article published yes Liangzhi Chen author Philipp Brun author Pascal Buri author Simone Fatichi author cf8e546b-a9b0-11f0-a43b-aa89ed1b56d6 Arthur Gessler author Michael James McCarthy author Francesca Pellicciotti author Benjamin Stocker author Dirk Nikolaus Karger author Persistent multiyear drought (MYD) events pose a growing threat to nature and humans in a changing climate. We identified and inventoried global MYDs by detecting spatiotemporally contiguous climatic anomalies, showing that MYDs have become drier, hotter, and led to increasingly diminished vegetation greenness. The global terrestrial land affected by MYDs has increased at a rate of 49,279 ± 14,771 square kilometers per year from 1980 to 2018. Temperate grasslands have exhibited the greatest declines in vegetation greenness during MYDs, whereas boreal and tropical forests have had comparably minor responses. With MYDs becoming more common, this global quantitative inventory of the occurrence, severity, trend, and impact of MYDs provides an important benchmark for facilitating more effective and collaborative preparedness toward mitigation of and adaptation to such extreme events. AAAS2025 eng 0036-8075 1095-920310.1126/science.ado4245 3876731278-284 yes Chen, L., Brun, P., Buri, P., Fatichi, S., Gessler, A., McCarthy, M. J., … Karger, D. N. (2025). Global increase in the occurrence and impact of multiyear droughts. <i>Science</i>. AAAS. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ado4245">https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ado4245</a> Chen L, Brun P, Buri P, et al. Global increase in the occurrence and impact of multiyear droughts. <i>Science</i>. 2025;387(6731):278-284. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ado4245">10.1126/science.ado4245</a> Chen, Liangzhi, et al. “Global Increase in the Occurrence and Impact of Multiyear Droughts.” <i>Science</i>, vol. 387, no. 6731, AAAS, 2025, pp. 278–84, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ado4245">10.1126/science.ado4245</a>. L. Chen <i>et al.</i>, “Global increase in the occurrence and impact of multiyear droughts,” <i>Science</i>, vol. 387, no. 6731. AAAS, pp. 278–284, 2025. Chen L, Brun P, Buri P, Fatichi S, Gessler A, McCarthy MJ, Pellicciotti F, Stocker B, Karger DN. 2025. Global increase in the occurrence and impact of multiyear droughts. Science. 387(6731), 278–284. Chen, Liangzhi, Philipp Brun, Pascal Buri, Simone Fatichi, Arthur Gessler, Michael James McCarthy, Francesca Pellicciotti, Benjamin Stocker, and Dirk Nikolaus Karger. “Global Increase in the Occurrence and Impact of Multiyear Droughts.” <i>Science</i>. AAAS, 2025. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ado4245">https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ado4245</a>. L. Chen, P. Brun, P. Buri, S. Fatichi, A. Gessler, M.J. McCarthy, F. Pellicciotti, B. Stocker, D.N. Karger, Science 387 (2025) 278–284. 225622026-07-27T12:30:24Z2026-08-07T10:47:08Z