The European 2015 drought from a climatological perspective
The summer drought of 2015 affected a large portion of continental Europe and was one of the most severe droughts in the region since summer 2003. The summer of 2015 was characterized by exceptionally high temperatures in many parts of central and eastern Europe, with daily maximum temperatures 2 °C...
Published in: | Hydrology and Earth System Sciences |
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COPERNICUS GESELLSCHAFT MBH
2017
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Online Access: | https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/44177/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/44177/1/Ionita-hess2017.pdf http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/21/1397/2017/hess-21-1397-2017.html https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.50571 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.50571.d001 |
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ftawi:oai:epic.awi.de:44177 2023-05-15T16:12:12+02:00 The European 2015 drought from a climatological perspective Ionita, Monica Tallaksen, Lena Kingston, Daniel Stagge, James Laaha, Gregor Van Lanen, Henny Scholz, Patrick Chelcea, Silvia Haslinger, Klaus 2017-03-08 application/pdf https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/44177/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/44177/1/Ionita-hess2017.pdf http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/21/1397/2017/hess-21-1397-2017.html https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.50571 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.50571.d001 unknown COPERNICUS GESELLSCHAFT MBH https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/44177/1/Ionita-hess2017.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.50571.d001 Ionita, M. orcid:0000-0001-8240-4380 , Tallaksen, L. , Kingston, D. , Stagge, J. , Laaha, G. , Van Lanen, H. , Scholz, P. orcid:0000-0003-2692-7624 , Chelcea, S. and Haslinger, K. (2017) The European 2015 drought from a climatological perspective , Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 21 , pp. 1397-1419 . doi:10.5194/hess-21-1397-2017 <https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1397-2017> , hdl:10013/epic.50571 EPIC3Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, COPERNICUS GESELLSCHAFT MBH, 21, pp. 1397-1419, ISSN: 1027-5606 Article isiRev 2017 ftawi https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1397-2017 2021-12-24T15:42:46Z The summer drought of 2015 affected a large portion of continental Europe and was one of the most severe droughts in the region since summer 2003. The summer of 2015 was characterized by exceptionally high temperatures in many parts of central and eastern Europe, with daily maximum temperatures 2 °C higher than the seasonal mean (1971–2000) over most of western Europe, and more than 3 °C higher in the east. It was the hottest and climatologically driest summer over the 1950–2015 study period for an area stretching from the eastern Czech Republic to Ukraine. For Europe, as a whole, it is among the six hottest and driest summers since 1950. High evapotranspiration rates combined with a lack of precipitation affected soil moisture and vegetation and led to record low river flows in several major rivers, even beyond the drought-hit region. The 2015 drought developed rather rapidly over the Iberian Peninsula, France, southern Benelux and central Germany in May and reached peak intensity and spatial extent by August, affecting especially the eastern part of Europe. Over the summer period, there were four heat wave episodes, all associated with persistent blocking events. Upper-level atmospheric circulation over Europe was characterized by positive 500 hPa geopotential height anomalies flanked by a large negative anomaly to the north and west (i.e., over the central North Atlantic Ocean extending to northern Fennoscandia) and another center of positive geopotential height anomalies over Greenland and northern Canada. Simultaneously, the summer sea surface temperatures (SSTs) were characterized by large negative anomalies in the central North Atlantic Ocean and large positive anomalies in the Mediterranean basin. Composite analysis shows that the western Mediterranean SST is strongly related to the occurrence of dry and hot summers over the last 66 years (especially over the eastern part of Europe). The lagged relationship between the Mediterranean SST and summer drought conditions established in this study can provide valuable skill for the prediction of drought conditions over Europe on interannual to decadal timescales. Article in Journal/Newspaper Fennoscandia Greenland North Atlantic Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) Canada Greenland Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 21 3 1397 1419 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) |
op_collection_id |
ftawi |
language |
unknown |
description |
The summer drought of 2015 affected a large portion of continental Europe and was one of the most severe droughts in the region since summer 2003. The summer of 2015 was characterized by exceptionally high temperatures in many parts of central and eastern Europe, with daily maximum temperatures 2 °C higher than the seasonal mean (1971–2000) over most of western Europe, and more than 3 °C higher in the east. It was the hottest and climatologically driest summer over the 1950–2015 study period for an area stretching from the eastern Czech Republic to Ukraine. For Europe, as a whole, it is among the six hottest and driest summers since 1950. High evapotranspiration rates combined with a lack of precipitation affected soil moisture and vegetation and led to record low river flows in several major rivers, even beyond the drought-hit region. The 2015 drought developed rather rapidly over the Iberian Peninsula, France, southern Benelux and central Germany in May and reached peak intensity and spatial extent by August, affecting especially the eastern part of Europe. Over the summer period, there were four heat wave episodes, all associated with persistent blocking events. Upper-level atmospheric circulation over Europe was characterized by positive 500 hPa geopotential height anomalies flanked by a large negative anomaly to the north and west (i.e., over the central North Atlantic Ocean extending to northern Fennoscandia) and another center of positive geopotential height anomalies over Greenland and northern Canada. Simultaneously, the summer sea surface temperatures (SSTs) were characterized by large negative anomalies in the central North Atlantic Ocean and large positive anomalies in the Mediterranean basin. Composite analysis shows that the western Mediterranean SST is strongly related to the occurrence of dry and hot summers over the last 66 years (especially over the eastern part of Europe). The lagged relationship between the Mediterranean SST and summer drought conditions established in this study can provide valuable skill for the prediction of drought conditions over Europe on interannual to decadal timescales. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ionita, Monica Tallaksen, Lena Kingston, Daniel Stagge, James Laaha, Gregor Van Lanen, Henny Scholz, Patrick Chelcea, Silvia Haslinger, Klaus |
spellingShingle |
Ionita, Monica Tallaksen, Lena Kingston, Daniel Stagge, James Laaha, Gregor Van Lanen, Henny Scholz, Patrick Chelcea, Silvia Haslinger, Klaus The European 2015 drought from a climatological perspective |
author_facet |
Ionita, Monica Tallaksen, Lena Kingston, Daniel Stagge, James Laaha, Gregor Van Lanen, Henny Scholz, Patrick Chelcea, Silvia Haslinger, Klaus |
author_sort |
Ionita, Monica |
title |
The European 2015 drought from a climatological perspective |
title_short |
The European 2015 drought from a climatological perspective |
title_full |
The European 2015 drought from a climatological perspective |
title_fullStr |
The European 2015 drought from a climatological perspective |
title_full_unstemmed |
The European 2015 drought from a climatological perspective |
title_sort |
european 2015 drought from a climatological perspective |
publisher |
COPERNICUS GESELLSCHAFT MBH |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/44177/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/44177/1/Ionita-hess2017.pdf http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/21/1397/2017/hess-21-1397-2017.html https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.50571 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.50571.d001 |
geographic |
Canada Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Canada Greenland |
genre |
Fennoscandia Greenland North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Fennoscandia Greenland North Atlantic |
op_source |
EPIC3Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, COPERNICUS GESELLSCHAFT MBH, 21, pp. 1397-1419, ISSN: 1027-5606 |
op_relation |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/44177/1/Ionita-hess2017.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.50571.d001 Ionita, M. orcid:0000-0001-8240-4380 , Tallaksen, L. , Kingston, D. , Stagge, J. , Laaha, G. , Van Lanen, H. , Scholz, P. orcid:0000-0003-2692-7624 , Chelcea, S. and Haslinger, K. (2017) The European 2015 drought from a climatological perspective , Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 21 , pp. 1397-1419 . doi:10.5194/hess-21-1397-2017 <https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1397-2017> , hdl:10013/epic.50571 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1397-2017 |
container_title |
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences |
container_volume |
21 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
1397 |
op_container_end_page |
1419 |
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1765997462146777088 |