1540 European drought

The 1540 drought in Europe was a climatic event in Europe. In various palaeoclimatic analyses the temperature and precipitation regimes were reconstructed and compared to present-day conditions.

On the basis of historical records Wetter et al. (2014)[1] derived that during an eleven-month period there was little rain in Europe, possibly qualifying as a megadrought.[2] These conclusions however were questioned by Büntgen et al. (2015)[3] on the basis of additional data (tree rings).

Orth et al. (2016)[4] concluded that in summer 1540 the mean temperature was above the 1966–2015 mean and with a probability of 20% exceeded that of the 2003 summer; however, the study's mean reconstruction suggests that the summer of 2003 was still overall hotter across much of Europe.

  1. ^ Wetter, Oliver; et al. (2014). "The year-long unprecedented European heat and drought of 1540 – a worst case". Climatic Change. 125 (3–4): 349–363. Bibcode:2014ClCh..125..349W. doi:10.1007/s10584-014-1184-2. hdl:20.500.11850/86091. S2CID 153965334.
  2. ^ "Megadrought". Encyclopedia of Environmental Change. 2014. doi:10.4135/9781446247501.n2421. ISBN 9781446247112.
  3. ^ Büntgen, Ulf; Tegel, Willy; Carrer, Marco; Krusic, Paul J.; Hayes, Michael; Esper, Jan (2015). "Commentary to Wetter et al. (2014): Limited tree-ring evidence for a 1540 European 'Megadrought'". Climatic Change. 131 (2): 183–190. Bibcode:2015ClCh..131..183B. doi:10.1007/s10584-015-1423-1. S2CID 54877607.
  4. ^ Orth, Rene; Vogel, Martha M.; Luterbacher, Jürg; Pfister, Christian; Seneviratne, Sonia I. (2016). "Did European temperatures in 1540 exceed present-day records?". Environmental Research Letters. 11 (11): 114021. Bibcode:2016ERL....11k4021O. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/11/11/114021. hdl:21.11116/0000-0000-DBEF-D. S2CID 157372989.