Dataset Information

Cross-sectoral impacts of the 2018-2019 Central European drought and climate resilience in the German part of the Elbe River basin.

ABSTRACT: The 2018-2019 Central European drought was probably the most extreme in Germany since the early sixteenth century. We assess the multiple consequences of the drought for natural systems, the economy and human health in the German part of the Elbe River basin, an area of 97,175 km² including the cities of Berlin and Hamburg and contributing about 18% to the German GDP. We employ meteorological, hydrological and socio-economic data to build a comprehensive picture of the drought severity, its multiple effects and cross-sectoral consequences in the basin. Time series of different drought indices illustrate the severity of the 2018-2019 drought and how it progressed from meteorological water deficits via soil water depletion towards low groundwater levels and river runoff, and losses in vegetation productivity. The event resulted in severe production losses in agriculture (minus 20-40% for staple crops) and forestry (especially through forced logging of damaged wood: 25.1 million tons in 2018-2020 compared to only 3.4 million tons in 2015-2017), while other economic sectors remained largely unaffected. However, there is no guarantee that this socio-economic stability will be sustained in future drought events; this is discussed in the light of 2022, another dry year holding the potential for a compound crisis. Given the increased probability for more intense and long-lasting droughts in most parts of Europe, this example of actual cross-sectoral drought impacts will be relevant for drought awareness and preparation planning in other regions.

Supplementary information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10113-023-02032-3.

SUBMITTER: Conradt T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9890441 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Cross-sectoral impacts of the 2018-2019 Central European drought and climate resilience in the German part of the Elbe River basin.

Conradt Tobias T Engelhardt Henry H Menz Christoph C Vicente-Serrano Sergio M SM Farizo Begoña Alvarez BA Peña-Angulo Dhais D Domínguez-Castro Fernando F Eklundh Lars L Jin Hongxiao H Boincean Boris B Murphy Conor C López-Moreno J Ignacio JI

Regional environmental change 20230201 1

The 2018-2019 Central European drought was probably the most extreme in Germany since the early sixteenth century. We assess the multiple consequences of the drought for natural systems, the economy and human health in the German part of the Elbe River basin, an area of 97,175 km<sup>2</sup> including the cities of Berlin and Hamburg and contributing about 18% to the German GDP. We employ meteorological, hydrological and socio-economic data to build a comprehensive picture of the drought severit ...[more]

PMID: 36741241

Similar Datasets

Project description:A critical review of the last 25 years of dioxin policy in the Elbe river catchment is presented along seven main theses of the River Basin Community (RBC)-Elbe background document "Pollutants" for the Management Plan 2016-2021. In this period, polychlorinated dibenzodioxins/-furans (PCDD/Fs) and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (dl-PCBs) will play a major role: (i) as new priority substances for which environmental quality standards (EQSs) need to be derived (Directive 2013/39/EC); (ii) in the search for innovative solutions in sediment remediation (i.e., respecting the influence of mechanical processes; Flood Risk Directive 2007/60/EC); and (iii) as indicators at the land-sea interface (Marine Strategy Framework Directive 2008/56/EC). In the Elbe river catchment, aspects of policy and science are closely connected, which became particularly obvious in a classic example of dioxin hot spot contamination, the case of the Spittelwasser creek. Here, the "source-first principle" of the first cycle of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) had to be confirmed in a controversy on the dioxin hot spots with Saxony-Anhalt's Agency for Contaminated Sites (LAF). At the Spittelwasser site, the move from "inside the creek" to "along the river banks" goes parallel to a general paradigm shift in retrospective risk assessment frameworks and remediation techniques for organic chemicals (Ortega-Calvo et al. 2015). With respect to dioxin, large-scale stabilization applying activated carbon additions is particularly promising. Another important aspect is the assessment of the ecotoxicology of dioxins and dl- PCBs in context of sediment mobility and flood risk assessment, which has been studied in the project framework FloodSearch. Currently, the quality goals of the WFD to reach a "good chemical status" are not met in many catchment areas because substances such as mercury do and others probably will (PCDD/Fs and dl-PCB) exceed biota-EQS values catchment area-wide. So far, relating biota-EQS values to sediment-EQSs is not possible. To overcome these limitations, the DioRAMA project was initiated, which has led to improved approaches for the assessment of dioxin-contaminated sediment using in vitro bioassays and to a robust dataset on the interrelation between dioxins and dioxin-like compounds in sediments and biota.

Dataset Information

Cross-sectoral impacts of the 2018-2019 Central European drought and climate resilience in the German part of the Elbe River basin.

Supplementary information

Publications

Cross-sectoral impacts of the 2018-2019 Central European drought and climate resilience in the German part of the Elbe River basin.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets