| Summary: | The 21st century has already seen a series of major drought events in Europe. The high costs and multiple impacts highlight the importance of a holistic understanding of drought in order to improve preparedness and mitigation. Droughts are multifaceted phenomena, involving drivers, drought characteristics and impacts. Drivers include large-scale oceanic and atmospheric circulation and anomalous meteorological conditions. A drought may manifest itself in different parts of the hydrological cycle (meteorological drought, soil moisture drought, hydrological drought), and lead to a wide range of impacts. Improved knowledge of the drought phenomenon is particularly important in light of ongoing climate change, which influences various aspects of droughts in different ways. This thesis aimed to characterise drivers, extremeness and impacts of recent warm-season drought events in Europe in a historical perspective. Further, the thesis aimed to contribute to the understanding of the relationships between different aspects of drought (drivers, drought characteristics and impacts), including relations between a meteorological drought index (Standardised Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index; SPEI) and atmospheric circulation (as indicated by geopotential height at 500 mb; Z500), low summer streamflow and Z500, groundwater and precipitation, as well as wildfires and various hydrometeorological indices. The thesis had a particular focus on northern Europe (Fennoscandia or the Nordic region) and the extreme drought that hit this region in 2018. The region is special in its high variability in hydrological, climatological and physiographic characteristics, which influences how a drought develops. In terms of impacts, the thesis had a specific focus on wildfires in Fennoscandia.
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