Früherkennung von kritischen Dürrebedingungen in der Schweiz - Bewältigung von Bodenfeuchtedefiziten, Grundwasser- und Abflussmangel (DROUGHT-CH)

Droughts have severe consequences for nature and society. This includes impacts on agriculture, water supply, energy production, building infrastructure, and ecosystems. As droughts can enhance the severity of heatwaves, they also impact human health. Climate models project that events such as the 2003 drought and heatwave will become more frequent in the coming decades in Switzerland. The early recognition of critical drought conditions has large economic and social benefits and is hence essential for drought risk management. The potential of such applications in Switzerland needs to be investigated. The prediction and characterization of drought events is challenging for several reasons: 1) Droughts are complex phenomena involving numerous interacting climate processes; 2) The sensitivity of regions to droughts depends on several factors, from storage properties and natural resilience to water use and social systems vulnerability; 3) Monitoring of relevant variables such as soil moisture in particular at regional scale are lacking in many countries, including Switzerland. The proposed project aims at the characterization and early recognition of critical drought and low-flow conditions in Switzerland, and will provide the scientific basis for the development of an information and early warning platform for drought and low-flow (similar to the upcoming National platform for Natural Hazards, GIN). The project integrates a nature system component (WP2-WP5), dedicated to the improvement of the modelling, observation, forecast, and analysis of drought and low-flow characteristics in Switzerland, with a use and social system component, dedicated to the identification of the needs of end users, stakeholders and decision makers. Both components will interact and jointly provide the basis for the development of the information and early warning platform, which will be available as a prototype by the end of the project.

Weitere Informationen: http://www.iac.ethz.ch/groups/seneviratne/research/DROUGHTCH
Ansprechpartner: Prof. Dr. Markus Weiler
Tel: +49(0)761 203 3535
Email: markus.weiler@hydrology.uni-freiburg.de, kerstin.stahl@hydrology.uni-freiburg.de

Projektbeginn: 2010
Projektende: 2013

Weiler M, Stahl K
Stellvertretung: Dr. Kerstin Stahl
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg

• Gundel A
• Herbstritt B

Geographisches Institut, Universität Zürich (Schweiz) Eidg. Forschungsanstahtl WSL FE, Birmensdorf (Schweiz)

• Schweizerischer Nationalfonds, Sonstiges

Dürre, Niedrigwasser, Früherkennung, Schweiz, Modellierung, Beobachtung