300-years of hydrological records and societal responses to droughts and floods on the Pacific coast of Central America

Guevara-Murua, Alvaro; Williams, Caroline A.; Hendy, Erica; Imbach, Pablo

doi:10.5194/cp-2017-30

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Recently, Guevara‐Murua et al . () presented paleo‐climatic evidence for an asymmetric teleconnection in the form of stronger wet periods during La Niña compared to relatively weaker dry periods during El Niño episodes in Guatemala. Furthermore, the influence of recycled moisture from continental South America on Central America rainfall during El Niño conditions was pointed out by Sánchez‐Murillo et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial and temporal patterns, trends and teleconnection of cumulative rainfall deficits across Central America

Muñoz-Jiménez

Giraldo-Osorio

Brenes-Torres

et al. 2018

Intl Journal of Climatology

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Central America is a region vulnerable to hydrometeorological threats. Recently, the impacts of droughts caused higher economic losses in comparison to, for example, floods and landslides. This study focuses on the spatio‐temporal behaviour of cumulative rainfall deficits across Central America attempting to provide an historical context to the most recent drought episodes. We developed a long‐term (1950–2014), monthly rainfall data set that merged large‐scale interpolated products with a station observation network to spatially and temporally evaluate the 12‐month Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI12) across the region. We found that El Niño cannot always be associated with drier conditions and that severe droughts are likely to spatially develop from localized phenomena to cover the entire region beyond the Central American drought corridor (CADC). Furthermore, there is not always a clear separation into the Pacific and Caribbean domain in terms of drought behaviour, but generally El Niño episodes can be associated with drier conditions on the Pacific slope and wetter conditions in the Caribbean. We could also show that trends in the SPI series are spatially variable and that more localized significant positive and negative trends exist throughout Central America. For example, central pacific Nicaragua was identified as a hot spot for significant drying conditions related to El Niño. We aim at developing this effort into a near‐real time and publicly available drought monitor in the near future to increase resilience and adaption efforts in the region.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial and temporal patterns, trends and teleconnection of cumulative rainfall deficits across Central America

Muñoz-Jiménez

Giraldo-Osorio

Brenes-Torres

et al. 2018

Intl Journal of Climatology

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“…Other similar scales may also be used (cf. Rodrigo et al, 1999;van Engelen et al, 2009;Ge et al, 2016;Guevara-Murua et al, 2018). Where there is an overlap of indices with series employing instrumental precipitation records, standard palaeoclimatological approaches based on the use of calibration/verification periods may be employed for quantitative precipitation reconstruction (see e.g.…”

Section: Methods Of Drought Reconstruction From Documentary Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…12). The following drought series are available: (i) decadal frequencies of droughts in central Mexico (Mendoza et al, 2005a); (ii) decadal frequencies of very dry and dry years on the Pacific coast of Central America (Guevara-Murua et al, 2018); (iii) decadal frequencies of dry and very dry years for Potosí, Bolivian Altiplano, Bolivia (Gioda and Prieto, 1999). The differences in the fluctuation of drought frequency in all three areas are reflected in their low and statistically non-significant correlation coefficients: between (i) and (ii) 0.27, (i) and (iii) 0.07, (ii) and (iii) -0.22.…”

Section: The Spatio-temporal Variability Of Droughtsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rogations are also well-known in former Spanish colonies in Central and South America (e.g. Domínguez-Castro and García-Herrera, 2016;Domínguez-Castro et al, 2018;Guevara-Murua et al, 2018); in Mexico starting in the 1590s (Garza and Barriendos, 1998;Garza Merodio, 2002); in Equador, Peru and Argentina since the 16th century (Huertas Vallejos and Ortlieb, 1992;Prieto et al, 2000;García Herrera, 2001, 2009;Gascón and Caviedes, 2013); in Colombia between the 16th and 20th centuries (Jurado Jurado, 2004;Ulloa, 2014); and in Brazil from the 18th century to the current day (Heathcote, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cape, and Royal National Park, KwaZulu-Natal (anomaly relative to 1979-2008 mean) (Hannaford et al, 2015); (c-f) documentary-and gaugedata-derived composite series for "South Central Africa" (Zambia, northeast Botswana, Zimbabwe, southern Mozambique), the "Kalahari" 5 (southern Botswana, northern/eastern South Africa), "South West Africa" (south-eastern Angola, Namibia, north-western South Africa), and "Cape Winter Rains" (south-western South Africa) (Nicholson et al, 2012b), (g-m) documentary-derived series for southern Malawi (Nash et al, 2018), central Namibia (Grab and Zumthurm, 2018), Namaqualand (Kelso and Vogel, 2007), southern Kalahari (Nash andEndfield, 2002a, 2008), Lesotho (Nash and Grab, 2010), KwaZulu-Natal (Nash et al, 2016b) and Eastern Cape (Vogel, 1989). , 1450, -1900, (Mendoza et al, 2005a; b) decadal frequencies of droughts (1dry, 2very dry) of the Pacific coast of Central America, 1640-1945(Guevara-Murua et al, 2018; c) decadal frequencies of droughts (1dry, 2 -very dry) for Potosí, Bolivian Altiplano, Bolivia, 1585-1815 (Gioda and Prieto, 1999).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Documentary data and the study of the past droughts: an overview of the state of the art worldwide

Brázdil

Kiss

Luterbacher

et al. 2018

Preprint

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Abstract. The use of documentary evidence to investigate past climatic trends and events has become a recognised approach in recent decades. This contribution presents the state of the art in its application to droughts. The range of documentary evidence is very wide, including: general annals, chronicles, and memoirs, diaries kept by missionaries, travellers and those specifically interested in the weather, the records kept by administrators tasked with keeping accounts and other financial and economic records, legal-administrative evidence, religious sources, letters, marketplace and shopkeepers' songs, newspapers and journals, pictographic evidence, chronograms, epigraphic evidence, early instrumental observations, society commentaries, compilations and books, and historical-climatological databases. These come from many parts of the world. This variety of documentary information is evaluated with respect to the reconstruction of hydroclimatic conditions (precipitation, drought frequency and drought indices). Documentary-based drought reconstructions are then addressed in terms of long-term spatio-temporal fluctuations, major drought events, relationships with external forcing and large-scale climate drivers, socio-economic impacts and human responses. Documentary-based drought series are also discussed from the viewpoint of spatio-temporal variability for certain continents, and their employment together with hydroclimate reconstructions from other proxies (in particular tree-rings) is discussed. Finally, conclusions are drawn and challenges for the future use of documentary evidence in the study of droughts are presented.

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Drought and society: Scientific progress, blind spots, and future prospects

Savelli

Rusca

Cloke

et al. 2022

WIREs Climate Change

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Human activities have increasingly intensified the severity, frequency, and negative impacts of droughts in several regions across the world. This trend has led to broader scientific conceptualizations of drought risk that account for human actions and their interplays with natural systems. This review focuses on physical and engineering sciences to examine the way and extent to which these disciplines account for social processes in relation to the production and distribution of drought risk. We conclude that this research has significantly progressed in terms of recognizing the role of humans in reshaping drought risk and its socioenvironmental impacts. We note an increasing engagement with and contribution to understanding vulnerability, resilience, and adaptation patterns. Moreover, by advancing (socio)hydrological models, developing numerical indexes, and enhancing data processing, physical and engineering scientists have determined the extent of human influences in the propagation of drought hazard. However, these studies do not fully capture the complexities of anthropogenic transformations. Very often, they portray society as homogeneous, and decision-making processes as apolitical, thereby concealing the power relations underlying the production of drought and the uneven distribution of its impacts. The resistance in engaging explicitly with politics and social power-despite their major role in producing anthropogenic droughtcan be attributed to the strong influence of positivist epistemologies in engineering and physical sciences. We suggest that an active engagement with critical social sciences can further theorizations of drought risk by shedding light on the structural and historical systems of power that engender every socioenvironmental transformation.

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300-years of hydrological records and societal responses to droughts and floods on the Pacific coast of Central America

Cited by 4 publications

References 41 publications

Spatial and temporal patterns, trends and teleconnection of cumulative rainfall deficits across Central America

Spatial and temporal patterns, trends and teleconnection of cumulative rainfall deficits across Central America

Documentary data and the study of the past droughts: an overview of the state of the art worldwide

Drought and society: Scientific progress, blind spots, and future prospects

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