Author(s): Jaroslaw Napiorkowski; Ewa Bogdanowicz; Monika Kalinowska; Emilia Karamuz; Krzysztof Kochanek; Iwona Kuptel-Markiewicz; Michael Nones; Tesfaye Belay Senbeta

Linked Author(s): Jaroslaw Napiorkowski, Monika Kalinowska, Tesfaye Belay Senbeta, Emilia Karamuz, Michael Nones

Keywords: Climate change; Drought; Human intervention; Socio-hydrology; Vistula river basin; Vulnerability

Abstract: Droughts are now clearly characteristics of the Anthropocene era, but managing such a phenomenon remains unclear due to a lack of full understanding of the feedback loops between the impacts of drought and human responses to it. At the same time, the increase in temperature influences hydrological regimes by reducing snow storage, raising evapotranspiration and eventually introducing changes in the flow seasonality, which are heavily impacting the frequency and magnitude of droughts. As a result, there are increased economic and human losses in both Poland and China. To address these challenges, the Institute of Geophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Hohai University worked together under the auspice of the HUMDROUGHT (Human and Climate Impacts on Drought Dynamics and Vulnerability) project to develop a novel, common and holistic approach to the problem. The project focuses on deepening the understanding of direct and indirect causes of drought and the processes governing drought propagation using the River Vistula and the River Huai catchments as study areas. Moreover, the project aims to provide guidelines on sustainable water management and drought prevention in both countries. The project addresses multiple specific objectives, including the assessment of drought characteristics and their links with catchment properties, a thorough understanding of the human impacts on the spatiotemporal characteristics of hydrological droughts, the assessment of drought vulnerability and its change in the 21st century, and the development of appropriate management strategies to enhance drought resilience in the context of climate change.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3850/978-90-833476-1-5_iahr40wc-p1629-cd

Year: 2023