Santiago Beguería

Spanish National Research Council | CSIC · Department of Soil and Water

We assessed changes in daily precipitation extremes for the Fiji Islands from 1905 to 2021 using quality-controlled and homogenized series. We employed a set of 23 precipitation indices that span a wide variability of daily precipitation characteristics, including the frequency, magnitude, and duration. Changes in extreme events were assessed using...

Changes in daily precipitation extremes were assessed for the Fiji Islands from 1905 to 2021 using quality-controlled and homogenized series. A set of 23 daily precipitation indices, spanning a wide variability of daily precipitation characteristics, including the frequency, magnitude and the duration, were employed. Changes in extreme events were...

We leveraged the most extensive and detailed gridded database of monthly precipitation data across the Spanish mainland (MOPREDAScentury), encompassing 1916–2020 time period, to pinpoint the most severe drought events within this timeframe and analyse their spatio-temporal dynamics. To identify these events, we employed the Standardized Precipitati...

This study examines the spatial and temporal variations in seasonal precipitation patterns across the Spanish mainland, within the western Mediterranean Basin, spanning the years 1916-2015. Utilizing the recently developed MOPREDAS_-century database at a 10 × 10 km grid resolution, our analysis reveals predominantly negative trends in precipitation...

This study examines the spatial and temporal variations in seasonal precipitation patterns across the Spanish mainland, within the western Mediterranean Basin, spanning the years 1916-2015. Utilizing the recently developed MOPREDAS_-century database at a 10 × 10 km grid resolution, our analysis reveals predominantly negative trends in precipitation...

This article describes the development of a monthly precipitation dataset for the Spanish mainland, covering the period between December 1915 and December 2020. The dataset combines ground observational data from the National Climate Data Bank (NCDB) of the Spanish meteorological service (AEMET) and new data rescued from meteorological yearbooks pu...

Forest plantations are more vulnerable to the stress induced by biotic and abiotic factors than are naturally regenerated forests. These effects can be aggravated by a lack of management in large reforestation areas, and thinning could, therefore, help trees to reduce dieback and tree mortality related to drought. We address this question using a d...

Due to its geographical location in the western Mediterranean region, the Iberian Peninsula involves a challenge for current climatic conditions and future projections. In this study we analysed monthly precipitation trends over mainland Spain from 1916 to 2020 by using the new MOPREDAS_century database. This database combines information from the...

Study focus The Pyrenees is sensitive to changes in climate (both natural and of anthropic origin) and changes in land use and cover (LULC). These changes can influence the water resources. The historical evolution (1980–2013) of the stream flows are studied using observed time series from non-influenced gauging stations and two models (SASER and S...

Flash droughts are characterized by rapid development and intensification, which makes early warning and monitoring difficult. Flash drought monitor (FDM) is a near-real time monitoring system for Spain (https://flash-drought.csic.es) based on the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI). Flash drought identification was based on...

Using observations and model simulations from the 5th and 6th phases of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5 and CMIP6, respectively), this study evaluated changes in monthly, seasonal, and annual precipitation over Bolivia from 1950 to 2019. Results demonstrate that observed precipitation is characterized by strong interannual and deca...

The physically-based, spatially-distributed hydrometeorological model SASER, which is based on the SURFEX LSM, is used to model the hydrological cycle in several domains in Spain and southern France. In this study, the modeled streamflows are validated in a domain centered on the Pyrenees mountain range and which includes all the surrounding river...

Drought is one of the most difficult natural hazards to quantify and is divided into categories (meteorological, agricultural, ecological and hydrological), which makes assessing recent changes and future scenarios extremely difficult. This opinion piece includes a review of the recent scientific literature on the topic and analyses trends in meteo...

Drought monitoring systems are real‐time information systems focused on drought severity data. They are useful for determining the drought onset and development and defining the spatial extent of drought at any time. Effective drought monitoring requires databases with high spatial and temporal resolution and large spatial and temporal coverage. Re...

Mountainous areas are an important source of water resources, especially in the Mediterranean. The PIRAGUA project aims at assessing the water resources of the Pyrenees in the past and in the future. To this aim, different modelling approaches were used in order to assess the water resources of the Pyrenees and their future evolution. In this study...

The Pyrenees range is a transboundary mountain region shared by Spain, France and Andorra. As many other mountain regions, the Pyrenees host the upper catchments and recharge zones of the region's main river basins and aquifers. Therefore, it is the main source of water resources that are used in a much larger area that includes important urban con...

The natural border between Andorra, France and Spain are the Pyrenees, a South-Western European mountain range with a great environmental diversity: from Atlantic to Mediterranean climates, from high mountains to cliffs touching the sea, and from humid to semi-arid conditions. Thus this region is particularly sensitive to climate and global change....

This study provides a long-term (1891–2014) global assessment of precipitation trends using data from two station-based gridded datasets and climate model outputs evolved through the fifth and sixth phases of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5 and CMIP6, respectively). Our analysis employs a variety of modeling groups that incorporate...

This study presents a new data set of gauged streamflow (N = 3,224) for Europe spanning the period 1962–2017. The Monthly Streamflow of Europe Dataset (MSED) is freely available at http://msed.csic.es/. Based on this data set, changes in the characteristics of hydrological drought (i.e., frequency, duration, and severity) were assessed for differen...

This study identifies significant periodicities in streamflow dynamics across western Europe using a hydrological database encompassing 1874 monthly series from catchments in Ireland, the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Portugal, spanning the years 1962 to 2012. Significant and synchronous periodicities with the main atmospheric mechanisms over t...

Precipitation irregularity constitutes a constraint for natural systems and socio-economic activities, particularly in water-scarce environments. Standard variability statistics such as the standard deviation, variance, and coefficient of variation do not consider the chronological order of these values. In Climatology, however, the temporal order...

Drought monitoring is essential to determine, at short time intervals, the main characteristics of drought events, such as their duration, severity, and spatial distribution. To ensure that drought monitoring represents a useful tool for governmental plans aimed at preventing or minimizing drought impacts, up-to-date information must be instantaneo...

The dynamics of blue and green water partitioning under vegetation and climate change, as well as their different interactions during wet and dry periods, are poorly understood in the literature. We analyzed the impact of vegetation changes on blue water generation in a central Spanish Pyrenees basin undergoing intense afforestation. We found that...

The availability of water resources is a major challenge of the Mediterranean region. Intense land use transformation has impacted the headwaters of river basins that generate most of the water resources, reducing streamflow This study analyses the evolution of hydrological and climatic drought in headwater catchments of Spain and it explores the e...

Se presenta una nueva base de datos de 12 indicadores agroclimáticos para la España peninsular sobre una malla de 5x5 km para el periodo 1981-2010. El cálculo de los indicadores se basó en la información de temperaturas máxima y mínima diarias extraídas de la base de datos STEAD. Se cartografían y describen los valores normales de todos los indicad...

In Mediterranean seasonally dry regions, the rise in dieback and mortality episodes observed in pine afforestations has been related to higher drought intensity and lack of appropriate management, which enhance competition between trees for water and light. However, there is little understanding of the benefits of silviculture for plantations under...

The Evaporative Demand Drought Index (EDDI), based on atmospheric evaporative demand, was proposed by Hobbins et al. (2016) to analyse and monitor drought. The EDDI uses a nonparametric approach in which empirically derived probabilities are converted to standardized values. This study evaluates the suitability of eight probability distributions to...

This study updates knowledge on climate evolution in Madagascar from 1950 to 2018. Changes were analyzed using annual and seasonal climate indices at regional and station level. The original daily series of minimum and maximum temperature and precipitation obtained from 28 meteorological stations were quality controlled and homogenized. Thirty‐seve...

In the Mediterranean, mountainous areas are an important source of water resources. Not only do mountains generate most of runoff, but they also store water in soils, as groundwater in aquifers and as snowpack which melts in spring where it can be diverted and used for agriculture. However, climate change and local anthropic processes are changing...

Climate change is expected to have a significant impact on water resources in mountain areas, as it is the case of the Pyrenees range between France, Spain and Andorre. Independently of future changes on rainfall patterns, global temperature rise is likely to provoke larger and earlier snowmelt, and enhanced precipitation deficits during the dry su...

Changes in the frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events represent one of the key indicators of climate change and variability. These events can have an important impact on mortality rates, especially in the ageing population. This study assessed the spatial and seasonal distributions of mortality rates in mainland Spain and their associati...

As with other mountain areas in Europe, the subalpine belt of the Central Spanish Pyrenees (approximately 1600–2200 m a.s.l.) has undergone constant deforestation since the Neolithic era and particularly during the Late Middle Ages, in favour of livestock management and grazing in summer. This furthered the rise of transhumance between the lowlands...

Trends in seasonal mean values of maximum and minimum temperature are analysed in the Spanish mainland from the new MOTEDAS_century database. This new data set has been developed combining the digitalized archives from the Spanish Meteorological Agency (AEMET) with information retrieved from Annual Books published by the former Meteorological Agenc...

We analyzed the impacts of drought severity on a variety of sectors in a topographically complex basin (the upper Aragón basin 2,181 Km²) in the Central Spanish Pyrenees. Using diverse data sources including meteorological and hydrological observations, remote sensing and tree rings, we analyse the possible hydrological implications of drought occu...

Accurate monitoring of crop condition is critical to detect anomalies that may threaten the economic viability of agriculture and to understand how crops respond to climatic variability. Retrievals of soil moisture and vegetation information from satellite-based remote-sensing products offer an opportunity for continuous and affordable crop conditi...

A key problem in explaining the mountain landscapes of the Mediterranean region is the relationship between the development of transhumance (seasonal movement of livestock over long distances) and deforestation of the subalpine and upper montane belts at 1350–2200 m above sea level (m a.s.l.). We examined this relationship in the Central Southern P...

Using a database of all the catalogued dolmens and stone circles in six Pyrenean valleys, we investigated the distribution of these megalithic monuments on the basis of elevation, gradient, aspect, terrain ruggedness, and terrain position, and identified factors potentially explaining the distribution of the monuments. A map of the areas having the...

This study presents a climatology and trend analysis of reference crop evapotranspiration (ETo) over continental Spain and the Balearic Islands. Geographic features of the study region play a substantial role in the climatology of ETo. The highest values (in excess of 1,200 mm y⁻¹) are found at lower elevations in the south, while the lowest values...

The standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) is one of the well‐established drought metrics worldwide. It is simply computed using precipitation and atmospheric evaporative demand (AED) data. Although AED is considered a key driver of drought variability worldwide, it could have less impact on drought in specific regions and for p...

The term risk exposure combines the notions of natural hazard and the human exposure to that hazard. Spatial and temporal variations in risk exposure, therefore, can be caused by changes in hazard, in exposure, or both. In this work a novel methodology for computing and representing risk exposure and its temporal changes are presented, and applied...

A fundamental key to understanding climate change and its implications is the availability of databases with wide spatial coverage, over a long period of time, with constant updates and high spatial resolution. This study describes a newly gridded data set and its map viewer “European Climatology and Trend Atlas of Climate Indices” (ECTACI), which...

We analysed long‐term variability and trends in meteorological droughts across Western Europe using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI). Precipitation data from 199 stations spanning the period 1851–2018 were employed, following homogenisation, to derive SPI‐3 and SPI‐12 series for each station, together with indices on drought duration and...

The Pyrenees are a fundamental source of water resources for the territories surrounding this mountain range and beyond, and like other mountainous areas they are very vulnerable under global change. The CLIMPY project (Interreg-POCTEFA) calculated an increase of 1.5 ℃ on average temperature for this region in the last 60 years. One of the aims of...

With a total irrigated area above 127,000 ha divided into 58 sectors, the Riegos del Alto Aragón (RAA) irrigation district is currently the largest irrigated area in Spain and in the European Union. Also, it is the largest water user within the Gallego-Cinca subsystem within the Ebro River Basin, which also supplies water to 588 livestock operation...

With a total irrigated area above 127,000 ha divided into 58 sectors, the Riegos del Alto Aragón (RAA) irrigation district is currently the largest irrigated area in Spain and in the European Union. Also, it is the largest water user within the Gallego-Cinca subsystem within the Ebro River Basin, which also supplies water to 588 livestock operation...

To know the vertical distribution of air temperature is complex, and this is necessary for different applications. The main explanatory variable of air temperature is elevation above sea level, whose relationship with air temperature is measured by air temperature lapse rates (LRs). LRs can vary considerably spatiotemporally due to a wide spectrum...

Variations in trend rates of annual values of the Central England Temperature series (CET) over the period1659-2017 were analysed using moving windows of different length, to identify the minimum period in which the trend expresses a climate signal not hidden by the noise produced by natural variability. Trend rates exhibit high variability and irr...

An analysis of the evolution of annual and seasonal mean temperatures on the Spanish mainland (western Mediterranean basin) was carried out, using the new MOnthly TEmperature Dataset of Spain century (MOTEDAS_century) data set. This data set was developed by combining archives from the National Meteorological Agency and newly digitised legacy data...

Obtaining climate grids describing distinct variables is important for developing better climate studies. These grids are also useful products for other researchers and end users. The atmospheric evaporative demand (AED) may be measured in terms of the reference evapotranspiration (ETo), a key variable for understanding water and energy terrestrial...

Attribution of trends in streamflow is complex, but essential, in identifying optimal management options for water resources. Disagreement remains on the relative role of climate change and human factors, including water abstractions and land cover change, in driving change in annual streamflow. We construct a very dense network of gauging stations...

This study describes a newly developed high-resolution (1.1 km) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index dataset for the peninsular Spain and the Balearic Islands (Sp_1km_NDVI). This dataset is developed based on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration–Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (NOAA–AVHRR) afternoon images, spanning the past t...

We present an analysis of the sensitivity of three key crops (alfalfa, barley and winter wheat) produced in the northwestern United States to climatic and agricultural market anomalies using widely used standardized in- dices. Rather than investigating sensitivity of crop yields (production per unit area), we focus on agricultural production (yield...

Observational datasets of climatic variables are frequently composed of fragmentary time series covering different time spans and plagued with data gaps. Most statistical methods and environmental models, however, require serially complete data, so gap filling is a routine procedure. However, very often this preliminary stage is undertaken with no...

Using 5520 observatories covering the whole territory of Spain (about 1 station per 90 km2 considering the whole period), a daily gridded maximum and minimum temperature was built covering a period from 1901 to 2014 in peninsular Spain and 1971 to 2014 in the Balearic and Canary Islands. A comprehensive quality control was applied to the original d...

Obtaining climate grids for distinct variables is of high importance to develop better climate studies, but also to offer usable products for other researchers and to end users. As a measure of atmospheric evaporative demand (AED), reference evapotranspiration (ETo) is a key variable for understanding both water and energy terrestrial balances, bei...

Drought episodes affect large continental areas all over the world, becoming one of the main natural hazards regarding their economic, social and environmental impacts. The design and improvement of drought monitoring and forecasting systems has become a priority application and has driven the need to a better understanding of the development of dr...

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 an...

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...

Ranging from the Mediterranean Sea through to the Atlantic Ocean, the Pyrenees represents the main source of water resources of North-Eastern Spain, Andorra and the South of France. Apart from providing for increasing human water needs like irrigation, drinking water, hydroelectricity production, and tourism; the runoff and aquifer recharge occurri...

This study characterizes the climatology of drought events over the mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands using high‐resolution (1.21 km²) meteorological data from 1961 to 2014. The climatology of drought was assessed based on two widely‐recognized drought indices: the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Standardized Precipitation‐Evap...

Using the full total of available 5520 observatories covering the whole territory of Spain, a daily gridded maximum and minimum temperature was built covering a period from 1901 to 2014 in peninsular Spain and 1971–2014 in Balearic and Canary Islands. A comprehensive quality control was applied to the original data and the gaps were filled on each...