A multidisciplinary drought catalogue for southwestern Germany dating back to 1801

Abstract

Droughts are multidimensional hazards that can lead to substantial environmental and societal impacts. To understand causes and impacts, multiple perspectives need to be considered. Many studies have identified past drought events and investigated drought propagation from meteorological droughts via soil moisture to hydrological droughts, and some studies have included the impacts of these different types of drought. However, it is not certain whether the increased frequency and severity of drought events in the past decade is unprecedented in recent history. Therefore, we analyze different droughts and their impacts in a regional context using a multidisciplinary approach. We compile a comprehensive and long-term dataset to investigate possible temporal patterns in drought occurrence and place recent drought events into a historical context. We assembled a dataset of drought indices and recorded impacts over the last 218 years in southwestern Germany. Meteorological and river-flow indices were used to assess the natural drought dynamics. In addition, tree-ring data and recorded impacts were utilized to investigate drought events from an ecological and social perspective. Since 1801, 20 extreme droughts have been identified as common extreme events when applying the different indices. All events were associated with societal impacts. Our multi-dataset approach provides insights into similarities but also the unique aspects of different drought indices.