Abstract

Abstract. Drought monitoring and early warning (M & EW) systems are a crucial component of drought preparedness. M & EW systems typically make use of drought indicators such as the Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI), but such indicators are not widely used in the UK. More generally, such tools have not been well developed for hydrological (i.e. streamflow) drought. To fill these research gaps, this paper characterises meteorological and hydrological droughts, and the propagation from one to the other, using the SPI and the related Standardised Streamflow Index (SSI), with the objective of improving understanding of the drought hazard in the UK. SPI and SSI time series were calculated for 121 near-natural catchments in the UK for accumulation periods of 1–24 months. From these time series, drought events were identified and for each event, the duration and severity were calculated. The relationship between meteorological and hydrological drought was examined by cross-correlating the 1-month SSI with various SPI accumulation periods. Finally, the influence of climate and catchment properties on the hydrological drought characteristics and propagation was investigated. Results showed that at short accumulation periods meteorological drought characteristics showed little spatial variability, whilst hydrological drought characteristics showed fewer but longer and more severe droughts in the south and east than in the north and west of the UK. Propagation characteristics showed a similar spatial pattern with catchments underlain by productive aquifers, mostly in the south and east, having longer SPI accumulation periods strongly correlated with the 1-month SSI. For catchments in the north and west of the UK, which typically have little catchment storage, standard-period average annual rainfall was strongly correlated with hydrological drought and propagation characteristics. However, in the south and east, catchment properties describing storage (such as base flow index, the percentage of highly productive fractured rock and typical soil wetness) were more influential on hydrological drought characteristics. This knowledge forms a basis for more informed application of standardised indicators in the UK in the future, which could aid in the development of improved M & EW systems. Given the lack of studies applying standardised indicators to hydrological droughts, and the diversity of catchment types encompassed here, the findings could prove valuable for enhancing the hydrological aspects of drought M & EW systems in both the UK and elsewhere.

Highlights

  • Drought is widely recognised as a complex, multifaceted phenomenon (e.g. Van Loon, 2015)

  • The drought type generally reflects the compartment of the hydrological cycle or sector of human activity that is affected; deficits typically propagate through the hydrological cycle, impacting different ecosystems and human activities

  • The results show that, for shorter accumulation periods, there is comparatively little difference between catchment types or around the country in meteorological drought characteristics extracted from Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI) time series (Fig. 3)

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Summary

Introduction

Drought is widely recognised as a complex, multifaceted phenomenon (e.g. Van Loon, 2015). Drought is widely recognised as a complex, multifaceted phenomenon Unlike many other natural hazards, drought develops slowly, making it difficult to pinpoint the onset and termination of an event. A drought is a deficit in the expected available water in a given hydrological system (Sheffield and Wood, 2011). Since Wilhite and Glantz (1985), drought has popularly been classified into various types (e.g. meteorological, hydrological, agricultural, environmental and socio-economic). The drought type generally reflects the compartment of the hydrological cycle or sector of human activity that is affected; deficits typically propagate through the hydrological cycle, impacting different ecosystems and human activities . The desire to quantitatively identify and analyse drought duration, severity, onset and termination has led to the devel-

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