Drought Spatial Extent and Dependence Increase During Drought Propagation From the Atmosphere to the Hydrosphere

Abstract As droughts propagate both in time and space, their impacts increase because of changes in drought properties. Because temporal and spatial drought propagation are mostly studied separately, it is yet unknown how drought spatial extent and connectedness change as droughts propagate though t...

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Main Authors: Manuela I. Brunner, Corentin Chartier‐Rescan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2024-03-01
Series:Geophysical Research Letters
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL107918
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author Manuela I. Brunner
Corentin Chartier‐Rescan
author_facet Manuela I. Brunner
Corentin Chartier‐Rescan
author_sort Manuela I. Brunner
collection DOAJ
description Abstract As droughts propagate both in time and space, their impacts increase because of changes in drought properties. Because temporal and spatial drought propagation are mostly studied separately, it is yet unknown how drought spatial extent and connectedness change as droughts propagate though the hydrological cycle from precipitation to streamflow and groundwater. Here, we use a large‐sample dataset of 70 catchments in Central Europe to study the propagation of local and spatial drought characteristics. We show that drought propagation leads to longer, later, and fewer droughts with larger spatial extents. 75% of the precipitation droughts propagate to P‐ET, among these 20% propagate further to streamflow and 10% to groundwater. Of the streamflow droughts, 40% propagate to groundwater. Drought extent and dependence increase during drought propagation along the drought propagation pathway from precipitation to streamflow thanks to synchronizing effects of the land‐surface but decreases again for groundwater because of sub‐surface heterogeneity.
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publishDate 2024-03-01
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spelling doaj-art-4d1e0c893df54a4f82c6d5cd8aa449ea2025-08-20T01:51:57ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072024-03-01516n/an/a10.1029/2023GL107918Drought Spatial Extent and Dependence Increase During Drought Propagation From the Atmosphere to the HydrosphereManuela I. Brunner0Corentin Chartier‐Rescan1Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science ETH Zurich Zurich SwitzerlandInstitute for Atmospheric and Climate Science ETH Zurich Zurich SwitzerlandAbstract As droughts propagate both in time and space, their impacts increase because of changes in drought properties. Because temporal and spatial drought propagation are mostly studied separately, it is yet unknown how drought spatial extent and connectedness change as droughts propagate though the hydrological cycle from precipitation to streamflow and groundwater. Here, we use a large‐sample dataset of 70 catchments in Central Europe to study the propagation of local and spatial drought characteristics. We show that drought propagation leads to longer, later, and fewer droughts with larger spatial extents. 75% of the precipitation droughts propagate to P‐ET, among these 20% propagate further to streamflow and 10% to groundwater. Of the streamflow droughts, 40% propagate to groundwater. Drought extent and dependence increase during drought propagation along the drought propagation pathway from precipitation to streamflow thanks to synchronizing effects of the land‐surface but decreases again for groundwater because of sub‐surface heterogeneity.https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL107918droughtdrought propagationspatial extentAlpsmeteorological droughthydrological drought
spellingShingle Manuela I. Brunner
Corentin Chartier‐Rescan
Drought Spatial Extent and Dependence Increase During Drought Propagation From the Atmosphere to the Hydrosphere
Geophysical Research Letters
drought
drought propagation
spatial extent
Alps
meteorological drought
hydrological drought
title Drought Spatial Extent and Dependence Increase During Drought Propagation From the Atmosphere to the Hydrosphere
title_full Drought Spatial Extent and Dependence Increase During Drought Propagation From the Atmosphere to the Hydrosphere
title_fullStr Drought Spatial Extent and Dependence Increase During Drought Propagation From the Atmosphere to the Hydrosphere
title_full_unstemmed Drought Spatial Extent and Dependence Increase During Drought Propagation From the Atmosphere to the Hydrosphere
title_short Drought Spatial Extent and Dependence Increase During Drought Propagation From the Atmosphere to the Hydrosphere
title_sort drought spatial extent and dependence increase during drought propagation from the atmosphere to the hydrosphere
topic drought
drought propagation
spatial extent
Alps
meteorological drought
hydrological drought
url https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL107918
work_keys_str_mv AT manuelaibrunner droughtspatialextentanddependenceincreaseduringdroughtpropagationfromtheatmospheretothehydrosphere
AT corentinchartierrescan droughtspatialextentanddependenceincreaseduringdroughtpropagationfromtheatmospheretothehydrosphere