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Abstract. Drought events are of great importance in most Mediterranean climate regions because of the diverse and costly impacts they have in various economic sectors and on the environment. The effects of this natural hazard on rainfed crops are particularly evident. In this study the impacts of drought on two representative rainfed crops in Spain (wheat and barley) were assessed. As the agriculture sector is vulnerable to climate, it is especially important to identify the most appropriate tools for monitoring the impact of the weather on crops, and particularly the impact of drought. Drought indices are the most effective tool for that purpose. Various drought indices have been used to assess the influence of drought on crop yields in Spain, including the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), the Palmer drought indices (Palmer Drought Severity Index, PDSI; Palmer Z Index, Z Index; Palmer Hydrological Drought Index, PHDI; Palmer Modified Drought Index, PMDI), and the Standardized Palmer Drought Index (SPDI). Two sets of crop yield data at different spatial scales and temporal periods were used in the analysis. The results showed that drought indices calculated at different timescales (SPI, SPEI) most closely correlated with crop yield. The results also suggested that different patterns of yield response to drought occurred depending on the region, period of the year, and the drought timescale. The differing responses across the country were related to season and the magnitude of various climate variables.

34 Pags.- 21 Figs.- 3 Tabls. © Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. ; Drought events are of great importance in most Mediterranean climate regions because of the diverse and costly impacts they have in various economic sectors and on the environment. The effects of this natural hazard on rainfed crops are particularly evident. In this study the impacts of drought on two representative rainfed crops in Spain (wheat and barley) were assessed. As the agriculture sector is vulnerable to climate, it is especially important to identify the most appropriate tools for monitoring the impact of the weather on crops, and particularly the impact of drought. Drought indices are the most effective tool for that purpose. Various drought indices have been used to assess the influence of drought on crop yields in Spain, including the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), the Palmer drought indices (Palmer Drought Severity Index, PDSI; Palmer Z Index, Z Index; Palmer Hydrological Drought Index, PHDI; Palmer Modified Drought Index, PMDI), and the Standardized Palmer Drought Index (SPDI). Two sets of crop yield data at different spatial scales and temporal periods were used in the analysis. The results showed that drought indices calculated at different timescales (SPI, SPEI) most closely correlated with crop yield. The results also suggested that different patterns of yield response to drought occurred depending on the region, period of the year, and the drought timescale. The differing responses across the country were related to season and the magnitude of various climate variables. ; This research has been supported by the European Geosciences Union (OSPP Award 2018 grant), the Spanish Commission of Science and Technology and FEDER (grant nos. PCIN-2015-220 and CGL2014-52135-C03-01), the Water Works 2014 and European Commission (IMDROFLOOD grant), the JPI Climate, funded by FORMAS (SE), DLR (DE), BMWFW (AT), IFD (DK), MINECO (ES), and ANR (FR), with co-funding by the European Union (INDECIS, ERA4CS, and ERA-NET grants, grant no. 690462), and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grant no. FPI2015 – BES-2015-072022). ; Peer reviewed

2 .pdf files: 1) Article (18 Pags.- 2 Tabls.- 10 Figs.); 2) Supplement (20 Pags.- 19 Figs.). © Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). ; Assessing the probability of occurrence of drought is important for improving current drought assessment, management and mitigation measures, and strategies across Spain. This study employed two well-established drought indices, the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), to characterize drought duration and magnitude at different timescales over Spain. In order to map the drought hazard probability, we applied the extreme value theory and tested different thresholds to generate peak-over-threshold (POT) drought duration and magnitude series. Our results demonstrate that the generalized Pareto (GP) distribution performs well in estimating the frequencies of drought magnitude and duration. Specifically, we found a good agreement between the observed and modelled data when using upper percentiles to generate the POT series. Spatially, our estimations suggest a higher probability of extreme drought events in southern and central Spain compared to the northern and eastern regions. Also, our study found spatial differences in drought probability estimations as a function of the selected drought index (i.e. SPI vs. SPEI) and timescale (i.e. 1, 3, 6, and 12 months). Drought hazard probability maps can contribute to the better management of different sectors (e.g. agriculture, water resources management, urban water supply, and tourism) at national, regional, and even local scale in Spain. ; This work was supported by the following research projects: CGL2014-52135-C03-01 and PCIN-2015-220 financed by the Spanish Commission of Science and Technology and FEDER, 1560/2015; Herramientas de monitorización de la vegetación mediante modelización ecohidrológica en parques continentales financed by the Red de Parques Nacionales; IM-DROFLOOD financed by Water Works 2014; a co-funded call of the European Commission and INDECIS, which is part of ERA4CS; and an ERA-NET initiated by JPI Climate, funded by MINECO with co-funding by the European Union (grant 690462). Marina Peña-Gallardo was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Miquel Tomas-Burguera was supported by a doctoral grant by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, and Ahmed El Kenawy was supported by a postdoctoral Juan de la Cierva contract. ; Peer reviewed

Abstract. Assessing the probability of occurrence of drought is important for improving current drought assessment, management and mitigation measures, and strategies across Spain. This study employed two well-established drought indices, the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), to characterize drought duration and magnitude at different timescales over Spain. In order to map the drought hazard probability, we applied the extreme value theory and tested different thresholds to generate peak-over-threshold (POT) drought duration and magnitude series. Our results demonstrate that the generalized Pareto (GP) distribution performs well in estimating the frequencies of drought magnitude and duration. Specifically, we found a good agreement between the observed and modelled data when using upper percentiles to generate the POT series. Spatially, our estimations suggest a higher probability of extreme drought events in southern and central Spain compared to the northern and eastern regions. Also, our study found spatial differences in drought probability estimations as a function of the selected drought index (i.e. SPI vs. SPEI) and timescale (i.e. 1, 3, 6, and 12 months). Drought hazard probability maps can contribute to the better management of different sectors (e.g. agriculture, water resources management, urban water supply, and tourism) at national, regional, and even local scale in Spain.

We mapped – for the first time – the probability of occurrence of drought over Spain, with the overriding aim of improving current drought assessment, management and mitigation measures and strategies across the region. We employed two well-established drought indices: the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI). Drought characteristics (i.e. duration and severity) were characterised at 1-, 3-, 6- and 12-month, implying that drought event is attained only when the index values are lower than zero. We applied the extreme value theory to map drought hazard probability. Following this procedure, we tested different thresholds to generate the peak-over-threshold drought severity and magnitude series, besides evaluating different three-parametric distributions and thresholds to fit these series. Our results demonstrate that the Generalized Pareto distribution performs well in estimating the frequencies of drought magnitude and duration, with good agreement between the observed and modelled data when using upper percentiles to generate the peak-over-threshold series. Spatially, our estimations suggest a higher probability of extreme drought events in southern and central areas of Spain, compared to northern and eastern regions. Nevertheless, there are strong differences in drought probability estimations between drought indices (i.e. SPI and SPEI), as well as among drought timescales. ; This work was supported by the research projects CGL2014-52135-C03-01 and PCIN-2015-220 financed by the Spanish Commission of Science and Technology and FEDER, 1560/2015: Herramientas de monitorización de la vegetación mediante modelización ecohidrológica en parques continentales financed by the Red de Parques Nacionales, IMDROFLOOD financed by the Water Works 2014 co-funded call of the European Commission and INDECIS, which is part of ERA4CS, an ERA-NET initiated by JPI Climate, and funded by MINECO with co-funding by the European Union 30 (Grant 690462).

18 Pags.- 8 Tabls.- 9 Figs. ; We analysed recent evolution and meteorological drivers of the atmospheric evaporative demand (AED) in the Canary Islands for the period 1961–2013.We employed long and high-quality time series of meteorological variables to analyse current AED changes in this region and found that AED has increased during the investigated period. Overall, the annual ETo, which was estimated by means of the FAO- 56 Penman–Monteith equation, increased significantly by 18.2mmdecade1 on average, with a stronger trend in summer (6.7mmdecade1). In this study we analysed the contribution of (i) the aerodynamic (related to the water vapour that a parcel of air can store) and (ii) radiative (related to the available energy to evaporate a quantity of water) components to the decadal variability and trends of ETo. More than 90% of the observed ETo variability at the seasonal and annual scales can be associated with the variability in the aerodynamic component. The variable that recorded more significant changes in the Canary Islands was relative humidity, and among the different meteorological factors used to calculate ETo, relative humidity was the main driver of the observed ETo trends. The observed trend could have negative consequences in a number of water-depending sectors if it continues in the future. ; This work was supported by the research projects PCIN-2015-220, CGL2014-52135-C03-01, and Red de variabilidad y cambio climático RECLIM (CGL2014-517221-REDT), financed by the Spanish Commission of Science and Technology and FEDER; "IMDROFLOOD-Improved Drought and Flood Early Warning, Forecasting and Mitigation using real-time hydroclimatic indicators", supported through the Water Joint programme Initiative "Water Challenges for a Changing World"; and Water Works 2014 Cofunded call and "LIFE12 ENV/ES/000536-Demonstration and validation of innovative methodology for regional climate change adaptation in the Mediterranean area (LIFE MEDACC)", financed by the LIFE programme of the European Commission. Cesar Azorin-Molina (JCI-2011-10263), Arturo Sanchez-Lorenzo (JCI-2012-12508) and Marina Peña-Gallardo received grants from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness; Natalia Martin-Hernandez was supported by a doctoral grant by the Aragón Regional Government; and Miquel Tomas-Burguera was supported by a doctoral grant by the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte. ; Peer reviewed

23 Pags.- 13 Figs. © Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. ; We analyzed changes in surface relative humidity (RH) at the global scale from 1979 to 2014 using both observations and the ERA-Interim dataset.We compared the variability and trends in RH with those of land evapotranspiration and ocean evaporation in moisture source areas across a range of selected regions worldwide. The sources of moisture for each particular region were identified by integrating different observational data and model outputs into a Lagrangian approach. The aim was to account for the possible role of changes in air temperature over land, in comparison to sea surface temperature (SST), but also the role of land evapotranspiration and the ocean evaporation on RH variability. The results demonstrate that the patterns of the observed trends in RH at the global scale cannot be linked to a particular individual physical mechanism. Our results also stress that the different hypotheses that may explain the decrease in RH under a global warming scenario could act together to explain recent RH trends. Albeit with uncertainty in establishing a direct causality between RH trends and the different empirical moisture sources, we found that the observed decrease in RH in some regions can be linked to lower water supply from land evapotranspiration. In contrast, the empirical relationships also suggest that RH trends in other target regions are mainly explained by the dynamic and thermodynamic mechanisms related to the moisture supply from the oceanic source regions. Overall, while this work gives insights into the connections between RH trends and oceanic and continental processes at the global scale, further investigation is still desired to assess the contribution of both dynamic and thermodynamic factors to the evolution of RH over continental regions. ; This work was supported by the EPhysLab (UVIGO-CSIC Associated Unit), PCIN-2015-220, CGL2014-52135-C03-01, and CGL2014-60849-JIN financed by the Spanish Commission of Science and Technology, and FEDER, IMDROFLOOD financed by the Water Works 2014 co-funded call of the European Commission and INDECIS, which is part of ERA4CS, an ERA-NET initiated by JPI Climate. This study was also funded by FORMAS (SE), DLR (DE), BMWFW (AT), IFD (DK), MINECO (ES), and ANR (FR) with co-funding from the European Union (grant 690462). ; Peer reviewed

15 Pags.- 9 Figs.- 2 Tabls. ; We analyzed the relationships between meteorological drought and hydrological drought using very dense and diverse network of gauged natural drainage basins across the conterminous U.S. Specifically, this work utilized a dataset of 289 gauging stations, covering the period 1940–2013. Drainage basins were obtained for each gauging station using a digital terrain model. In addition to meteorological data (e.g., precipitation, air temperature and the atmospheric evaporative demand), we obtained a number of topographic, soil and remote sensing variables for each defined drainage basin. A hydrological drought index (the Standardized Streamflow Index; SSI) was computed for each basin and linked to the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), which was used as a metric of climatic drought severity. The relationships between different SPEI time-scales and their corresponding SSI were assessed by means of a Pearson correlation coefficient. Also, the general patterns of response of hydrological droughts to climatic droughts were identified using a principal component analysis. Overall, results demonstrate a positive response of SSI to SPEI at shorter time-scales, with strong seasonality and clear spatial differences. We also assessed the role of some climatic and environmental factors in explaining these different responses using a predictive discriminant analysis. Results indicate that elevation and vegetation coverage are the main drivers of the diverse response of SSI to SPEI time-scales. Similar analyses were made for three sub-periods (1940–1964, 1965–1989 and 1989–2013), whose results confirm considerable differences in the response of SSI to SPEI over the past eighty years. ; This work was supported by the research project I-Link1001 (Validation of climate drought indices for multi-sectorial applications in North America and Europe under a global warming scenario) financed by CSIC, PCIN-2015-220 and CGL2014-52135-C03-01 financed by the Spanish Commission of Science and Technology and FEDER, IMDROFLOOD financed by the Water Works 2014 co-funded call of the European Commission and INDECIS, which is part of ERA4CS, an ERA-NET initiated by JPI Climate, and funded by FORMAS (SE), DLR (DE), BMWFW (AT), IFD (DK), MINECO (ES), ANR (FR) with co-funding by the European Union (Grant 690462). Marina Peña-Gallardo was granted by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. Miquel Tomas-Burguera was supported by a doctoral grant by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. Jamie Hannaford was supported by the Belmont Forum project 'DrIVER', NERC Grant Number (grant NE/L010038/1). Marco Maneta acknowledges support from the USDA NIFA grant 2016-67026-25067. ; Peer reviewed

Abstract. Drought is a major driver of vegetation activity in Spain, with
significant impacts on crop yield, forest growth, and the occurrence of
forest fires. Nonetheless, the sensitivity of vegetation to drought
conditions differs largely amongst vegetation types and climates. We used a
high-resolution (1.1 km) spatial dataset of the normalized difference
vegetation index (NDVI) for the whole of Spain spanning the period from 1981 to
2015, combined with a dataset of the standardized precipitation
evapotranspiration index (SPEI) to assess the sensitivity of vegetation types
to drought across Spain. Specifically, this study explores the drought timescales at which vegetation activity shows its highest response to drought
severity at different moments of the year. Results demonstrate that – over
large areas of Spain – vegetation activity is controlled largely by the
interannual variability of drought. More than 90 % of the land areas
exhibited statistically significant positive correlations between the NDVI
and the SPEI during dry summers (JJA). Nevertheless, there are some
considerable spatio-temporal variations, which can be linked to differences
in land cover and aridity conditions. In comparison to other climatic regions
across Spain, results indicate that vegetation types located in arid regions
showed the strongest response to drought. Importantly, this study stresses
that the timescale at which drought is assessed is a dominant factor in
understanding the different responses of vegetation activity to drought.

23 Pags.- 12 Figs.- 4 Tabls. ; This article developed and implemented a new methodology for calculating the standardized evapotranspiration deficit index (SEDI) globally based on the log-logistic distribution to fit the evaporation deficit (ED), the difference between actual evapotranspiration (ETa) and atmospheric evaporative demand (AED). Our findings demonstrate that, regardless of the AED dataset used, a log-logistic distribution most optimally fitted the ED time series. As such, in many regions across the terrestrial globe, the SEDI is insensitive to the AED method used for calculation, with the exception of winter months and boreal regions. The SEDI showed significant correlations (p < 0.05) with the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) across a wide range of regions, particularly for short (<3 month) SPEI time scales. This work provides a robust approach for calculating spatially and temporally comparable SEDI estimates, regardless of the climate region and land surface conditions, and it assesses the performance and the applicability of the SEDI to quantify drought severity across varying crop and natural vegetation areas. ; This work was supported by the re-search projects PCIN-2015-220 and CGL2014-52135-C03-01 financed by the Spanish Commission of Science and Technology and FEDER. IMDROFLOOD financed by the Water Works 2014 co-funded all of the European Commission and INDECIS, which is part of ERA4CS, an ERA-NET initiated by JPI Climate, and funded by FORMAS (Sweden), DLR (Germany), BMWFW (Austria), IFD (Denmark), MINECO (Spain), and ANR (France), with co-funding by the European Union (Grant 690462). Diego G. Miralles acknowledges support from the European Research Council (ERC) under Grant Agreement 715254 (DRY–2–DRY). Marina Peña-Gallardo was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and Miquel Tomás-Burguera was sup-ported by a doctoral grant by the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte. ; Peer reviewed

20 Pags.,- 13 Figs.- 3 Tabls. Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in the online version. © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the license Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) ; Study region: The Segre basin (northeastern Spain). Study focus: The Segre basin is extensively regulated, through a dense network of dams, during the second half of the 20th century. This study assessed the impact of river regulation on the evolution of hydroclimatological extreme events across the basin during the past six decades (1950–2013). We assessed whether the occurrence of floods and hydrological droughts has changed, and whether these changes have differed spatially between the headwaters and lower areas ofthe basin. For this purpose, we employed a set of hydroclimatological indices in order to quantify the evolution of the amount as well as the frequency of quantiles of high precipitation and flood events. Changes in these variables were assessed by means of the nonparametric Mann–Kendall Tau coefficient. New hydrological insights: Results reveal a general reduction in the occurrence of extreme precipitation events in the Segre basin from 1950 to 2013, which corresponded to a general reduction in high flows measured at various gauged stations across the basin. While this study demonstrates spatial differences in the decrease of streamflow between the headwaters and the lower parts of the basin, mainly associated with changes in river regulation, there was no reduction in the frequency of the extraordinary floods. Changes in water management practices in the basin have significantly impacted the frequency, duration, and severity of hydrological droughts downstream of the main dams, as a consequence of the intense water regulation to meet water demands for irrigation and livestock farms. Nonetheless, the hydrological response of the headwaters to these droughts differed markedly from that of the lower areas of the basin. ; This work was supported by the research project PCIN-2015-220, CGL2014-52135-C03-01, Red de variabilidad y cambioclimático RECLIM (CGL2014-517221- REDT) financed by the Spanish Commission of Science and Technology and FEDER, "LIFE12 ENV/ES/000536-Demonstration and validation of innovative methodology for regional climate change adaptation in the Mediterranean area (LIFE MEDACC)" financed by the LIFE programme of the European Commission and IMDROFLOOD financed by the Water Works 2014 cofunded call of the European Commission. Marina Peña-Gallardo and Esteban Alonso-González were granted by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness; Natalia Martin-Hernandez was supported by a doctoral grant by the Aragón Regional Government; and Miquel Tomas-Burguera was supported by a doctoral grant by el Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte. Arturo Sanchez-Lorenzo was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship JCI-2012-12508 financed by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. ; Peer reviewed