Drought Central, Drought Observatory by CNR IBE

Drought Situation

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Secondo i dati Copernicus, Maggio 2026 è stato il secondo più caldo a livello globale dal 1979 rispetto al periodo di riferimento 1991-2020. In Europa il mese si è sostanzialmente diviso in due fasi: una prima parte più fredda della norma e una seconda parte caratterizzata da temperature decisamente superiori alla media stagionale. Dal punto di vista delle piogge buona parte dell’Europa centrale ed orientale, sud della Gran Bretagna, parte dell’Italia e sud-ovest della penisola iberica hanno registrato condizioni più secche della norma a causa della persistenza di un’alta pressione che ha limitato le precipitazioni su vaste aree del continente. Condizioni opposte sul nord-ovest del continente, il nord della Scandinavia e Turchia, Moldova e Bulgaria, dove precipitazioni particolarmente intense in alcuni casi sono sfociate in inondazioni. Sul lungo periodo (vedi mappa interattiva) persistono segnali di siccità soprattutto sull’Europa continentale e orientale, con un’area interessata che si estende dalla Germania verso i settori più orientali del continente.
  • Invasi: in Sardegna e Sicilia il quadro è complessivamente migliorato. In Puglia e Basilicata la situazione rimane invece più eterogenea, con alcuni bacini in netta ripresa e altri che continuano a presentare condizioni di sofferenza.
  • I grandi laghi del Nord chiudono il mese su livelli generalmente in linea o leggermente inferiori alla media. Nella prima parte di Giugno, dopo una fase di recupero registrata all’inizio, i livelli hanno ripreso a diminuire.

Previsioni per i prossimi mesi

Le previsioni stagionali dei maggiori centri europei indicano, per il trimestre Luglio-Settembre, una maggiore probabilità di temperature superiori alla norma su gran parte dell’Europa, con il segnale più marcato sul Mediterraneo centrale e sui settori continentali europei. Per quanto riguarda le precipitazioni, c’è una divisione geografica che vede, con una probabilità compresa tra il 40% e il 50%, condizioni più secche della norma sull’Europa settentrionale e orientale, inclusa la bassa Scandinavia e la Gran Bretagna, mentre sul Mediterraneo emerge un segnale opposto, con probabilità comprese tra il 40% e il 60% di condizioni più umide e piovose della norma.

Drought WebGIS

A WebGIS application based on open source solutions customized to integrate different datasets and share maps and graphs of drought indices with researchers, decision-makers and other stakeholders.

Different functions allow to select sections of territory or visualize the trend of the indices in a specific pixel.

Maps and graphs can also be downloaded in png format.

Please Note: Due to the size of the images, it is possible to download sections of the vegetation indices smaller than the whole geographic window.

Please Note: due to problems concerning the Terra MODIS satellite, the TCI and VHI indices are available until the 9th of November 2022. They will be replaced soon with new products.

Drought Scan

The Drought Scan (DS) is an operational climate service for users with different profiles — technicians, researchers, irrigation consortia, and water authorities — who need a clear, consistent, and scalable assessment of drought conditions at the river-basin scale, using tools that are easy to use yet scientifically robust.

For further information, visit the dedicated page.

Drought
is a complex phenomenon

The complexity of the drought phenomenon requires the availability of a system as comprehensive and integrated as possible to respond to the different users requests.

The challenge
Increasing environmental resilience

Heat waves and droughts have significant and growing repercussions on physical, chemical, and biological systems, as well as on socio-economic sectors such as health, agriculture, natural ecosystems, and tourism. One of the main challenges in coping with drought is to reduce the temporal gap between the onset and development of a dry period and the response in managing drought-related emergencies. This requires not only robust monitoring systems, but also institutional readiness and coordination across sectors.

A Scientific Proactive approach
Technical support and timely information

Although coping with these extreme events requires effective actions, policymakers and water users often show low levels of preparedness. This may be due to the lack of a proactive approach involving monitoring and forecasting activities, mitigation measures, and public education. As a result, responses are frequently reactive rather than anticipatory. Sharing a scientific and proactive approach — combined with access to both technical support and timely information — can foster more anticipatory responses to extreme events.

A frequent phonomenon

After flooding, it is the second natural disaster that affects the population.

Long term impact

The impact on the environment and human activities can show up late and persist even after the end of the drought event.

High variability

Its intensity and spatial extent are extremely variable.

A creeping phenomenon

With respect to other natural extreme events, drought is characterised by a slow and often difficult to define onset and a long-lasting evolution.

Drought Observatory: the reason why

Drought monitoring supports a better resilience to reduce the impacts of drought events
L'immagine è di supporto alla descrizione fornita nel bollettino

Drought monitoring and forecasting system

The Institute of BioEconomy of the National Research Council (IBE-CNR) created a system to provide a semi-automatic, detailed, timely and comprehensive operational service. This service, initially developed for Tuscany Region, supports decision makers, water authorities, researchers and general stakeholders.

Integration of ground-based and satellite data

Meteorological stations network, satellite images and models are integrated through an open source and interoperable SDI (Spatial Data Infrastructure) based on PostgreSQL/PostGIS to produce vegetation and precipitation indices to follow the occurrence and evolution of a drought event.

The Indices: Drought occurrences and trends

The system is based on a monitoring component and on a forecasting ones. It uses two type of indices:
  • direct climate-based indices.
  • indirect vegetation-based indices
A continuous Work-in-Progress

Spatial Data Infrastructure

New technical improvements in the ICT infrastructure, coupled with scientific advances, allow a timely, ready-to-use and users-specific upgrading of the early warning communication.

SOA | OGC | PostgreSQL

A Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) based on Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards. Database-centred architecture, with PostgreSQL DataBase Management System.

Innovative Approach

The geographic data flows (from the download of remote sensing and climatic data to the storage of final indices) and all the related geoprocessing functions are integrated in a single environment.

Advanced Statistical Procedures

The integration of the PL/R (R Procedural Language) wrapper into the procedural language of PostgreSQL (PL/pgSQL) allowed the creation of advanced statistical procedures using R engine.