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

Abstract

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.

Longer Growing Seasons Cause Hydrological Regime Shifts in Central European Forests

“…It is, however, consistent with observations of slowly drying conditions observed elsewhere in the Czech Republic [17][18][19]. While it is true that more severe droughts have occurred over the past millennium [71] and the main forest-forming species have survived, the forest structure and species composition prior to the adoption of present day silviculture was very different, more natural and resilient. In our research we focused on current cultivated production forests with altered structure and species composition where the ongoing drying might have more severe consequences.…”

Changing impacts and societal responses to drought in southwestern Germany since 1800

“…To substitute for the lack of information, drought impacts can be applied as a proxy for past vulnerability (Blauhut et al 2015a). To establish a long time series of drought impact data documentary evidence, like annals, town chronicles, public announcements, newspaper and official reports, can be used as drought relevant sources (Gil-Guirado et al 2016;Stahl et al 2016;Brázdil et al 2018). Furthermore, a growing number of studies are using longterm precipitation data alongside documentary evidence in order to better understand past drought events.…”

Environmental shocks, religious struggle, and resilience: a contribution to the economic history of Ancien Régime France

“…About a decade later, his pioneering monograph on the climate of the last millennium and its impact on society and history lay the groundwork for European historical climatology (Le Roy Ladurie, 1967). 3 Following a similar line of investigation, many researchers have combined data from documentary evidence, grape harvest dates and other paleoclimatological proxies on the one hand and socio-economic data on the other hand in order to examine how changes in climate and weather could shape past societies (Alfani, 2010;Brázdil et al, 2018;Camenisch and Rohr, 2018;Campbell, 2016;Huhtamaa, 2018;Pfister and Brázdil, 2006).…”