Improving operational drought definitions—taking them to basin scale

Abstract

The ocurrence of droughts and especially their recent character ask for comprehensive monitoring to manage drought events and to minimize negative environmental, societal, and economic impacts. Responsible drought management supports and enhances continuous improvement of monitoring and forecasting tools. One remaining obstacle for adequate drought management is the ask of a satisfying operational drought patterns, but they are mainly based on hydro-meteorological or satelite data, and do not reflect regional properties like perceptions, management, and demand aspects. This paper presents a discussion on existing drought definitions and explores the idea of establishing drought definitions on a basin scale to improve drought management. This objective follows the idea of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM), which would enhance the linkage between drought and water management.