Forum for Science, Industry and Business

Drought hits rivers first and more strongly than agriculture

The study reports that droughts develop slowly and have delayed and multi-faceted impacts. As such, the full drought phenomenon and its consequences are usually not readily perceived, in contrast to faster developing extreme weather events, like floods or heat waves.

Before crops wither and agriculture is affected, runoff and hence water resources are impacted.

picture: Andrea Carri (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu), licensed under CC BY 3.0

“With the persistent rainfall deficit this summer across large parts of Western Europe, drought has recently become more perceivable. It has already caused serious societal and ecosystem impacts along its development pathways.” says Rene Orth, group leader at Max-Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena, Germany.

The study reveals these typical drought development pathways: rainfall deficits propagate first through soil moisture reductions, then to river runoff depletions, and finally cause impacts on vegetation and crop yields. Deciphering this partitioning of water deficits across different parts of the freshwater system is a crucial step forward in mitigation strategies, as the respective water anomalies threaten different societal sectors and ecosystems.

The researchers suggest that drought response measures need to be tailored based on their new findings on drought development: Early into a drought, response measures should focus on adapting to low(er) stream flows by more efficiently using and storing water.

Further into the drought, the focus should be on irrigation support of essential crops and vegetation, while balancing and temporarily limiting other water uses. “Such improved drought management might become even more relevant in the future, with possibly increasing drought frequency and/or magnitude as the climate changes” says Georgia Destouni, Professor at Stockholm University in Sweden.

The study was conducted by Rene Orth (rene.orth@bgc-jena.mpg.de), group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena, Germany, and Georgia Destouni (georgia.destouni@natgeo.su.se), Professor at Stockholm University, Sweden.

Wissenschaftliche Ansprechpartner:

Dr. Renè Orth, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry
Groupleader Hydrology-Biosphere-Climate Interactions
Email: rene.orth@bgc-jena.mpg.de
Phone: +49 3641 576250

Originalpublikation:

Orth R. and G. Destouni, 2018. Drought reduces blue-water fluxes more strongly than green-water fluxes in Europe, Nat. Commun. (2018) 9:3602
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-06013-7

Dr. Eberhard Fritz | Max-Planck-Institut für Biogeochemie

Im Focus: Solving the mystery of quantum light in thin layers

A very special kind of light is emitted by tungsten diselenide layers. The reason for this has been unclear. Now an explanation has been found at TU Wien (Vienna)

It is an exotic phenomenon that nobody was able to explain for years: when energy is supplied to a thin layer of the material tungsten diselenide, it begins to...

Im Focus: An ultrafast glimpse of the photochemistry of the atmosphere

Researchers at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich have explored the initial consequences of the interaction of light with molecules on the surface of nanoscopic aerosols.

The nanocosmos is constantly in motion. All natural processes are ultimately determined by the interplay between radiation and matter. Light strikes particles...

Im Focus: Shaping nanoparticles for improved quantum information technology

Particles that are mere nanometers in size are at the forefront of scientific research today. They come in many different shapes: rods, spheres, cubes, vesicles, S-shaped worms and even donut-like rings. What makes them worthy of scientific study is that, being so tiny, they exhibit quantum mechanical properties not possible with larger objects.

Researchers at the Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility located at DOE's Argonne National...

Im Focus: Novel Material for Shipbuilding

A new research project at the TH Mittelhessen focusses on the development of a novel light weight design concept for leisure boats and yachts. Professor Stephan Marzi from the THM Institute of Mechanics and Materials collaborates with Krake Catamarane, which is a shipyard located in Apolda, Thuringia.

The project is set up in an international cooperation with Professor Anders Biel from Karlstad University in Sweden and the Swedish company Lamera from...

Im Focus: Controlling superconducting regions within an exotic metal

Superconductivity has fascinated scientists for many years since it offers the potential to revolutionize current technologies. Materials only become superconductors - meaning that electrons can travel in them with no resistance - at very low temperatures. These days, this unique zero resistance superconductivity is commonly found in a number of technologies, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Future technologies, however, will harness the total synchrony of electronic behavior in superconductors - a property called the phase. There is currently a...