Articles | Volume 29, issue 13
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-2925-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-2925-2025
Research article
 | 
11 Jul 2025
Research article |  | 11 Jul 2025

Groundwater head responses to droughts across Germany

Pia Ebeling, Andreas Musolff, Rohini Kumar, Andreas Hartmann, and Jan H. Fleckenstein

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Cited articles

Bachmair, S., Stahl, K., Collins, K., Hannaford, J., Acreman, M., Svoboda, M., Knutson, C., Smith, K. H., Wall, N., Fuchs, B., Crossman, N. D., and Overton, I. C.: Drought indicators revisited: the need for a wider consideration of environment and society, WIREs Water, 3, 516–536, https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1154, 2016. 
Barthel, R., Haaf, E., Giese, M., Nygren, M., Heudorfer, B., and Stahl, K.: Similarity-based approaches in hydrogeology: proposal of a new concept for data-scarce groundwater resource characterization and prediction, Hydrogeol. J., 29, 1693–1709, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-021-02358-4, 2021. 
Bartsch, S., Frei, S., Ruidisch, M., Shope, C. L., Peiffer, S., Kim, B., and Fleckenstein, J. H.: River-aquifer exchange fluxes under monsoonal climate conditions, J. Hydrol., 509, 601–614, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2013.12.005, 2014. 
Belitz, K., Moore, R. B., Arnold, T. L., Sharpe, J. B., and Starn, J. J.: Multiorder Hydrologic Position in the Conterminous United States: A Set of Metrics in Support of Groundwater Mapping at Regional and National Scales, Water Resour. Res., 55, 11188–11207, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019WR025908, 2019. 
Berghuijs, W. R., Collenteur, R. A., Jasechko, S., Jaramillo, F., Luijendijk, E., Moeck, C., van der Velde, Y., and Allen, S. T.: Groundwater recharge is sensitive to changing long-term aridity, Nat. Clim. Change, 14, 357–363, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-01953-z, 2024. 
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Short summary
Groundwater is a crucial resource at risk due to droughts. To understand drought effects on groundwater levels in Germany, we grouped 6626 wells into six regional and two national patterns. Weather explained half of the level variations with varied response times. Shallow groundwater responds fast and is more vulnerable to short droughts (a few months). Dampened deep heads buffer short droughts but suffer from long droughts and recoveries. Two nationwide trend patterns were linked to human water use.
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