Author(s): Sergio M. Vicente-Serrano; Javier Zabalza; Ivan Noguera; Dhais Pena-Angulo; Carmelo Juez; Conor Murphy; Fernando Dominguez-Castro; Lars Eklundh; Hongxiao Jin; Tobias Conradt; Jorge Lorenzo-Lacruz; Ahmed El Kenawy
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Abstract: Drought is one of the most import natural hazards affecting Spain since it causes several environmental and socioeconomic negative impacts. The assessment of drought impacts is complex given the few available data and the several cross interactions among the different hydrological and ecological systems that drive the partition between blue and green water. Soil hydrology processes are also important and land cover changes can be determinant to understand the evolution of hydrological droughts in the last decades. The Spanish central Pyrenees is a key region for the generation of water resources, which are mostly used in the lowlands. Thus, the water resources stored and generated in the mountainous areas of the Pyrenees are essential to maintain irrigated agriculture downstream. In the last decades land use has dramatically transformed in the central Pyrenees as consequence of human depopulation and the abandonment of mountain agriculture and livestock. This has caused natural revegetation that has altered the landscape with important morphodynamic and hydrological consequences. Land transformation has altered Pyreneean hydrology, and caused an important decrease of water resources as consequence of enhanced plant transpiration. In addition, there is important sensitivity of natural ecosystems to drought in the region. There is limited knowledge of the cross interactions between hydrological and ecological systems during drought periods, a key issue to understand the partition between green and blue water during periods of water scarcity. For this reason, in this study we have modelled water cycle and ecological processes in a representative basin located in the Spanish central Pyrenees. The objective was to determine how meteorological droughts affect differently hydrological systems and ecosystems in order to determine interactions that may drive differential ecological and hydrological drought impacts.
Year: 2022