Context
The Consecutive Dry Days index is relevant to biodiversity, agriculture, forest and water management. This index is based on daily total precipitation and is part of the Aridity Hazard type of the Wet and Dry category of the classification. A higher/low value indicates more/less Consecutive Dry Days and thus more/less water stress on the natural environment caused by lack of precipitation.
Definition
The longest period of consecutive days with daily precipitation below 1 mm in a year (day). In weather and climate models temperature is the variable simulating atmospheric air temperature at 2m above the surface. This Index is usually presented as annual, seasonal or monthly values over a reference period.
Data Sources
The data was assembled on behalf of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) based on climate projections hosted on the C3S Climate Data Store (CDS). The Index is calculated from the ERA5 reanalysis and a set of nine bias-corrected multi-model simulations from the EURO-CORDEX experiment. These simulations have a spatial resolution of 0.25° x 0.25°, a 3-hourly output, and cover scenarios RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. More information about the dataset can be found in the corresponding CDS documentation resources.
Supporting Information
Further information about this application can be found in the ECDE application User Guide and the Data and datasets underpining the ECDE. Related information can also be found on other sections of the EEA site:
- The Index based interactive EEA report: Wet and dry - Aridity (link).