Flash drought drives rapid vegetation stress in arid regions in Europe

Dados Bibliográficos

ID15545159
AutoresO Sungmin (0000-0002-7364-2122, Ewha Womans University), Seon Ki Park (0000-0002-8538-911X, Ewha Womans University, autor correspondente)
Ano2022
Volume18
Fascículo1
Páginas014028-014028
Data de publicação2022-12-23
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoEnvironmental Research Letters (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1748-9326 • E-ISSN: 1748-9326
EditoraIOP Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1088/1748-9326/acae3a
OpenAlexW4312155214
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas5
Referências citadas56

Flash droughts are characterised by rapid onset, combined with the potential to severely impact agriculture and ecosystems. However, assessments of the ecological impacts of flash droughts, especially in Europe, are largely lacking. Here we investigate ecosystem responses to flash droughts in Europe between 2001 and 2019 using diverse observational data, including gross primary production (GPP) and leaf area index (LAI). We find that in arid regions an abrupt transition to water-stressed conditions occurs within a few weeks, which negatively affects vegetation status and reduces carbon uptake in the initial stages of drought; normalised anomalies of LAI and GPP decrease to about −0.5. By contrast, vegetation in humid regions is not as severely affected, given that soil moisture recovers relatively quickly. We also show that soil moisture status before the onset of drought significantly impacts the timing (1–5 pentads) and degree (−0.33 to −0.71 of normalised LAI and GPP anomalies) of drought-induced vegetation stress, particularly in arid regions. Our results highlight the regional characteristics of flash drought impacts for more informative monitoring and early warning systems

Arid · Climatology · Ecosystem · Flash flood · Geography · Leaf area index · Physical geography · Primary production · Vegetation (pathology · Water content · Climate variability and models · Environmental Science · Hydrology and Drought Analysis · Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics · Ecology · Geology