Articles | Volume 8, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-705-2012
© Author(s) 2012. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-705-2012
© Author(s) 2012. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Research article
| 
02 Apr 2012
Research article |
| 02 Apr 2012
Assessing extreme droughts in Spain during 1750–1850 from rogation ceremonies
F. Domínguez-Castro
Departamento de Física, Universidad de Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain
P. Ribera
Departamento de Sistemas Físicos, Químicos y Naturales, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla, Spain
R. García-Herrera
Departamento de Física de la Tierra II, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid y Instituto de Geociencias, CISC/UCM, Madrid, Spain
J. M. Vaquero
Departamento de Física, Universidad de Extremadura, Mérida, Spain
M. Barriendos
Department of Modern History, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
J. M. Cuadrat
Departamento de Geografía, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain
J. M. Moreno
Centro de Estudios del Estado de Feria, Zafra, Spain
Related subject area
Subject: Proxy Use-Development-Validation | Archive: Historical Records | Timescale: Centennial-Decadal
Climate and disease in historical urban space: evidence from 19th century Poznań, Poland
Climatic signatures in early modern European grain harvest yields
Pre-industrial temperature variability on the Swiss Plateau derived from the instrumental daily series of Bern and Zurich
Is it possible to estimate aerosol optical depth from historic colour paintings?
Meteorological and climatological triggers of notable past and present bark beetle outbreaks in the Czech Republic
Quantifying and reducing researcher subjectivity in the generation of climate indices from documentary sources
Documentary-based climate reconstructions in the Czech Lands 1501–2020 CE and their European context
Controlling water infrastructure and codifying water knowledge: institutional responses to severe drought in Barcelona (1620–1650)
Reassessing long-term drought risk and societal impacts in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, north-east China (1200–2015)
Climate records in ancient Chinese diaries and their application in historical climate reconstruction – a case study of Yunshan Diary
Reconstructions of droughts in Germany since 1500 – combining hermeneutic information and instrumental records in historical and modern perspectives
A survey of the impact of summer droughts in southern and eastern England, 1200–1700
A 424-year tree-ring-based Palmer Drought Severity Index reconstruction of Cedrus deodara D. Don from the Hindu Kush range of Pakistan: linkages to ocean oscillations
Droughts in the area of Poland in recent centuries in the light of multi-proxy data
Rogation ceremonies: a key to understanding past drought variability in northeastern Spain since 1650
The longest homogeneous series of grape harvest dates, Beaune 1354–2018, and its significance for the understanding of past and present climate
The weather behind words – new methodologies for integrated hydrometeorological reconstruction through documentary sources
Extreme droughts and human responses to them: the Czech Lands in the pre-instrumental period
Documentary data and the study of past droughts: a global state of the art
A 414-year tree-ring-based April–July minimum temperature reconstruction and its implications for the extreme climate events, northeast China
Streamflow variability over the 1881–2011 period in northern Québec: comparison of hydrological reconstructions based on tree rings and geopotential height field reanalysis
Temperature changes derived from phenological and natural evidence in South Central China from 1850 to 2008
Droughts in the Czech Lands, 1090–2012 AD
Temperature changes over the past 2000 yr in China and comparison with the Northern Hemisphere
Multi-periodic climate dynamics: spectral analysis of long-term instrumental and proxy temperature records
An open-access database of grape harvest dates for climate research: data description and quality assessment
Winter temperature variations over the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River since 1736 AD
Continental atmospheric circulation over Europe during the Little Ice Age inferred from grape harvest dates
Hydrometeorological extremes derived from taxation records for south-eastern Moravia, Czech Republic, 1751–1900 AD
A shift in the spatial pattern of Iberian droughts during the 17th century
Grażyna Liczbińska, Jörg Peter Vögele, and Marek Brabec
Clim. Past, 20, 137–150, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-137-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-137-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study examines the relationship between temperature and precipitation as explanatory variables for the probability of death due to waterborne and airborne diseases in historical urban space. The lagged effects of temperature and precipitation on waterborne and airborne diseases were significant, except for the smooth lagged average monthly temperature effect for the latter. There was also significant spatial heterogeneity in the prevalence of deaths due to waterborne and airborne diseases.
Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist, Bo Christiansen, Jan Esper, Heli Huhtamaa, Lotta Leijonhufvud, Christian Pfister, Andrea Seim, Martin Karl Skoglund, and Peter Thejll
Clim. Past, 19, 2463–2491, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2463-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2463-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We study the climate signal in long harvest series from across Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. The climate–harvest yield relationship is found to be relatively weak but regionally consistent and similar in strength and sign to modern climate–harvest yield relationships. The strongest climate–harvest yield patterns are a significant summer soil moisture signal in Sweden, a winter temperature and precipitation signal in Switzerland, and spring temperature signals in Spain.
Yuri Brugnara, Chantal Hari, Lucas Pfister, Veronika Valler, and Stefan Brönnimann
Clim. Past, 18, 2357–2379, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2357-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2357-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We digitized dozens of weather journals containing temperature measurements from in and around Bern and Zurich. They cover over a century before the creation of a national weather service in Switzerland. With these data we could create daily temperature series for the two cities that span the last 265 years. We found that the pre-industrial climate on the Swiss Plateau was colder than suggested by previously available instrumental data sets and about 2.5 °C colder than the present-day climate.
Christian von Savigny, Anna Lange, Anne Hemkendreis, Christoph G. Hoffmann, and Alexei Rozanov
Clim. Past, 18, 2345–2356, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2345-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2345-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This study investigates the possibility of inferring information on aerosol optical depth from photographs of historic paintings. The idea – which has been applied in previous studies – is very interesting because it would provide an archive of the atmospheric aerosol loading covering many centuries. We show that twilight colours depend not only on the aerosol optical thickness, but also on several other parameters, making a quantitative estimate of aerosol optical depth very difficult.
Rudolf Brázdil, Petr Zahradník, Péter Szabó, Kateřina Chromá, Petr Dobrovolný, Lukáš Dolák, Miroslav Trnka, Jan Řehoř, and Silvie Suchánková
Clim. Past, 18, 2155–2180, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2155-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2155-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Bark beetle outbreaks are important disturbances to Norway spruce forests. Their meteorological and climatological triggers are analysed for the main oubreaks over the territory of the Czech Republic based on newly created series of such outbreaks, covering the 1781–2021 CE period. The paper demonstrates the shift from windstorms as the main meteorological triggers of past outbreaks to effects of high temperatures and droughts together with windstorms in past decades.
George C. D. Adamson, David J. Nash, and Stefan W. Grab
Clim. Past, 18, 1071–1081, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-1071-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-1071-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Descriptions of climate held in archives are a valuable source of past climate variability, but there is a large potential for error in assigning quantitative indices (e.g. −2, v. dry to +2, v. wet) to descriptive data. This is the first study to examine this uncertainty. We gave the same dataset to 71 postgraduate students and 6 professional scientists, findings that error can be minimized by taking an average of indices developed by eight postgraduates and only two professional climatologists.
Rudolf Brázdil, Petr Dobrovolný, Jiří Mikšovský, Petr Pišoft, Miroslav Trnka, Martin Možný, and Jan Balek
Clim. Past, 18, 935–959, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-935-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-935-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The paper deals with 520-year series (1501–2020 CE) of temperature, precipitation, and four drought indices reconstructed from documentary evidence and instrumental observations for the Czech Lands. Basic features of their fluctuations, long-term trends, and periodicities as well as attribution to changes in external forcings and climate variability modes are analysed. Representativeness of Czech reconstructions at European scale is evaluated. The paper shows extreme character of past decades.
Santiago Gorostiza, Maria Antònia Martí Escayol, and Mariano Barriendos
Clim. Past, 17, 913–927, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-913-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-913-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
How did cities respond to drought during the 17th century? This article studies the strategies followed by the city government of Barcelona during the severely dry period from 1620 to 1650. Beyond the efforts to expand urban water supply sources and to improve the maintenance of the system, the city government decided to compile knowledge about water infrastructure into a book and to restrict access to it. This management strategy aimed to increase the city's control over water.
LingYun Tang, Neil Macdonald, Heather Sangster, Richard Chiverrell, and Rachel Gaulton
Clim. Past, 16, 1917–1935, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1917-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1917-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
A historical drought series (since 1200 CE) for Shenyang, NE China, shows 20th century droughts comparable in magnitude to recent severe droughts. Drought resilience driven by early 20th century societal/cultural changes reduced loss of life compared with the 1887 and 1891 droughts. A longer temporal analysis from integrated precipitation and historical records shows an earlier onset to droughts. Regional standardised precipitation indices could provide early warnings for drought development.
Siying Chen, Yun Su, Xiuqi Fang, and Jia He
Clim. Past, 16, 1873–1887, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1873-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1873-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Private diaries are important sources of historical data for research on climate change. Through a case study of Yunshan Diary, authored by Bi Guo of the Yuan dynasty of China, this article demonstrates how to delve into climate information in ancient diaries, mainly including species distribution records, phenological records and daily weather descriptions. This article considers how to use these records to reconstruct climate change and extreme climatic events on various timescales.
Rüdiger Glaser and Michael Kahle
Clim. Past, 16, 1207–1222, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1207-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1207-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
A new study on droughts in Germany since 1500 reveals the long-term trend of single extreme events, as well as drier periods. Extreme droughts appeared in 1540, 1590, 1615, 1706, 1834, 1893, 1921, 1949 and 2018. Like today, droughts had manifold impacts such as harvest failures, water deficits, low water levels and forest fires. This had different societal consequences ranging from famine, disease, rising prices, migration and riots leading to subsidies and discussions on climate change.
Kathleen Pribyl
Clim. Past, 16, 1027–1041, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1027-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1027-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Droughts pose a climatic hazard that can have a profound impacts on past societies. Using documentary sources, this paper studies the occurrence and impacts of spring–summer droughts in pre-industrial England from 1200 to 1700. The impacts most relevant to human livelihood, including the agricultural and pastoral sectors of agrarian production, and public health are evaluated.
Sarir Ahmad, Liangjun Zhu, Sumaira Yasmeen, Yuandong Zhang, Zongshan Li, Sami Ullah, Shijie Han, and Xiaochun Wang
Clim. Past, 16, 783–798, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-783-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-783-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
This study provides the opportunity to extend climatic records to preindustrial periods in northern Pakistan. The reconstructed March–August PDSIs for the past 424 years, going back to 1593 CE, enable scientists to know how these areas were prone to climatic extremes in the past. The instrumental data are limited in Pakistan; however, the Cedrus deodara tree that preserves physical characteristics of past climatic variabilities can provide insight into the trend of climatic changes.
Rajmund Przybylak, Piotr Oliński, Marcin Koprowski, Janusz Filipiak, Aleksandra Pospieszyńska, Waldemar Chorążyczewski, Radosław Puchałka, and Henryk Paweł Dąbrowski
Clim. Past, 16, 627–661, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-627-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-627-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The paper presents the main features of droughts in Poland in the period 996–2015 based on proxy data (documentary and dendrochronological) and instrumental measurements of precipitation. More than 100 droughts were found in documentary sources from the mid-15th century to the end of the 18th century with a maximum in the second halves of the 17th and, particularly, the 18th century. The long-term frequency of droughts in Poland has been stable for the last two or three centuries.
Ernesto Tejedor, Martín de Luis, Mariano Barriendos, José María Cuadrat, Jürg Luterbacher, and Miguel Ángel Saz
Clim. Past, 15, 1647–1664, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1647-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1647-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
We developed a new dataset of historical documents by compiling records (rogation ceremonies) from 13 cities in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula (IP). These records were transformed into quantitative continuous data to develop drought indices (DIs). We regionalized them by creating three DIs (Ebro Valle, Mediterranean, and Mountain), which cover the period from 1650 to 1899 CE. We identified extreme drought years and periods which help to understand climate variability in the IP.
Thomas Labbé, Christian Pfister, Stefan Brönnimann, Daniel Rousseau, Jörg Franke, and Benjamin Bois
Clim. Past, 15, 1485–1501, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1485-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1485-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
In this paper we present the longest grape harvest date (GHD) record reconstructed to date, i.e. Beaune (France, Burgundy) 1354–2018. Drawing on unedited archive material, the series is validated using the long Paris temperature series that goes back to 1658 and was used to assess April-to-July temperatures from 1354 to 2018. The distribution of extremely early GHD is uneven over the 664-year-long period of the series and mirrors the rapid global warming from 1988 to 2018.
Salvador Gil-Guirado, Juan José Gómez-Navarro, and Juan Pedro Montávez
Clim. Past, 15, 1303–1325, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1303-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1303-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The historical climatology has remarkable research potentialities. However, historical climatology has some methodological limitations. This study presents a new methodology (COST) that allows us to perform climate reconstructions with monthly resolution. The variability of the climatic series obtained are coherent with previous studies. The new proposed method is objective and is not affected by social changes, which allows us to perform studies in regions with different languages and cultures.
Rudolf Brázdil, Petr Dobrovolný, Miroslav Trnka, Ladislava Řezníčková, Lukáš Dolák, and Oldřich Kotyza
Clim. Past, 15, 1–24, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The paper analyses extreme droughts of the pre-instrumental period (1501–1803) over the territory of the recent Czech Republic. In total, 16 droughts were selected for spring, summer and autumn each and 14 droughts for summer half-year (Apr–Sep). They are characterized by very low values of drought indices, high temperatures, low precipitation and by the influence of high-pressure situations. Selected extreme droughts are described in more detail. Effect of droughts on grain prices are studied.
Rudolf Brázdil, Andrea Kiss, Jürg Luterbacher, David J. Nash, and Ladislava Řezníčková
Clim. Past, 14, 1915–1960, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1915-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1915-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The paper presents a worldwide state of the art of droughts fluctuations based on documentary data. It gives an overview of achievements related to different kinds of documentary evidence with their examples and an overview of papers presenting long-term drought chronologies over the individual continents, analysis of the most outstanding drought events, the influence of external forcing and large-scale climate drivers, and human impacts and responses. It recommends future research directions.
Shanna Lyu, Zongshan Li, Yuandong Zhang, and Xiaochun Wang
Clim. Past, 12, 1879–1888, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1879-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1879-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents a 414-year growing season minimum temperature reconstruction based on Korean pine tree-ring series at Laobai Mountain, northeast China. It developed a more than 400-year climate record in this area for the first time. This reconstruction showed six cold periods, seven warm periods, and natural disaster records of extreme climate events.
Pierre Brigode, François Brissette, Antoine Nicault, Luc Perreault, Anna Kuentz, Thibault Mathevet, and Joël Gailhard
Clim. Past, 12, 1785–1804, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1785-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1785-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
In this paper, we apply a new hydro-climatic reconstruction method on the Caniapiscau Reservoir (Canada), compare the obtained streamflow time series against time series derived from dendrohydrology by other authors on the same catchment, and study the natural streamflow variability over the 1881–2011 period. This new reconstruction is based on a historical reanalysis of global geopotential height fields and aims to produce daily streamflow time series (using a rainfall–runoff model).
J. Zheng, Z. Hua, Y. Liu, and Z. Hao
Clim. Past, 11, 1553–1561, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-1553-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-1553-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
In this paper we reconstruct the annual temperature anomalies in South Central China from 1850 to 2008, using phenodates of plants, snowfall days, and five tree-ring width chronologies. It is found that rapid warming has occurred since the 1990s, with an abrupt change around 1997, leading to unprecedented variability in warming; a cold interval dominated the 1860s, 1890s, and 1950s; warm decades occurred around 1850, 1870, and 1960; and the warmest decades were the 1990s–2000s.
R. Brázdil, P. Dobrovolný, M. Trnka, O. Kotyza, L. Řezníčková, H. Valášek, P. Zahradníček, and P. Štěpánek
Clim. Past, 9, 1985–2002, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1985-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1985-2013, 2013
Q. Ge, Z. Hao, J. Zheng, and X. Shao
Clim. Past, 9, 1153–1160, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1153-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1153-2013, 2013
H.-J. Lüdecke, A. Hempelmann, and C. O. Weiss
Clim. Past, 9, 447–452, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-447-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-447-2013, 2013
V. Daux, I. Garcia de Cortazar-Atauri, P. Yiou, I. Chuine, E. Garnier, E. Le Roy Ladurie, O. Mestre, and J. Tardaguila
Clim. Past, 8, 1403–1418, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-1403-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-1403-2012, 2012
Z.-X. Hao, J.-Y. Zheng, Q.-S. Ge, and W.-C. Wang
Clim. Past, 8, 1023–1030, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-1023-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-1023-2012, 2012
P. Yiou, I. García de Cortázar-Atauri, I. Chuine, V. Daux, E. Garnier, N. Viovy, C. van Leeuwen, A. K. Parker, and J.-M. Boursiquot
Clim. Past, 8, 577–588, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-577-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-577-2012, 2012
R. Brázdil, K. Chromá, H. Valášek, and L. Dolák
Clim. Past, 8, 467–481, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-467-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-467-2012, 2012
F. Domínguez-Castro, R. García-Herrera, P. Ribera, and M. Barriendos
Clim. Past, 6, 553–563, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-6-553-2010, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-6-553-2010, 2010
Cited articles
Alcoforado, M. J., Nunes, M. F., Garcia, J. C., and Taborda, J. P.: Temperature and precipitation reconstruction in southern Portugal during the late Maunder Minimum (1675–1715), Holocene, 10, 333–340, 2000.
Alcoforado, M. J., Vaquero, J. M., Trigo, R. M., and Taborda, J. P.: Early Portuguese meteorological measurements (18th century), Clim. Past, 8, 353–371, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-353-2012, 2012.
Álvarez Saenz de Buruaga, J.: Materiales para la historia de Mérida (de 1637 a 1936), Ayuntamiento de Badajoz, Badajoz, Spain, 363 pp., 1994.
Álvarez Vázquez, J. A.: Drought and Rainy Periods in the Province of Zamora in the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries, in: Quaternary Climate in Western Mediterranean, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain, 221–233, 1986.
Barriendos, M.: Climatic variations in the Iberian peninsula during the late Maunder minimum (AD 1675–1715): an analysis of data from rogation ceremonies, Holocene, 7, 105–111, 1997.
Barriendos, M., Gómez, B., and Peña, J. C.: Old series of meteorological readings for Madrid and Barcelona (1780–1860) documentary and observed characteristics, in: Advances in historical climatology in Spain, oikos-tau, Barcelona, Spain, 157–172, 1997.
Barriendos, M., Martín-Vide, J., Peña, J. C., and Rodríguez, R.: Daily meteorological observations in Cádiz-San Fernando, Analysis of the documentary sources and instrumental data content (1786–1996), Climatic Change, 53, 151–170, 2002.
Bronto, S.: Volcanic geology of Galunggung, West Java, Indonesia, Ph.D. thesis, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, 490 pp., 1989.
Camuffo, D., Bertolin, C., Diodato, N., Cocheo, C., Enzi, S., Sghedoni, M., Barriendos, M., Dominguez-Castro, F., Garnier, E., Alcoforado, M. J., and Nunes, M. F.: 500-year precipitation reconstruction in the Western Mediterranean Basin by means of documentary data and instrumental observations, Climatic Change, in review, 2011.
Cuadrat, J. M. and Vicente-Serrano, S.: La sécheresse en Aragon à partir des archives des rogations (XVIe-XIXe S.), Rev. Climatol., 14, 44–50, 2002.
Cullen, H. M., deMenocal, P. B., Hemming, S., Hemming, G., Brown, F. H., Guilderson, T., and Sirocko, F.: Climate change and the collapse of the Akkadian empire: Evidence from the deep sea, Geology, 28, 379–382, 2000.
Curtis, J. H. and Hodell, D. A.: Climate variability on the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico) during the past 3500 years, and implications for Maya cultural evolution, Quaternary Res., 46, 37–47, 1996.
deMenocal, P.: Cultural responses to climate change during the Late Holocene, Science, 292, 667–673, 2001.
Diffenbaugh, N. S., Pal, J. S., Giorgi, F., and Gao, X.: Heat stress intensification in the Mediterranean climate change hotspot, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L11706, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GL030000, 2007.
Domínguez-Castro, F., Santisteban, J. I., Barriendos, M., and Mediavilla, R.: Reconstruction of drought episodes for central Spain from rogation ceremonies recorded at Toledo Cathedral from 1506 to 1900: A methodological approach, Global Planet. Change, 63, 230–242, 2008.
Dom\'{i}nguez-Castro, F., Garc\'{i}a-Herrera, R., Ribera, P., and Barriendos, M.: A shift in the spatial pattern of Iberian droughts during the 17th century, Clim. Past, 6, 553–563, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-6-553-2010, 2010.
Dong, X., Xi, B., Kennedy, A., Feng, Z., Entin, J. K., Houser, P. R., Schiffer, R. A., L'Ecuyer, T., Olson, W. S., Hsu, K., Liu, W. T., Lin, B., Deng, Y., and Jiang, T.: Investigation of the 2006 drought and 2007 flood extremes at the Southern Great Plains through an integrative analysis of observations, J. Geophys. Res., 116, D03204, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JD014776, 2011.
Drysdale, R., Zanchetta, G., Hellstrom, J., Maas, R., Fallick, A., Pickett, M., Cartwright, I., and Piccini, L.: Late Holocene drought responsible for the collapse of Old World civilizations is recorded in an Italian cave flowstone, Geology, 34, 101–104, 2006.
Esper, J., Frank, D., Büntgen, U., Luterbacher, J., and Xoplaki, E.: Long-term drought severity variations in Morocco, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L17702, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GL030844, 2007.
Esteban-Parra, M. J., Rodrigo, F. S., and Castro-Díez, Y.: Spatial and temporal patterns of precipitation in Spain for the period 1880–1992, Int. J. Climatol., 18, 1557–1574, 1998.
Estrela, M. J., Peñarrocha, D., and Millán, M.: Multi-annual drought episodes in the Mediterranean (Valencia Region) from 1950–1996, A spatio-temporal analysis, Int. J. Climatol., 20, 1599–1618, 2000.
Fernández-Fernández, M. I., Gallego, M. C., Dom\'{i}nguez-Castro, F., Vaquero, J. M., Moreno González, J. M., and Castillo Durán, J.: Reconstruction of rainfall in Zafra (southwest Spain) from 1750 to 1840 from documentary sources, Clim. Past Discuss., 7, 3895–3918, https://doi.org/10.5194/cpd-7-3895-2011, 2011.
FEWSNET: Rwanda food security update, Technical report, Famine Early Warning System Network, 2005a.
FEWSNET: Africa: weather hazards assessment, Technical report, Famine early Warning System Network, 2005b.
FEWSNET: Rwanda food security update, Technical report, Famine Early Warning System Network, 2006a.
FEWSNET: Africa: weather hazards assessment, Technical report, Famine early Warning System Network, 2006b.
Fischer, E. M., Luterbacher, J., Zorita, E., Tett, S. F. B., Casty, C., and Wanner, H.: European climate response to tropical volcanic eruptions over the last half millenium, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L05707, https://doi.org/10.1029/2006GL027992, 2007.
Gallego, M. C., Trigo, R. M., Vaquero, J. M., Brunet, M., García, J. A., Sigró, J., and Valente, M. A.: Trends in frequency indices of daily precipitation over the Iberian Peninsula during the last century, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 116, D02109, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JD014255, 2011.
García-Herrera, R., Paredes, D., Trigo, R. M., Trigo, I. F., Hernández, E., Barriopedro, D., and Mendes M. A.: The outstanding 2004-2005 drought in the Iberian Peninsula: associated atmospheric circulation, J. Hydrometeorol., 8, 483–498, 2007.
Haug, G. H., Gunther, D., Peterson, L. C., Sigman, D. M., Hughen, K. A., and Aeschlimann, B.: Climate and the collapse of Maya civilization, Science, 299, 1731–1735, 2003.
Hodell, D. A., Curtis, J. H., and Brenner, M.: Possible role of climate in the collapse of Classic Maya civilization, Nature, 375, 391–394, 1995.
Hodell, D. A., Brenner, M., Curtis, J. H., and Guilderson, T.: Solar forcing of drought frequency in the Maya Lowlands, Science, 292, 1367–1370, 2001.
Hodell, D. A., Brenner, M., and Curtis, J. H.: Climate and cultural history of the Northeastern Yucatan Peninsula, Quintana Roo, Mexico, Climatic Change, 83, 215–240, 2007.
Huntington, T. G.: Evidence for intensification of the global water cycle: Review and synthesis, J. Hydrol., 319, 83–95, 2006.
Jousset, P., Mori, H., and Okada, H.: Elastic models for the magma intrusion associated with the 2000 eruption of Usu volcano, Hokkaido, Japan, J. Volcanol. Geoth. Res., 125, 81–106, 2003
Kijazi, A. L. and Reason, C. J. C.: Analysis of the 1998 to 2005 drought over the northastern highlands of Tanzania, Clim. Res., 38, 209–223, 2009.
Lana, X. and Burgueño, A.: Some statistical characteristics of monthly and annual pluviometric irregularity for the Spanish Mediterranean cost, Theor. Appl. Climatol., 65, 79–97, 2000.
Lana, X., Martínez, M. D., Burgueño, A., Serra, C., Martín-Vide, J., and Gómez, L.: Spatial and temporal patterns of dry spell lengths in the Iberian Peninsula for the second half of the twentieth century, Theor. Appl. Climatol., 91, 99–116, 2008.
Lewis, S. L., Brando, P. M., Oliver, L. P., Geertje, M. F., van der Heijden M. F., and Nepstad, D.: The 2010 Amazon Drought, Science, 331, 554, 2011.
Lodge R.: The private correspondence of sir Benjamín Keene, edited with introduction and notes by Sir Richard Lodge, The University Press, Cambridge, 548 pp., 1933.
Lutherbacher, J., Xoplaki, E., Dietrich, D., Rickli, R., Jacobeit, J., Beck, C., Gyalistras, D., Schmutz, C., and Wanner, H.: Reconstruction of sea level pressure fields over the Eastern North Atlantic and Europe back to 1500, Clim. Dynam., 18, 545–561, 2002.
Marengo, J. A., Nobre, C. A., Tomasella, J., Oyama, M. D., Sampaio de Oliveira, G., de Oliveira, R., Camargo, H., Alves, L. M., and Foster Brown, I.: The Drought of Amazonia in 2005, J. Climate, 21, 495–516, 2008.
Martín-Vide, J. and Barriendos, M.: The use of rogation ceremony records in climatic reconstruction: a case study from Catalonia (Spain), Climatic Change, 30, 201–221, 1995.
Martín-Vide, J. and Gómez, L.: Regionalization of peninsular Spain based on the length of dry spells, Int. J. Climatol., 19, 537–555, 1999.
Moral Ruiz, J.: La agricultura española a mediados del siglo XIX (1850–1870), Resultados de una encuesta agraria de la época, Serie Estudios de la Secretaria General Técnica, Ministerio de Agricultura, Madrid, Spain, 1979.
Murphy, B. F. and Timbal, B.: A review of recent climate variability and climate change in southeastern Australia, Int. J. Climatol., 28, 859–879, 2008.
Nicoll, K.: Recent environmental change and prehistoric human activity in Egypt and Northern Sudan, Quaternary Sci. Rev., 23, 561–580, 2004.
Obasi, G. O. P.: WMO's Role in the international decade for natural disaster reduction, B. Am. MeteorOL. Soc., 75, 1655–1661, 1994.
Olcina, J.: Tipología de las sequías en España, Ería, 56, 201–227, 2001.
Paredes, D., Trigo, R. M., García-Herrera, R., and Trigo, I. F.: Understanding precipitation changes in Iberia in early spring: weather typing and storm-tracking approaches, J. Hydrometeorol., 7, 101–113, 2006.
Pauling, A., Lutherbacher, J., Casty, C., and Wanner, H.: Five hundred years of girded high-resolution precipitation reconstructions over Europe and the connection to large-scale circulation, Clim. Dynam., 26, 387–405, 2006.
Pérez-Cueva, A. J. and Escrivá, J. L.: Aspectos climáticos de las sequías en el ámbito mediterráneo, Cuadernos de Geografía, 30, 1–12, 1982.
Prohom, M.: Incident of large volcanic eruptions on the climate of Iberia and the Balearics, Ph.D. thesis, Universidad de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, 186 pp., 2003.
Rodrigo, F. S. and Barriendos, M.: Reconstruction of seasonal and annual rainfall variability in the Iberian Peninsula (16th–20th Centuries) from documentary data, Global Planet. Change, 63, 243–257, 2008.
Rodrigo, F. S., Esteban-Parra, M. J., Pozo-Vázquez, D., and Castro-Díez, Y.: A 500-year precipitation record in Southern Spain, Int. J. Climatol., 19, 1233–1253, 1999.
Rodrigo, F. S., Esteban-Parra, M. J., Pozo-Vázquez, D., and Castro-Díez, Y.: Rainfall variability in southern Spain on decadal to centennial time scales, Int. J. Climatol., 20, 721–732, 2000.
Sáez de Ocáriz, M.: Climatología y régimen de lluvias en la rioja alta, Siglos XVI al XIX, Zubia, 8, 129–178, 1990.
Serrano, A., Mateos, V. L., and García, J. A.: Trend analysis of monthly precipitation over the Iberian Peninsula for the period 1921–1995, Phys. Chem. Earth B, 24, 85–90, 1999.
Sigurdsson, H. and Carey, S.: Eruptive history of Tambora volcano, Indonesia, in: The Sea of Mount Tambora, Mitt. Geol. Paleont. Inst. Univ. Hamburg Heft, Germany, 187–206, 1992.
Sousa, P. M., Trigo, R. M., Aizpurua, P., Nieto, R., Gimeno, L., and Garcia-Herrera, R.: Trends and extremes of drought indices throughout the 20th century in the Mediterranean, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 11, 33–51, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-11-33-2011, 2011.
Stothers, R. B.: The great Tambora eruption in 1815 and its aftermath, Science, 224, 1191–1198, 1984.
Taborda, J. P., Alcoforado, M. J., and Garcia, J. C.: Climate in southern Portugal in the 18th century, Reconstruction based on instrumental and documentary sources, Geo-Ecologia 2, tThis book may be accessed at: http://www.c1ima.org, Centro de Estudos Geográficos, Lisboa, Portugal, 211 pp., 2004.
Trenberth, K. E., Smith, L., Qian, T., Dai, A., and Fasullo, J.: Estimates of the global water budget and its annual cycle using observational and model Data, J. Hydrometeorol., 8, 758–769, 2007.
Trigo, R. M., Vaquero, J. M., Alcoforado, M. J., Barriendos, M., Taborda, J., García-Herrera, R., and Luterbacher, J.: Iberia in 1816, the year without a summer, Int. J. Climatol., 29, 99–115, 2009.
Vaquero, J. M.: Historical sunspot observations: a review, Adv. Space Res., 40, 929–941, 2007.
Vicente-Serrano, S. M.: Spatial and temporal analysis of droughts in the Iberian Peninsula (1910–2000), Hydrolog. Sci. J., 51, 83–97, 2006a.
Vicente-Serrano, S. M.: Differences in spatial patterns of drought on different time scales: an analysis of the Iberian Peninsula, Water Resour. Manage., 20, 37–60, 2006b.
Vicente Serrano, S. M. and Cuadrat, J. M.: North Atlantic oscillation control of drought in north-east Spain: evaluation since 1600 A.D., Climatic Change, 85, 357–379, 2007.
Vicente-Serrano, S. M. and López-Moreno, J. I.: The influence of atmospheric circulation at different spatial scales on winter drought variability through a semi-arid climatic gradient in northeast Spain, Int. J. Climatol., 26, 1427–1453, 2006.
Weiss, H., Courty, M. A., Wetterstrom, W., Guichard, F., Senior, L., Meadow, R., and Curnow, A.: The genesis and collapse of third millennium North Mesopotamian civilization, Science, 261, 995–1004, 1993.
Wei{ß}, M., Flörke, M., Menzel, L., and Alcamo, J.: Model-based scenarios of Mediterranean droughts, Adv. Geosci., 12, 145–151, https://doi.org/10.5194/adgeo-12-145-2007, 2007.
Wheeler, D.: The Gibraltar climatic record: Part 2 Precipitation, Weather, 62, 99–105, 2007.
WMO 2012: http://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/news/RCOF_en.html last access: 9 March 2012.
Yoshiyuki Kondo, A.: Estudio cuantitativo de la evolución del sector agrario español de 1750 a 1900, Ph.D. thesis, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain, 352 pp., 1983.
Zamora, R.: El final de la pequeña edad de hielo, Publicaciones Universidad de Alicante, Alicante, Spain, 194 pp., 2002.
