Drought is an especially damaging natural hazard, which has cost the EU member states an estimated 100 billion € over the past 30 years, yet the link between drought severity and impacts is rarely tested. This leaves a vital knowledge gap between the drought indices of hydrologists and the impact data measured by economists and social scientists, such as crop losses, waterborne transportation stoppages, wildfires, lack of drinking water, and poor water quality.
The project is designed to help address this fundamental gap in understanding by applying established drought impact modelling techniques to new regions and impact types in Europe.
The primary data source will be the existing European Drought Impact Inventory (EDII), which is an online database of historical drought impacts (http://www.geo.uio.no/edc/droughtdb/).
The work will involve data collection, data analyses and statistical modelling. It is also possible to perform a regional specific analysis for a given impact, e.g. wildfires in Norway or Scandinavia where we have access to datasets not yet included in the EDII. This includes impacts related to the 2018 drought event over Northern Europe.