The Aircraft Meteorological Data Relay (AMDAR) data has the characteristics of high sampling frequency and dense detection levels, which can effectively supplement the lack of spatial and temporal resolution of high-altitude data. In this paper, the quality analysis and control of AMDAR observation data at different heights were carried out by using the China regional AMDAR data provided by the National Meteorological Information Center and the Global Forecast System (GFS) data provided by National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) from March 1 to May 31, 2020 (spring). The influence of the assimilation of AMDAR data after quality control on the analysis field and the forecast field was tested by a two-week cycle assimilation comparison test. The results show that the root mean square error (RMSE) between AMDAR wind speed and GFS data shows an obvious increasing trend with the increase of height, and the bias of wind speed and temperature also shows an increasing trend with the increase of height. After quality control of AMDAR data at different heights, the RMSE and bias between AMDAR data and GFS data have been improved, and the observation minus background (OMB) between AMDAR data and GFS data was more consistent with Gaussian distribution. The assimilation of AMDAR data after quality control has a certain improvement on the analysis field of wind, temperature and geopotential height, and the improvement could affect the 12-hour or even 24-hour forecast field. The assimilation of AMDAR data after quality control could improve the precipitation forecasting skills, especially for medium precipitation forecast.
Based on the drought disaster data of the Heng-Shao drought corridor from 1961 to 2018, the meteorological drought composite index (MCI) was used to study the drought monitoring and evaluation methods of the Heng-Shao drought corridor. The results are as follows: (1) During the peak period of crop water demand (from June to October), the drought events with weighted mean of regional MCI (DI) less than or equal to -0.5 and the process duration greater than or equal to 16 days were included in the statistics, and the three elements such as the extreme intensity, cumulative intensity and duration of DI index were the best factors for annual regional drought assessment. Furthermore, based on the three elements of DI index, the annual assessment index of regional drought (MCIe) calculated by using the TOPSIS method was the best. (2) Based on the MCIe index, the combined grading method of average value and standard deviation was used to obtain the threshold of regional drought degree for normal, drought, severe drought, and extreme drought years. It was found that the MCIe index had a strong ability to assess extreme drought years and normal years in the Heng-Shao district, and had good assessment ability for 2019 and 2020. Furthermore, the extreme disaster year in 2013 was simulated, it was found that the MCIe index could better capture the change of drought in the Heng-Shao drought corridor. Therefore, the MCIe index could support the rapid assessment and early warning of drought in the Heng-Shao drought corridor to some extent.