Flash drought: A state of the science review

Abstract

In the two decades, since the advent of the term “flash drought,” considerable research has been directed toward the topic. Within the scientific community, we have actively forged a new paradigm that has avoided a chaotic evolution of conventional drought but instead recognizes that flash droughts have distinct dynamics and, particularly, impacts. We have moved beyond the initial debate over the definition of flash drought to a centralized focus on the triad of rapid onset, drought development, and associated impacts. The refinement toward this general set of principles has led to significant progress in determining key variables for monitoring flash drought development, identifying notable case studies, and compiling fundamental physical characteristics of flash drought. However, critical focus areas still remain, including advancing our knowledge on the atmospheric and oceanic drivers of flash drought; developing flash drought‐specific detection indices and monitoring systems tailored to practitioners; improving subseasonal‐to‐seasonal prediction of these events; constraining uncertainty in flash drought and impact projections; and using social science to further our understanding of impacts, particularly with regard to sectors that lie outside of our traditional hydroclimatological focus, such as wildfire management and food‐security monitoring. Researchers and stakeholders working together on these critical topics will assure society is resilient to flash drought in a changing climate.This article is categorized under: Science of Water > Water Extremes

Flash droughts and their impacts -using newspaper articles to assess the perceived consequences of rapidly emerging droughts

“…FDs are becoming increasingly frequent under climate change, and require different adaptation schemes owing to their rapid emergence (Yuan et al 2023;Christian, Hobbins, et al 2024). In this regard, we investigated the occurrence of FDs in Germany, as well as societal awareness (Kam, Stowers, and S. Kim 2019) and perceived impacts (Sodoge et al 2023).…”

“…Although recent studied have attempted to monitor and forecast FDs (Mukherjee and Mishra 2022;Ho, Buras, and Tuo 2023;Christian, Hobbins, et al 2024), these efforts often fail to identify impactful events and validate their metrics and indices with observed societal consequences, leading to misidentification and misinformation (Alencar and Paton 2022). This study provides a novel technique to bridge this gap and allows the production of more reliable methods for FD identification and monitoring based on validated events.…”

“…An initial debate focused on whether FDs were short-lived droughts (Mo and Lettenmaier 2016), or intense evolving droughts (Ford and Labosier 2017). The current consensus supports the latter (Christian, Hobbins, et al 2024). A leading understanding describes FDs as emerging rapidly by transitioning from average to high soil moisture to dry conditions (Yuan et al 2023).…”

Spatiotemporal Variation in Water Deficit- and Heatwave-Driven Flash Droughts in Songnen Plain and Its Ecological Impact

“…Furthermore, vegetation's response to drought tends to be delayed; the longer the overall drought persists, the more significant its influence on vegetation becomes [53]. Consequently, solely focusing on the rapid development (or burst) phase of a flash drought limits our understanding of its ecological impact [54,55]. It can be anticipated that a subsequent continuous drought following a flash drought could have profound effects on vegetation [56].…”

Investigating the Response of Vegetation to Flash Droughts by Using Cross-Spectral Analysis and an Evapotranspiration-Based Drought Index

“…Traditionally, drought is often seen as a slowly evolving natural phenomenon caused by a lack of precipitation over some period [1]. Recently, flash drought, characterized by a sudden onset and rapid intensification with destructive impact, has drawn significant attention [2][3][4][5][6]. In addition to precipitation deficits, flash droughts are often accompanied by abnormally high air temperature, low humidity, strong solar radiation, and sometimes strong winds that intensify the rapid depletion of soil moisture [7][8][9].…”