Drought propagation in space and time: the role of groundwater flows
Droughts cause large economic and social impacts all over the world. During drought, groundwater maintains streamflow and can help to mitigate impacts. It governs how drought propagates through the hydrological cycle. Groundwater flows between topographic catchments may modify groundwater dynamics c...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac8693 |
| _version_ | 1797747420619079680 |
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| author | J Hellwig Y Liu K Stahl A Hartmann |
| author_facet | J Hellwig Y Liu K Stahl A Hartmann |
| author_sort | J Hellwig |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Droughts cause large economic and social impacts all over the world. During drought, groundwater maintains streamflow and can help to mitigate impacts. It governs how drought propagates through the hydrological cycle. Groundwater flows between topographic catchments may modify groundwater dynamics considerably and also influence groundwater’s drought mitigation potential. In this study, we relate drought propagation times to quantitative estimates of groundwater gains or losses for a global set of catchments. For the majority of catchments there is no link found, however, for 16.5% of both groundwater gaining and groundwater losing catchments groundwater flow processes affect drought propagation. Influences of intercatchment groundwater flows (IGFs) on drought propagation are significantly related to catchment characteristics and abundant in North America, South America and Australia. As IGF mostly slow down drought propagation they may increase the potential of the system to buffer meteorological droughts. Reliable drought forecasting and proactive drought governance will benefit from better understanding major influences on drought propagation including IGFs. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:50:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-dab2099f7d34499785acf840f7c0810c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:50:18Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-dab2099f7d34499785acf840f7c0810c2023-08-09T15:14:31ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262022-01-0117909400810.1088/1748-9326/ac8693Drought propagation in space and time: the role of groundwater flowsJ Hellwig0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7331-7656Y Liu1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9871-8920K Stahl2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2159-9441A Hartmann3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0407-742XFaculty of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Freiburg , Freiburg, 79085, GermanyChair of Hydrological Modeling and Water Resources, University of Freiburg , Freiburg, 79085, GermanyFaculty of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Freiburg , Freiburg, 79085, GermanyChair of Hydrological Modeling and Water Resources, University of Freiburg , Freiburg, 79085, Germany; Institute of Groundwater Management, Technical University of Dresden , 01069 Dresden, GermanyDroughts cause large economic and social impacts all over the world. During drought, groundwater maintains streamflow and can help to mitigate impacts. It governs how drought propagates through the hydrological cycle. Groundwater flows between topographic catchments may modify groundwater dynamics considerably and also influence groundwater’s drought mitigation potential. In this study, we relate drought propagation times to quantitative estimates of groundwater gains or losses for a global set of catchments. For the majority of catchments there is no link found, however, for 16.5% of both groundwater gaining and groundwater losing catchments groundwater flow processes affect drought propagation. Influences of intercatchment groundwater flows (IGFs) on drought propagation are significantly related to catchment characteristics and abundant in North America, South America and Australia. As IGF mostly slow down drought propagation they may increase the potential of the system to buffer meteorological droughts. Reliable drought forecasting and proactive drought governance will benefit from better understanding major influences on drought propagation including IGFs.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac8693droughtgroundwaterdrought propagationintercatchment groundwater flows |
| spellingShingle | J Hellwig Y Liu K Stahl A Hartmann Drought propagation in space and time: the role of groundwater flows Environmental Research Letters drought groundwater drought propagation intercatchment groundwater flows |
| title | Drought propagation in space and time: the role of groundwater flows |
| title_full | Drought propagation in space and time: the role of groundwater flows |
| title_fullStr | Drought propagation in space and time: the role of groundwater flows |
| title_full_unstemmed | Drought propagation in space and time: the role of groundwater flows |
| title_short | Drought propagation in space and time: the role of groundwater flows |
| title_sort | drought propagation in space and time the role of groundwater flows |
| topic | drought groundwater drought propagation intercatchment groundwater flows |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac8693 |
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