A new ERC project aiming to unravel the global triggers of drought
DRY–2–DRY
– Do droughts self-propagate and self-intensify ? –
Droughts cause agricultural loss, forest mortality and drinking water scarcity.
Their current increase in recurrence and intensity poses serious threats to future food security.
Still today, our knowledge of how meteorological droughts start and evolve remains limited.
Yet land feedbacks have been suggested as a key reason for their occurrence.
Climate and forecast models seem immature when it comes to representing these feedbacks.
Do climate models underestimate the feedback from land on climate?
If so, future drought aggravation may be greater than expected.
DRY–2–DRY uses novel satellite observations in combination with new mechanistic models.
We aim to uncover the triggers of meteorological droughts and the potential of land management to dampen them.
This will enable progress towards accurate short-term and long-term meteorological drought forecasts.
© 2022