The biggest drought events in Europe from 1950 to 2012
Study region: Europe, including European Russia, but excluding Greenland, the Canary Islands, the Azores, and Madeira. Study focus: Drought is a complex climate-related phenomenon that can affect different sectors causing economic, social, and environmental impacts. We focus on meteorological and hy...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2015-03-01
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| Series: | Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214581815000026 |
| _version_ | 1819107492042375168 |
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| author | Jonathan Spinoni Gustavo Naumann Jürgen V. Vogt Paulo Barbosa |
| author_facet | Jonathan Spinoni Gustavo Naumann Jürgen V. Vogt Paulo Barbosa |
| author_sort | Jonathan Spinoni |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Study region: Europe, including European Russia, but excluding Greenland, the Canary Islands, the Azores, and Madeira. Study focus: Drought is a complex climate-related phenomenon that can affect different sectors causing economic, social, and environmental impacts. We focus on meteorological and hydrological droughts, defined as shortage of precipitation over several months and we discuss the biggest drought events in 1950–2012. To define such drought events we computed three drought indicators, the Standardized Precipitation Index, the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index, and the Reconnaissance Drought Index and we merged them into a combined indicator at 3-month scale for meteorological and 12-month for hydrological droughts. The indicators have been calculated using the E-OBS gridded data (0.25° × 0.25°). New hydrological insights for the region: Europe has been subdivided into thirteen regions and for each region we determined a list of drought events. The events have been characterized by the time, duration, severity, average area involved, peak month, and area involved at the peak month. We computed time series of the combined indicators for each region and country to determine the twenty-two biggest drought events in 1950–2012. Northern Europe and Russia show the highest drought frequency, duration, and severity in the 1950s and 1960s, where this is for the 1970s in Central Europe and the British Islands, and the 1990s and 2000s for the Mediterranean area and Baltic Republics. Keywords: Climate, Drought, Europe, SPI, SPEI, RDI |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T02:54:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f02894655e4148f5bbef54ec33223ad3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2214-5818 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T02:54:53Z |
| publishDate | 2015-03-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-f02894655e4148f5bbef54ec33223ad32022-12-21T18:41:18ZengElsevierJournal of Hydrology: Regional Studies2214-58182015-03-013509524The biggest drought events in Europe from 1950 to 2012Jonathan Spinoni0Gustavo Naumann1Jürgen V. Vogt2Paulo Barbosa3European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, 21027 Ispra, VA, Italy; Corresponding author at: European Commission – Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability – Climate Risk Management Unit, TP 124, Via E. Fermi 2749, 21027 Ispra, VA, Italy. Tel.: +39 3463266940.CONICET, National Scientific Technical and Research Council, Buenos Aires, ArgentinaEuropean Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, 21027 Ispra, VA, ItalyEuropean Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, 21027 Ispra, VA, ItalyStudy region: Europe, including European Russia, but excluding Greenland, the Canary Islands, the Azores, and Madeira. Study focus: Drought is a complex climate-related phenomenon that can affect different sectors causing economic, social, and environmental impacts. We focus on meteorological and hydrological droughts, defined as shortage of precipitation over several months and we discuss the biggest drought events in 1950–2012. To define such drought events we computed three drought indicators, the Standardized Precipitation Index, the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index, and the Reconnaissance Drought Index and we merged them into a combined indicator at 3-month scale for meteorological and 12-month for hydrological droughts. The indicators have been calculated using the E-OBS gridded data (0.25° × 0.25°). New hydrological insights for the region: Europe has been subdivided into thirteen regions and for each region we determined a list of drought events. The events have been characterized by the time, duration, severity, average area involved, peak month, and area involved at the peak month. We computed time series of the combined indicators for each region and country to determine the twenty-two biggest drought events in 1950–2012. Northern Europe and Russia show the highest drought frequency, duration, and severity in the 1950s and 1960s, where this is for the 1970s in Central Europe and the British Islands, and the 1990s and 2000s for the Mediterranean area and Baltic Republics. Keywords: Climate, Drought, Europe, SPI, SPEI, RDIhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214581815000026 |
| spellingShingle | Jonathan Spinoni Gustavo Naumann Jürgen V. Vogt Paulo Barbosa The biggest drought events in Europe from 1950 to 2012 Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies |
| title | The biggest drought events in Europe from 1950 to 2012 |
| title_full | The biggest drought events in Europe from 1950 to 2012 |
| title_fullStr | The biggest drought events in Europe from 1950 to 2012 |
| title_full_unstemmed | The biggest drought events in Europe from 1950 to 2012 |
| title_short | The biggest drought events in Europe from 1950 to 2012 |
| title_sort | biggest drought events in europe from 1950 to 2012 |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214581815000026 |
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