The Impact of a Severe Drought on Dust Lifting in California’s Owens Lake Area

Water is a critical natural resource that sustains the productivity of many economic sectors, whether directly or indirectly. Climate change alongside rapid growth and development are a threat to water sustainability and regional productivity. In this paper, we develop an extension to the economic input-output model to assess the impact of water supply disruptions to regional economies. The model utilizes the inoperability variable, which measures the extent to which an infrastructure system or economic sector is unable to deliver its intended output. While the inoperability concept has been utilized in previous applications, this paper offers extensions that capture the time-varying nature of inoperability as the sectors recover from a disruptive event, such as drought. The model extension is capable of inserting inoperability adjustments within the drought timeline to capture time-varying likelihoods and severities, as well as the dependencies of various economic sectors on water. The model was applied to case studies of severe drought in two regions: (1) the state of Massachusetts (MA) and (2) the US National Capital Region (NCR). These regions were selected to contrast drought resilience between a mixed urban–rural region (MA) and a highly urban region (NCR). These regions also have comparable overall gross domestic products despite significant differences in the distribution and share of the economic sectors comprising each region. The results of the case studies indicate that in both regions, the utility and real estate sectors suffer the largest economic loss; nonetheless, results also identify region-specific sectors that incur significant losses. For the NCR, three sectors in the top 10 ranking of highest economic losses are government-related, whereas in the MA, four sectors in the top 10 are manufacturing sectors. Furthermore, the accommodation sector has also been included in the NCR case intuitively because of the high concentration of museums and famous landmarks. In contrast, the Wholesale Trade sector was among the sectors with the highest economic losses in the MA case study because of its large geographic size conducive for warehouses used as nodes for large-scale supply chain networks. Future modeling extensions could potentially include analysis of water demand and supply management strategies that can enhance regional resilience against droughts. Other regional case studies can also be pursued in future efforts to analyze various categories of drought severity beyond the case studies featured in this paper.

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Present challenges for future water sustainable cities: a case study from Italy

Drinking Water Engineering and Science Discussions ◽

10.5194/dwesd-6-151-2013 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 151-166

Author(s):

L. Bonzanigo ◽

G. Sinnona

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Management Practices ◽

Sustainable Use ◽

Severe Drought ◽

Sustainable Cities ◽

Adaptation Measures ◽

The Future ◽

Italian Context ◽

The Impact

Abstract. The global population is increasingly concentrated in cities. Cities and urban areas face many challenges – economic, social, health and environmental – which are often exacerbated by an increase in the frequency of natural disasters. Together, these challenges call for a shift towards sustainable cities which reduce their impact on the surrounding environment, whilst at the same time succeeding to make resources available to their increasing number of inhabitants. This article explores the state of the art of water management practices of the highly urbanised Northern Italian region and plans and scope for the future development of water management. Although the region is at present not under severe water stress, recently some cities faced water scarcity problems and were forced to implement water rationing. We assessed the vulnerability of Parma and Ferrara to a water crisis, together with the regular and emergency adaptation measures already in place, and the forecast for the near future. In two workshops, the authors adapted the Australian concept of Water Sensitive Urban Design for the Italian context. Although the population remains generally unaware of the impact of the two latest severe drought events (2003 and 2006/7), many adaptation measures towards a more sustainable use of the water resource are already in place – technically, institutionally, and individually. Water managers consider however that the drastic and definite changes needed to integrate the urban water management cycle, and which minimise the ecological footprint of urban spaces, lay far in the future.

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Severe Drought in Finland: Modeling Effects on Water Resources and Assessing Climate Change Impacts

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11082450 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (8) ◽

pp. 2450 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Noora Veijalainen ◽

Lauri Ahopelto ◽

Mika Marttunen ◽

Jaakko Jääskeläinen ◽

Ritva Britschgi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Water Resources ◽

Water Supply ◽

Impact Analysis ◽

Climate Change Impacts ◽

Water Levels ◽

Severe Drought ◽

Climate Change Scenarios ◽

Economic Sectors ◽

The Impact

Severe droughts cause substantial damage to different socio-economic sectors, and even Finland, which has abundant water resources, is not immune to their impacts. To assess the implications of a severe drought in Finland, we carried out a national scale drought impact analysis. Firstly, we simulated water levels and discharges during the severe drought of 1939–1942 (the reference drought) in present-day Finland with a hydrological model. Secondly, we estimated how climate change would alter droughts. Thirdly, we assessed the impact of drought on key water use sectors, with a focus on hydropower and water supply. The results indicate that the long-lasting reference drought caused the discharges to decrease at most by 80% compared to the average annual minimum discharges. The water levels generally fell to the lowest levels in the largest lakes in Central and South-Eastern Finland. Climate change scenarios project on average a small decrease in the lowest water levels during droughts. Severe drought would have a significant impact on water-related sectors, reducing water supply and hydropower production. In this way drought is a risk multiplier for the water–energy–food security nexus. We suggest that the resilience to droughts could be improved with region-specific drought management plans and by including droughts in existing regional preparedness exercises.

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Spatial Analysis of Seasonal Precipitation over Iran: Co-Variation with Climate Indices

ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information ◽

10.3390/ijgi9020073 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 73

Author(s):

Majid Dehghani ◽

Somayeh Salehi ◽

Amir Mosavi ◽

Narjes Nabipour ◽

Shahaboddin Shamshirband ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Resources ◽

Water Resources Management ◽

Southern Oscillation ◽

Climate Indices ◽

Severe Drought ◽

Seasonal Precipitation ◽

Resources Management ◽

The World ◽

The Impact ◽

Different Parts

Temporary changes in precipitation may lead to sustained and severe drought or massive floods in different parts of the world. Knowing the variation in precipitation can effectively help the water resources decision-makers in water resources management. Large-scale circulation drivers have a considerable impact on precipitation in different parts of the world. In this research, the impact of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) on seasonal precipitation over Iran was investigated. For this purpose, 103 synoptic stations with at least 30 years of data were utilized. The Spearman correlation coefficient between the indices in the previous 12 months with seasonal precipitation was calculated, and the meaningful correlations were extracted. Then, the month in which each of these indices has the highest correlation with seasonal precipitation was determined. Finally, the overall amount of increase or decrease in seasonal precipitation due to each of these indices was calculated. Results indicate the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), NAO, and PDO have the most impact on seasonal precipitation, respectively. Additionally, these indices have the highest impact on the precipitation in winter, autumn, spring, and summer, respectively. SOI has a diverse impact on winter precipitation compared to the PDO and NAO, while in the other seasons, each index has its special impact on seasonal precipitation. Generally, all indices in different phases may decrease the seasonal precipitation up to 100%. However, the seasonal precipitation may increase more than 100% in different seasons due to the impact of these indices. The results of this study can be used effectively in water resources management and especially in dam operation.

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Effects of drought and meteorological forcing on carbon and water fluxes in Nordic forests during the dry summer of 2018

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2019.0516 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 375 (1810) ◽

pp. 20190516

Author(s):

Anders Lindroth ◽

Jutta Holst ◽

Maj-Lena Linderson ◽

Mika Aurela ◽

Tobias Biermann ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Surface Conductance ◽

Severe Drought ◽

Water Fluxes ◽

Multilinear Regression ◽

Evaporative Demand ◽

Meteorological Forcing ◽

Continental Scale ◽

The Difference ◽

Effects Of Drought ◽

The Impact

The Nordic region was subjected to severe drought in 2018 with a particularly long-lasting and large soil water deficit in Denmark, Southern Sweden and Estonia. Here, we analyse the impact of the drought on carbon and water fluxes in 11 forest ecosystems of different composition: spruce, pine, mixed and deciduous. We assess the impact of drought on fluxes by estimating the difference (anomaly) between year 2018 and a reference year without drought. Unexpectedly, the evaporation was only slightly reduced during 2018 compared to the reference year at two sites while it increased or was nearly unchanged at all other sites. This occurred under a 40 to 60% reduction in mean surface conductance and the concurrent increase in evaporative demand due to the warm and dry weather. The anomaly in the net ecosystem productivity (NEP) was 93% explained by a multilinear regression with the anomaly in heterotrophic respiration and the relative precipitation deficit as independent variables. Most of the variation (77%) was explained by the heterotrophic component. Six out of 11 forests reduced their annual NEP with more than 50 g C m −2 yr −1 during 2018 as compared to the reference year. The NEP anomaly ranged between −389 and +74 g C m −2 yr −1 with a median value of −59 g C m −2 yr −1 . This article is part of the theme issue ‘Impacts of the 2018 severe drought and heatwave in Europe: from site to continental scale’.

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External Groundwater Alleviates the Degradation of Closed Lakes in Semi-Arid Regions of China

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs12010045 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 45 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jiaqi Chen ◽

Jiming Lv ◽

Ning Li ◽

Qingwei Wang ◽

Jian Wang

Keyword(s):

Time Series ◽

Large Scale ◽

Isotopic Signature ◽

Water Infiltration ◽

Agricultural Irrigation ◽

Lake Area ◽

Daihai Lake ◽

Huangqihai Lake ◽

The Impact ◽

Semi Arid

There are a large number of lakes with beaded distribution in the semi-arid areas of the Inner Mongolian Plateau, and some of them have degraded or even disappeared during the past three decades. We studied the reasons of the disappearance of these lakes by determining the way of replenishment of these lakes and the impact of the natural-social environment of the basin, with the aim of saving these gradually disappearing lakes. Based on remote sensing image and hydrological analysis, this paper studied the recharge of Daihai Lake and Huangqihai Lake. The deep learning method was used to establish the time-series of lake evolution. The same method was combined with the innovative woodland and farmland extraction method to set up the time-series of ground classification composition in the basins. Using relevant survey data, combined with soil water infiltration test, water chemical, and isotopic signature analysis of various water bodies, we found that the Daihai Lake area is the largest in dry season and the smallest in rainy season and the other lake is not satisfied with this phenomenon. In addition, we calculated the specific recharge and consumption of the study basin. These experiments indicated that the exogenous groundwater is recharged directly through the faults at the bottom of Daihai Lake, while the exogenous groundwater is recharged in Huangqihai Lake through rivers indirectly. Large-scale exploitation of groundwater for agricultural irrigation and industrial production is the main cause of lake degradation. Reducing the extraction of groundwater for agricultural irrigation is an important measure to restore lake ecology.

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Parasite adaptation to extreme conditions in a desert environment

Parasitology ◽

10.1017/s0031182000084638 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 119 (S1) ◽

pp. S31-S56 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

R. C. Tinsley

Keyword(s):

Life Span ◽

Age Structure ◽

Sonoran Desert ◽

Experimental Studies ◽

Rare Event ◽

Life Cycles ◽

Parasite Population ◽

Severe Drought ◽

Desert Environment ◽

The Impact

SUMMARYDeserts represent universally recognized extreme environments for animal life. This paper documents the highly specialized adaptations of Pseudodiplorchis americanus, a monogenean parasite of the desert toad, Scaphiopus couchii. Building on a long-term record of parasite population ecology (continuing since the early 1980s), field studies focus on the effects of severe drought in the Sonoran Desert, Arizona, in the mid 1990s. This provides a test of the ability of the host-parasite system to tolerate exceptional perturbation. The analysis provides new insight into parasite infection dynamics in a natural wildlife system through integration of host and parasite population age structure. The environmental check interrupted host recruitment in 1993–95 and parasite recruitment in 1995–97. This produced an imprint in age structure and infection levels recognizable over several years: parasite recruitment failure reduced transmission 2–3 years later. The host (maximum life span 17 years) tolerated the disruption but the impact was more serious for the parasite (life span 3 years) leading to extinction of some previously stable populations. Despite this demonstration of a rare event exacerbating external environmental constraints, experimental studies suggest that the internal (host) environment normally creates the most severe conditions affecting P. americanus. Only about 3 % of parasites survive from invasion until first reproduction. Post-invasion factors including host immunity, characteristic of most parasite life cycles, constitute a greater constraint upon survival than external conditions, even in a desert environment.

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The impact of drought on total ozone flux in a mountain Norway spruce forest

Journal of Forest Science ◽

10.17221/129/2019-jfs ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 66 (No. 7) ◽

pp. 280-278 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Thomas Agyei ◽

Stanislav Juráň ◽

Kojo Kwakye Ofori-Amanfo ◽

Ladislav Šigut ◽

Otmar Urban ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Norway Spruce ◽

Stomatal Closure ◽

Severe Drought ◽

Summer Drought ◽

Spruce Forest ◽

Soil Humidity ◽

Drought Period ◽

The Impact ◽

Mild Drought ◽

Norway Spruce Forest

In order to understand the impact of summer drought on dry deposition of tropospheric ozone (O3), we compared severe and mild drought periods of summer 2018 in a mountain Norway spruce forest at Bílý Kříž, Beskydy Mts. An eddy covariance technique was applied to measure diurnal courses of the ecosystem O3 and CO2 fluxes. Low O3 deposition was recorded in the morning and evening, while the highest CO2 and O3 fluxes were recorded during the central hours of the day. Total O3 deposition during severe drought (soil humidity 13%) was significantly higher than the deposition during the mild drought period (soil humidity 19%). Our data indicate that high vapour pressure deficit and low soil humidity during severe drought led to the stomatal closure, while non-stomatal O3 deposition, associated with chemical reactions of O3 with NO and volatile organic compounds, are responsible for higher total O3 deposition during the severe drought period. Therefore, we assume that under severe drought stomatal O3 uptake decreases but non-stomatal depositions to forest ecosystems substantially increase.

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Impact of the European Russia drought in 2010 on the Caspian Sea level

Hydrology and Earth System Sciences ◽

10.5194/hess-16-19-2012 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 19-27 ◽

Cited By ~ 40

Author(s):

K. Arpe ◽

S. A. G. Leroy ◽

H. Lahijani ◽

V. Khan

Keyword(s):

Sea Level ◽

Caspian Sea ◽

Analysis Data ◽

Reanalysis Data ◽

European Russia ◽

Severe Drought ◽

The Caspian Sea ◽

Volga River ◽

The Impact

Abstract. The hydrological budgets of the Volga basin (VB) and the Caspian Sea (CS) have been analysed. The components of the water balance for the CS were calculated for the period 1993 to 2010 with emphasis on summer 2010 when a severe drought developed over European Russia. A drop in precipitation over the VB in July 2010 occurs simultaneously with a decrease in evaporation for the same area, an increase of evaporation over the CS itself and a drop of the Caspian Sea level (CSL). The drop in the precipitation over the VB cannot lead to an instantaneous drop of the CSL because the precipitated water needs some months to reach the CS. The delay is estimated here to be 1 to 3 months for excessive precipitation in summer, longer for deficient precipitation and for winter cases. However, the evaporation over the CS itself is considered to be responsible for a simultaneous drop of the CSL from July to September 2010. The impact on the CSL from the precipitation deficit over the VB occurs in the months following the drought. The water deficit from July to September 2010 calculated from the anomalous precipitation minus evaporation over the VB would decrease the CSL by 22 cm, of which only 2 cm had been observed until the end of September (observed Volga River discharge anomaly). So the remaining drop of 20 cm can be expected in the months to follow if no other anomalies happen. In previous studies the precipitation over the VB has been identified as the main cause for CSL changes, but here from a 10 cm drop from beginning of July to end of September, 6 cm can be directly assigned to the enhanced evaporation over the CS itself and 2 cm due to reduced precipitation over the CS. Further periods with strong changes of the CSL are also investigated, which provide some estimates concerning the accuracy of the analysis data. The investigation was possible due to the new ECMWF interim reanalysis data which are used to provide data also for sensitive quantities like surface evaporation and precipitation. The comparison with independent data and the consistency between such data for calculating the water budget over the CS gives a high confidence in the quality of the data used. This investigation provides some scope for making forecasts of the CSL few months ahead to allow for mitigating societal impacts.

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Evaluation of 2018 drought and effectiveness of adaptation measures in the Netherlands

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-9166 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Marjolein H.J. van Huijgevoort ◽

Janine A. de Wit ◽

Ruud P. Bartholomeus

Keyword(s):

Soil Moisture ◽

The Netherlands ◽

Capillary Rise ◽

Hydrological Drought ◽

Water Levels ◽

Severe Drought ◽

Drought Event ◽

Groundwater Levels ◽

The Impact

Extreme dry conditions occurred over the summer of 2018 in the Netherlands. This severe drought event led to very low groundwater &#160;and surface water levels. These impacted several sectors like navigation, agriculture, nature and drinking water supply. Especially in the Pleistocene uplands of the Netherlands, the low groundwater levels had a large impact on crop yields and biodiversity in nature areas. Projections show that droughts with this severity will occur more often in the future due to changes in climate. To mitigate the impact of these drought events, water management needs to be altered.In this study, we evaluated the 2018 drought event in the sandy regions of the Netherlands and studied which measures could be most effective to mitigate drought impact. We have included meteorological, soil moisture and hydrological drought and the propagation of the drought through these types. Droughts were determined with standardized indices (e.g. Standardized Precipitation Index) and the variable threshold level method. Investigated measures were, for example, higher water levels in ditches, reduced irrigation from groundwater, and increased water conservation in winter. We also studied the timing of these measures to determine the potential for mitigating effects during a drought versus the effectiveness of long term adaptation. The measures were simulated with the agro-hydrological Soil&#8211;Water&#8211;Atmosphere&#8211;Plant (SWAP) model for several areas across the Netherlands for both agricultural fields and nature sites.As expected, decreasing irrigation from groundwater reduced the severity of the hydrological drought in the region. Severity of the soil moisture drought also decreased in fields that were never irrigated due to the effects of capillary rise from the groundwater, but, as expected, increased in currently irrigated fields. Increasing the level of a weir in ditches had a relatively small effect on the hydrological drought, provided water was available to sustain higher water levels. This measure is, therefore, better suited as a long term change than as ad hoc measure during a drought. The effectiveness of the measures depended on the characteristics of the regions; for some regions small changes led to increases in groundwater levels for several months, whereas in other regions effects were lost after a few weeks. This study gives insight into the most effective measures to mitigate drought impacts in low-lying sandy regions like the Netherlands.

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