporal-frequency scale, and there is a time lag of 1-2a with the Southern Oscillation factor.

干旱灾害制约着经济社会发展。了解干旱时空特征的演变在流域风险应对和管理中起着至关重要的作用。复杂经验正交函数分析广泛应用于气象研究，是研究干旱地区时空分布结构的重要工具。本研究旨在以黄河流域（YRB）为例，基于CEOF方法分离干旱的时空分布结构，探索不同时空分布格局的突变、趋势和周期性特征。此外，交叉小波分析揭示了盆地干旱区分布格局与南方涛动因子之间的滞后相关关系。结果表明：（1）长江流域年际尺度干旱具有3种典型的时空分布格局（全盆地型、东南西北反转型和东西反转型）；(2)年际干旱演变具有明显的空间传播特征。(3) 三种类型与南方涛动在时频尺度上存在相关性，与南方涛动因子存在1-2a的时滞。