Analyzing the informative value of alternative hazard indicators for monitoring drought risk for human water supply and river ecosystems at the global scale

Abstract

Abstract. Streamflow drought hazard indicators (SDHI) are mostly lacking in large-scale drought early warning systems (DEWS). This paper presents a new systematic approach for selecting and computing SDHI for monitoring drought risk for human water supply from surface water and for river ecosystems that is also relevant for meteorological or soil moisture drought. We rec-ommend considering the habituation of people and ecosystems to the streamflow regime (e.g., a certain interannual variability or relative reduction of streamflow) when selecting indicators. Distinguishing four indicator types, we classify indicators of drought magnitude (water deficit during a pre-defined period) and severity (cumulated magnitude since onset of the drought event). We quantify eight existing and three new SDHI globally using the global hydrological model WaterGAP2.2d. We recommend streamflow hazard indicators that should be included in large-scale DEWS as they are suitable for risk systems that are differently adapted to low water availability and characterized by either perennial or intermittent streamflow regime and the existence or not of large reservoirs. Drought magnitude is best quantified by return period or relative deviation from mean, and severity by return period or water volume below a threshold relative to mean annual streamflow. Both anomaly and deficit indicators should be provided.

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“…While a plethora of hazard indicators for monitoring droughts exists, a clear understanding and communication of the conceptual basis of the selected drought hazard indicators and their relation to specific drought risks are less developed (Bachmair et al., 2016). A systematic approach for selecting drought hazard indicators that are specific to the risk system under consideration has recently been presented by Herbert and Döll (2023), who also propose to take into account the habituation of the system at risk to less water than normal when deciding which drought hazard indicators are suitable for a drought risk assessment. Impact‐based forecasts that include risk information are largely missing (Sutanto et al., 2019).…”

Evolution of Succinate Dehydrogenase Inhibitor (SDHI) Fungicides as Plant Protection Active Substances in Europe

“…However, some controversial points of view regarding toxicity [7] and ecotoxicity [8][9][10][11][12] regarding this class of pesticides were raised in 2018 in France [13]. These toxicological concerns were recently correlated by a global survey showing exposure impact [14]. Moreover, SDHI fungicides are already encountering resistance problems [15,16].…”

Analyzing the informative value of alternative hazard indicators for monitoring drought hazard for human water supply and river ecosystems at the global scale

“…The WaterGAP 2.2d source code is published at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6902111 (Müller Schmied et al, 2022). The outputs from this study are available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7764879 (Herbert and Döll, 2023). GRDC monthly streamflow data are available at https://portal.grdc.bafg.de/applications/public.html?publicuser= PublicUser#dataDownload/Home (GRDC, 2019; last access: 6 June 2023).…”