European summer droughts

The new study, published in Environmental Research Letters, uses instrumental measurements since the 18th century and tree-ring-based reconstructions of temperature and drought, respectively, dating back from the 9th century.

Dr Charpentier Ljungqvist explains that the results have been compared with output from some of the same climate model simulations that are used to project future climate changes. "Crucially, climate model simulations suggest a too-strong link between warm and dry periods, and seem to underestimate the portion of Europe getting wetter in a warmer climate," he said. "It implies a possible exaggeration in the climate models of temperature-driven drought risks in parts of Europe under global warming. But the models may well instead underestimate future flood risks in northern Europe."

Access the paper "European warm-season temperature and hydroclimate since 850 CE" here.

This is the last product of the Euro-Med2k group, which wrapped up in 2017. Access the list of all the Euro-Med2k papers here.