BasedontheMulti-ScaleStandardizedPrecipitationIndex(MSPI),extremeseveredroughteventsinChinaduring1961-2010wereidentified,andtheseasonal,annual,andinterdecadalvariationsoftheclusteringextremedroughteventswereinvestigatedbyusingthespatialpointprocesstheory.Itisfoundthatseveredroughtspresentatrendofgradualincreaseasaresultofthesignificantincreaseandclusteringtendencyofseveredroughtsinautumn.Theperiodicityanalysisoftheclusteringextremedroughtsindifferentseasonssuggeststhatthereisaremarkableinterdecadalchangeintheoccurrenceofclusteringextremedroughtsinwinter.Meanwhile,itisrevealedthattheclusteringextremedroughteventsexhibitgreatlydifferentannualmeanspatialdistributionsduring1961-2010,withscatteredandconcentratedclusteringzonesalternatingonthedecadaltimescale.Furthermore,itisfoundthatthedecadal-meanspatialdistributionsofextremedroughteventsinsummerarecorrelatedoutofphasewiththoseoftherainybandsoverChinainthepast50years,andagooddecadalpersistenceexistsbetweentheautumnandwinterextremedroughts,implyingasalientfeatureofconsecutiveautumn-winterdroughtsinthis50-yrperiod.ComparedwithotherregionsofChina,SouthwestChinabearsthemostprominentcharacteristicofclusteringextremedroughts.
