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UNDERSTANDING AND MANIPULATING DROUGHT - A PERMANENT CHALLENGE
Abstract
As a natural hazard, drought is best characterized by multiple parameters of climate, hydrology, meteorology etc. Understanding the links (relations, interdependencies) between these parameters is critical for identifying, adopting and implementing measures for mitigating the impacts of droughts. The reasons for the occurrence of droughts are complex, because they are dependent not only on the atmosphere but also on the hydrologic processes which feed moisture to the atmosphere. Moreover, the conceptual and structural characteristics of a drought make this phenomenon to be very hardly predicted and difficult to analyze. In addition, climate changes will increase the uncertainties related to drought and its effects on ecosystems. As a result, researches on drought manipulation experiments should focus on ecological drought as being the most relevant for understanding this phenomenon. Thus, some questions are rising: Can be drought manipulated in a real and reliable way? What kind of drought can be manipulated? This paper, based on authorпїЅs participation at COST action ES1308, will try to provide a review of fundamental concepts of drought needed in potential experiments focused on drought manipulation.
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