Droughts and Moisture Transport (SETH)

 

Summary:

Previous works have pointed out the increasing number and intensification of natural hazards related to extremes in precipitation and drought conditions, and many of them alert about the role of climate changes of antropogenic origin. The investigation of the anomalous moisture transport before, during, and after the ocurrence of the most important drought episodes observed worldwide in the last thirty years is the purpose of the present project. Concerning trajectories of air masses, sources and sinks of humidity evolved, the lagrangian perspective can offer more detailed information than the eulerian one in studies of transport of moisture, what justifies its application in this study. The lagrangian approach proposed here uses the model FLEXPART integrated with the ERA-Interim data set and it has been successfully applied in previous studies concerning the climatological characterization of the sources and sinks of moisture in several regions around the world. The drought episodes are identified and characterized through the SPEI index. For each one of the drought events selected, the methodology proposes to investigate the role of the area affected as an receptor/source of moisture. Changes in land and oceanic evaporation are also analyzed in order to identify for which drought cases the changes in the oceanic or continental sources were more significant. A better understanding not only of the transport of humidity, but also of the relationship between sources/sinks of moisture and of possible impacts generated by variations in the sources is crucial for a more accurate weather forecast, helping to minimize the consequences of the natural hazards

General objectives:

The purpose of this project was to investigate the anomalous moisture transport during the ocurrence of the most important drought episodes worldwide in the last 30 years through a lagrangian methodology.

Specific objectives are:

  1.  Identification and characterization of the most important drought episodes during the period 1980-2015 through the SPEI index.
  2. For each episode selected, the objectives 2, 3, 4, and 5 are developed:
  3. A climatological identification of the major sources and sinks of moisture of the regions where the drought happened;
  4. Analysis of the anomalous moisture sources and sinks during the drought episodes;
  5. Analysis of the anomalies of evaporation;
  6. Analysis of the relative importance of the oceanic and continental sources.

 

Catalog of the drought events during 1980-2015 for the terrestrial areas of 27 Reference Regions (RR) defined in the 5th Assessment Report (AR5) of the IPCC, as well as the associated changes in atmospheric moisture transport during the most severe meteorological drought episode observed in each RR

 

List of publications:

A. DrumondM. Stojanovic, R. Nieto, S.M. Vicente-Serrano, L. Gimeno (2019) Linking Anomalous Moisture Transport and Drought Episodes in the IPCC Reference RegionsBull. Amer. Meteor. Soc, doi:  https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-18-0111.1 

M. Stojanovic, A. Drumond, R. Nieto, L. Gimeno (2018), Variations in Moisture Supply from the Mediterranean Sea during Meteorological Drought Episodes over Central Europe, Atmosphere, 9(7),  278, doi:10.3390/atmos9070278

R. Sorí, J. Marengo, R. Nieto, A. Drumond, L. Gimeno (2018) The Atmospheric Branch of the Hydrological Cycle over the Negro and Madeira River Basins in the Amazon Region, Water, 2018, 10(6), 738 doi: 10.3390/w10060738

M. Stojanovic, A. Drumond, R. Nieto, L. Gimeno (2018) Anomalies in Moisture Supply during the 2003 Drought Event in Europe: A Lagrangian Analysis, Water, 2018, 10(4), 467. Pages 1-19. doi:10.3390/w10040467

Z. Salah, R. Nieto, A. Drumond, L. Gimeno, S. Vicente-Serrano (2018) A Lagrangian analysis of the moisture budget over the Fertile Crescent during two intense drought episodes, Journal of Hydrology, 560, 382-395, doi: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.03.021

R. Sorí, R. Nieto, S.M. Vicente-Serrano, A. Drumond, L. Gimeno (2017) A Lagrangian Perspective of the Hydrological Cycle in the Congo River Basin, Earth System Dynamics, doi:10.5194/esd-2017-21

M. Stojanovic, A. Drumond, R. Nieto, L. Gimeno (2017) Moisture Transport Anomalies over the Danube River Basin during Two Drought Events: A Lagrangian Analysis, Atmosphere, 8(10), 193; doi:10.3390/atmos8100193

R. Sorí, R. Nieto, A. Drumond, S. Vicente-Serrano, L. Gimeno (2017) The atmospheric branch of the hydrological cycle over the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra river basins, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 6379-6399, doi: 10.5194/hess-21-6379-2017

R. Sorí, R. Nieto, A. Drumond, L. Gimeno (2017), The Niger River Basin Moisture Sources: A Lagrangian Analysis, Atmosphere, 8(2), 38; doi:10.3390/atmos8020038

D. Ciric, M. Stojanovic, A. Drumond, R. Nieto, L. Gimeno (2016) Tracking the origin of moisture over the Danube River Basin using a Lagrangian approach. Atmosphere, 7, 162, DOI: 10.3390/atmos7120162

A. Drumond, L. Gimeno, R. Nieto R, Trigo R, Vicente-Serrano SM (2017) Drought episodes in the climatological sinks of the Mediterranean moisture source: The role of moisture transport. Global and Planetary Change, DOI: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2016.12.004

A. Drumond, R. Nieto, L. Gimeno (2016) A Lagrangian approach for investigating anomalies in the moisture transport during drought episodes. Cuadernos de Investigación Geográfica, 42(1), pp. 113-125, DOI: 10.18172/cig.2925

 

Participation in conferences:

  • Rome2015: Science Symposium on Climate, 19-20 Nov 2015, Rome, Italy

Major mechanisms of atmospheric moisture transport and their role in precipitation extreme events in the Amazonia (poster)

  • ECAS-2016: 1st International Electronic Conference on Atmospheric Sciences, 16-31 July 2016. On-line

The Niger River Basin Moisture Sources. A Lagrangian Analysis (proceeding on-line)

Tracking the Origin of Moisture (and Moisture for Precipitation) over the Danube River Basin through a Lagrangian Approach (proceeding on-line)

  • 8th EGU Leonardo Conference 25-27 Oct 2016, Ourense, Spain

A Lagrangian analysis of the moisture transport associated with drought conditions in the Amazon River Basin (poster)

A Lagrangian analysis of the moisture transport during drought episodes in the Danube River Basin (poster)

A Lagrangian analysis of the moisture budget over Fertile Crescent during strong drought episodes (poster)

A Lagrangian perspective of the hydrological cycle in the Congo River Basin (poster)

  • 2nd International Symposium on Water: Floods and Droughts, 27-28 Oct 2016, Ourense, Spain

A climatological analysis of drought occurrences over the Amazon River Basin using SPEI (poster)

A climatological characterization of the droughts over the Danube River Basin in the period 1980-2014 using SPEI (poster)

Evolution of drought episodes assessed with the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) over Fertile Crescent (poster)

Meteorological droughts in the Niger River Basin and its link with atmospheric moisture transport (poster)

  • XXXVI Reunión Bienal de la Real Sociedad Española de Física, 17-21 July 2017, stgo Compostela, Spain

Drought episodes worldwide and the associated moisture transport (poster)

Climatological characterization of the drought episodes and linked moisture transport anomalies over the Mediterranean region (poster)

A Lagrangian diagnosis of the hydrological cycle in major South Asia river basins (poster)

  • VII Simposio Internacional de Climatologia, 18-22 Sept 2017, Petrópolis, Brasil

Major moisture sources for the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra river basins: their role during dry and wet conditions (poster)

  • ChyCle-2017: 1st International Electronic Conference on the Hydrological Cycle. 12-16 Nov.On-line

A lagrangian analysis of the moisture transport during the 2003 drought episode over the Mediterranean region (proceeding on-line)

Drought and wet episodes in Amazonia: the role of atmospheric moisture transport (proceeding on-line)

  • XXXV Jornadas Científicas de la AME - 19º Encuentro hispano-luso de Meteorología, 5-7 March, León, Spain

A Lagrangian analysis of the moisture supply from the Mediterranean Sea during the drought episodes occurred over the Central Europe during 1980-2015. (poster)

  • EGU 2018: European Geosciences Union General Assembly,  8-13 April 2018, Viena, Austria

The 2003 meteorological drought over the Mediterranean region and the associated moisture transport: A Lagrangian analysis (poster)

Moisture transport and meteorological drought episodes around the world. (Presenting Interactive COntent, PICO)

Drought characterization for the Miño-Limia River basin and its link with atmospheric moisture transport (poster)

On the hydrological cycle in the Zambezi River basin. A Lagrangian approach (Presenting Interactive COntent, PICO)

Moisture sources associated with the 2010 mega-heatwave in Russia (poster)

  • MEDCLIVAR 2018 Conference, 17-21 Sept 2018 , Belgrado, Serbia

Variations in the moisture transport from the Mediterranean Sea during the meteorological drought episodes over Central Europe (poster)