Imprints of increases in evapotranspiration on decreases in streamflow during dry periods, a large-sample analysis in Germany

Bruno, Giulia; Strohmenger, Laurent; Duethmann, Doris

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-4473-2025

Articles | Volume 29, issue 18

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-4473-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Special issue:

Drought, society, and ecosystems (NHESS/BG/GC/HESS inter-journal...

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-4473-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 29, issue 18

Research article

|

17 Sep 2025

Research article |

| 17 Sep 2025

Imprints of increases in evapotranspiration on decreases in streamflow during dry periods, a large-sample analysis in Germany

Giulia Bruno, Laurent Strohmenger, and Doris Duethmann

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-4473-2025-supplement

Data sets

E-OBS dataset from the EU-FP6 project UERRA and the ECA&D project Cornes et al. https://doi.org/10.1029/2017JD028200

Catchment attribute data T. Hengl et al. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0169748

Catchment attribute data European Environment Agency https://doi.org/10.2909/DDACBD5E-068F-4E52-A596-D606E8DE7F40

Streamflow data and catchment boundaries H. X. Do et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-765-2018

Short summary

Decreases in streamflow during dry periods threaten ecosystems and society, and increases in evapotranspiration may contribute to them. From data for small catchments in Germany, summer low flows decreased over 1970–2019, and evapotranspiration increases significantly contributed to that. Lower-than-expected annual streamflow occurred during the 1989–1993 drought in catchments with increases in evapotranspiration. Changes in evapotranspiration need full consideration for streamflow prediction.