<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>The aim of the study was to evaluate the climate and geographic factors controlling the hydrological drought of the rivers located in the Upper Vistula catchment in the Polish Carpathians. Drought was identified based on the daily flow (based on water stage measered once a day at 6 UTC) series dating from between 1975 and 2019 at 49 gauging cross-sections. Four physico-geographical regions were identified in the Polish Carpathians and spatial variabilities of the basic drought characteristics were developed within these regions. Such spatial distributions were treated as maps indicating drought hazard areas in the region. In addition, an analysis was undertaken to study the seasonality of the start and end times of the drought (all in the multi-annual period), the longest duration of droughts, the droughts of the highest volume in multi-annual period, as well as the number of drought days. Multi-annual variability of the number of drought days was also analysed.</p>
<p>The results suggest that droughts in the Polish Carpathians are events characteristic of summer and autumn, whereas in the Tatra Mountains and the Podhale region - of autumn and winter. The greatest hazard of a prolonged and high-volume drought occurs in the Podhale region and the Tatra Mountains, while the lowest hazard is observed in the Bieszczady Mountains and the eastern part of the studied area.</p>
</abstract>

The aim of the study was to evaluate the climate and geographic factors controlling the hydrological drought of the rivers located in the Upper Vistula catchment in the Polish Carpathians. Drought was identified based on the daily flow (based on water stage measered once a day at 6 UTC) series dating from between 1975 and 2019 at 49 gauging cross-sections. Four physico-geographical regions were identified in the Polish Carpathians and spatial variabilities of the basic drought characteristics were developed within these regions. Such spatial distributions were treated as maps indicating drought hazard areas in the region. In addition, an analysis was undertaken to study the seasonality of the start and end times of the drought (all in the multi-annual period), the longest duration of droughts, the droughts of the highest volume in multi-annual period, as well as the number of drought days. Multi-annual variability of the number of drought days was also analysed.
The results suggest that droughts in the Polish Carpathians are events characteristic of summer and autumn, whereas in the Tatra Mountains and the Podhale region - of autumn and winter. The greatest hazard of a prolonged and high-volume drought occurs in the Podhale region and the Tatra Mountains, while the lowest hazard is observed in the Bieszczady Mountains and the eastern part of the studied area.

The spatial and temporal variability of hydrological drought in the Polish Carpathians

Department of Geoengineering and Water Management, Faculty of Environmental and Power Engineering

Journal of Hydrology and Hydromechanics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the climate and geographic factors controlling the hydrological drought of the rivers located in the Upper Vistula...

The spatial and temporal variability of hydrological drought in the Polish Carpathians

Published Online: May 19, 2022

Page range: 156 - 169

Received: Sep 15, 2021

Accepted: Jan 24, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/johh-2022-0007

Keywords
Hydrological drought, Long-term variability, Seasonal variability, Vistula, the Polish Carpathian, Drought hazard

© 2022 Katarzyna Baran-Gurgul, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The spatial and temporal variability of hydrological drought in the Polish Carpathians

Published Online: May 19, 2022

Page range: 156 - 169

Received: Sep 15, 2021

Accepted: Jan 24, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/johh-2022-0007

KeywordsHydrological drought, Long-term variability, Seasonal variability, Vistula, the Polish Carpathian, Drought hazard

© 2022 Katarzyna Baran-Gurgul, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
Hydrological drought, Long-term variability, Seasonal variability, Vistula, the Polish Carpathian, Drought hazard