Meteorological drought effect for Central Europe's hydropower potential

Abstract

The aim of the study was the assessment of the impact of meteorological drought on the hydropower potential of selected Central European rivers. The main novelty of conducted study was find answer for question, how strong this kind of drought affecting on rivers hydropower potential. The study was carried out for 6 catchments located in the upper Vistula river basin (Poland): Dunajec (49°28′40″N 20°01′48″E), San (49°13′32″N 22°33′05″E), Rudawa (50°05′13″N 19°47′32″E), Skawinka (49°56′17″N 19°48′37″E), Czarna (50°40′25″N 21°02′44″E) and Koprzywianka (50°35′26″N 21°35′01″E). The analyses were carried out, based on hydro-meteorological data for period 1981–2020, with the following steps: determination of values of hydroenergetic potential of rivers, trend analysis of precipitation data and hydroenergetic potential of rivers, determination of values of standardised precipitation indices (SPI), analysis of relations between SPI indices and hydroenergetic potential of rivers. The study showed that the analysed catchments were characterised by spatially and temporally varying hydropower potential. The trend analysis showed a lack of unambiguous trends in hydropower potential values and precipitation totals, for the time periods studied. The analysis of the course of meteorological drought with SPI indices showed that it occurred with varying intensity during the time period studied (the distribution of wet years was similar to periods with drought, however, these periods occurred less frequently as meteorological drought). Statistically significant relationships were found between the course of meteorological drought and the development of the theoretical hydropower potential of the study catchments.