A first assessment of the impact of the extreme 2018 summer drought on Central European forests
University of Würzburg · Technical University of Munich · +9 more institutions
Abstract
In 2018, Central Europe experienced one of the most severe and long-lasting summer drought and heat wave ever recorded. Before 2018, the 2003 millennial drought was often invoked as the example of a “hotter drought”, and was classified as the most severe event in Europe for the last 500 years. First insights now confirm that the 2018 drought event was climatically more extreme and had a greater impact on forest ecosystems of Austria, Germany and Switzerland than the 2003 drought. Across this region, mean growing season air temperature from April to October was more than 3.3°C above the long-term average, and 1.2°C warmer than in 2003. Here, we present a first impact assessment of the severe 2018 summer drought…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 56.90
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 159
Authors
28Topics & keywords
- Ecosystem
- Temperate climate
- Climate change
- Temperate rainforest
- Forest ecology
- Drought stress
- Extreme weather
- Growing season