Changes of the aridity index in Europe from 1950 to 2019

Bešťáková, Zuzana; Strnad, Filip; Godoy, Mijael Rodrigo Vargas; Singh, Usha; Markonis, Yannis; Hanel, Martin; Máca, Petr; Kyselý, Jan

doi:10.1007/s00704-022-04266-3

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…The drying regime we report in Czechia, due to the gradual increase in atmospheric evaporative demand over the last 60 years (1961-2020) extends in time and space over central and eastern Europe (Bešt´áková et al, 2022). Jaagus et al (2022) reported long-term drying trends for the 1949-2018 period in Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, southern Poland, and particularly significant in Czechia.…”

Section: Spatial Patterns Of Water Cycle Changesmentioning

confidence: 62%

“…Bandhauer et al (2022) report that while E-OBS and ERA5 agree qualitatively, ERA5 considerably overestimates mean precipitation over Europe due to too many wet days. These prevalent wet bias in ERA5 has been reported along diverse assessments (e.g., Bešt´áková et al, 2022;Lavers et al, 2022). NCEP/NCAR R1 had the worst precipitation performance.…”

Section: Spatial Patterns Of Water Cycle Changesmentioning

confidence: 76%

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Water Cycle Acceleration in Czechia: A Water Budget Approach

Godoy

Markonis

Rakovec

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Abstract. The water cycle in Czechia has been observed to be changing in recent years, with precipitation and evapotranspiration rates exhibiting a trend of acceleration. However, the spatial patterns of such changes remain poorly understood due to the heterogeneous network of ground observations. This study relied on multiple state-of-the-art reanalyses and hydrological modeling. Herein we propose a novel method for benchmarking hydroclimatic data fusion based on water cycle budget closure. We ranked water cycle budget closure of 96 different combinations for precipitation, evapotranspiration, and runoff using CRU TS v4.06, E-OBS, ERA5-Land, mHM, NCEP/NCAR R1, PREC/L, and TerraClimate. Then we used the best-ranked data to describe changes in the water cycle in Czechia over the last 60 years. We determined that Czechia is undergoing water cycle acceleration, evinced by increased atmospheric water fluxes. However, the increase in annual total precipitation is not as pronounced nor consistent as evapotranspiration, resulting in an overall decrease in the runoff. Furthermore, non-parametric bootstrapping revealed that only evapotranspiration changes are statistically significant at the annual scale. At higher frequencies, we identified significant spatial heterogeneity when assessing the water cycle budget at a seasonal scale. Interestingly, the most significant temporal changes in Czechia take place during spring, while median spatial patterns stem from summer changes in the water cycle.

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Section: Spatial Patterns Of Water Cycle Changesmentioning

confidence: 62%

Section: Spatial Patterns Of Water Cycle Changesmentioning

confidence: 76%

Water Cycle Acceleration in Czechia: A Water Budget Approach

Godoy

Markonis

Rakovec

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…The average annual temperature is 14 • C, rainfall is irregular with annual values of 342 mm, and the average annual potential evapotranspiration is 837 mm [46]. The area is classified as semi-arid according to the aridity index climate classification [47,48]. Tree density and competition are high (overstocked), with aboveground biomass estimated from allometric equations at 47.3 Mg ha −1 (22.2 Mg C ha −1 ) [46].…”

Section: Study Site and Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Short-Term Effects of Heavy Thinning on Selected Soil Carbon Pools and Microbial Activity in a Young Aleppo Pine Forest

Lull,

Gil-Ortiz,

Bautista

et al. 2024

Forests

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Pinus halepensis Miller is a widespread tree species in the western Mediterranean basin, where very dense monospecific stands can be found, especially in natural regeneration after forest fires. Silvicultural thinning can reduce the competition of trees for natural resources and favour their development, although its effect depends on the habitat. The present study aims to know the effects on the soil at the physicochemical and microbiological levels after a heavy thinning in a young pine forest stand with a high stocking density. The stand is on a slope where the soil depth tends to decrease with altitude, and shows changes in its physicochemical properties between the upper and lower zones. Several soil carbon fractions (i.e., soil organic carbon (SOC), water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), and microbial biomass carbon (MBC)), microbial activity (basal soil respiration (BSR)) and enzyme activities (acid phosphatase (AP) and urease (UA)) were analysed at specific dates over a period of about five years after a heavy thinning. The changes in organic matter content were abrupt in the slope, conditioning the observed differences. It is highlighted that the SOC and WSOC contents in the mineral soil were 2.5- and 3.5-fold significantly higher, respectively, in the upper shallow zone compared to the lower deeper zone. This was also reflected in significantly higher levels of gravimetric water content (GWC) and MBC (both about 1.4-fold higher), with higher levels of BSR and UA, and 2.5-fold significantly higher levels of AP. As a result, most of the properties studied showed no significant differences between the thinning treatment and the untreated control. Results varying between dates, with a strong dependence on climate (soil temperature and humidity) of WSOC and UA. It can be concluded that the heavy thinning applied in this short-term case study favoured the growth conditions of the pine without negatively affecting the soil properties studied.

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“…Aridity indices represent a useful "diagnostic tool" of precipitation deficit (Lickley and Solomon, 2018) that has been widely used to examine the impact of variations in aridity especially on agriculture and water availability (Gudmundsson et al 2016;Straffelini and Tarolli 2023). Beštáková et al (2023) examined spatial patterns of dry and wet regions in Europe using an aridity index encompassing the last seven decades incorporating different reanalysis datasets. Their main focus was to identify regions with a wet to dry shifting pattern.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial and temporal variations of aridity-humidity indices in Montenegro

Luković,

Burić,

Mihajlović

et al. 2024

Theor Appl Climatol

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In this article, we examine the spatial pattern and trend in aridity in Montenegro from 1961 until 2020. We use temperature and precipitation observational records from 18 weather stations to calculate three aridity (climate) indices: the De Martonne aridity index (IDM), the Lang's rain factor (RF), and the Pinna combinative index (IP). On an annual scale, all of these three indices show humid to extreme humid atmospheric conditions in Montenegro. At the seasonal and monthly level, calculations are performed for IDM only due to methodological limitations regarding calculation of RF and IP at the seasonal and monthly scale. It was observed that winter, autumn and spring seasons exhibit very humid to extremely humid conditions Based on IDM, while the summer seasons show semi arid conditions mainly in the coastal parts of Montenegro, and neighboring inland. On the monthly level, the period from September to April characterizes humid climate conditions. The month of May shows less humid conditions, while IDM for June belongs to a category of the Mediterranean type climates. July and August exhibit semi arid conditions. Monthly results further show that IDM for the majority of the country trends negative, thus implying a general tendency towards a drier hydroclimate. Statistically significant negative IDM trends are calculated for April and August. The observed tendencies towards arid climate at the start of the vegetative season in April can significantly cause soil moisture deficit. Increasingly arid August conditions of generally high temperature and low water availability can be more detrimental to vegetation and potentially increase the risk of more frequent droughts and wildfires in Montenegro.

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Changes of the aridity index in Europe from 1950 to 2019

Cited by 10 publications

References 31 publications

Water Cycle Acceleration in Czechia: A Water Budget Approach

Water Cycle Acceleration in Czechia: A Water Budget Approach

The Short-Term Effects of Heavy Thinning on Selected Soil Carbon Pools and Microbial Activity in a Young Aleppo Pine Forest

Spatial and temporal variations of aridity-humidity indices in Montenegro

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