“Multi-year droughts cause abrupt changes that take years or decades to be reversed.”

Recent decades have seen a doubling in multi-year droughts around the world, resulting in long-lasting impacts on streamflow, groundwater and vegetation. These, in turn, negatively affect agriculture, drinking water supply, hydropower, shipping, and ecosystems. Multi-year droughts are projected to become more frequent and longer due to climate change, potentially reducing the recovery time between them. There is a need to understand the magnitude and frequency of multi-year droughts both in present and how these will change in the future.

Figure: A comparison between multi-year and “normal” drought trends.

MultiDry will focus on radically advancing our understanding of the drivers and mechanisms of multi-year droughts through the creation of new models, novel scientific datasets, and the development of a basis for reliable projections of future multi-year droughts. The MultiDry results will inform policymakers and water managers around the world on future water challenges. Additionally, MultiDry will produce new knowledge needed to quantify future drought vulnerability around the world and improve global hydrological modelling of these events and drought preparedness.