Progressive water deficits during multiyear droughts  in basins with long hydrological memory in Chile

Alvarez-Garreton, Camila; Boisier, Juan Pablo; Garreaud, René; Seibert, Jan; Vis, Marc

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-429-2021

Articles | Volume 25, issue 1

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-429-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-429-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 25, issue 1

Research article

|

28 Jan 2021

Research article |

| 28 Jan 2021

Progressive water deficits during multiyear droughts in basins with long hydrological memory in Chile

Camila Alvarez-Garreton, Juan Pablo Boisier, René Garreaud, Jan Seibert, and Marc Vis

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-429-2021-supplement

Data sets

CAMELS-CL explorer C. Alvarez-Garreton http://camels.cr2.cl/

ERA5-Land monthly averaged data from 1981 to present J. Muñoz Sabater https://www.ecmwf.int/en/era5-land

Short summary

The megadrought experienced in Chile (2010–2020) has led to larger than expected water deficits. By analysing 106 basins with snow-/rainfall regimes, we relate such intensification with the hydrological memory of the basins, explained by snow and groundwater. Snow-dominated basins have larger memory and thus accumulate the effect of persistent precipitation deficits more strongly than pluvial basins. This notably affects central Chile, a water-limited region where most of the population lives.