Understanding Flash Droughts in Greece: Implications for Sustainable Water and Agricultural Management

Evangelos Leivadiotis (), Evangelia Farsirotou, Ourania Tzoraki, Silvia Kohnová and Aris Psilovikos ()
Additional contact information
Evangelos Leivadiotis: Laboratory of Ecohydraulics and Inland Water Management, Department of Ichthyology and Aquatic Environment, University of Thessaly, Fytokou Street, 38446 New Ionia, Greece
Evangelia Farsirotou: Laboratory of Ecohydraulics and Inland Water Management, Department of Ichthyology and Aquatic Environment, University of Thessaly, Fytokou Street, 38446 New Ionia, Greece
Ourania Tzoraki: Coastal Morphodynamics, Coastal Management and Marine Geology Laboratory, Department of Marine Sciences (DMR), Aegean University, 81100 Mitilini, Greece
Silvia Kohnová: Department of Land and Water Resources Management, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Radlinskeho 11, 81005 Bratislava, Slovakia
Aris Psilovikos: Laboratory of Ecohydraulics and Inland Water Management, Department of Ichthyology and Aquatic Environment, University of Thessaly, Fytokou Street, 38446 New Ionia, Greece

Land, 2025, vol. 14, issue 11, 1-26

Abstract: Flash droughts—characterized by their sudden development, severity, and short duration—impose considerable challenges on the soil–water complex of agricultural systems, especially under the Mediterranean climate. Though gaining increasing global significance, Mediterranean flash droughts are still understudied. This study examines the spatiotemporal variability of flash droughts in Greece for the period 1990–2024 using 5-day (pentad) ERA5-Land root-zone soil moisture (0–100 cm) at 0.25° resolution. A percentile-threshold approach detected flash drought events, and their main features—including frequency, duration, magnitude, intensity, decline rate, recovery rate, and recovery duration—were evaluated at the annual and seasonal levels. Findings indicate that Central Greece and Thessaly face the highest frequency and longevity of flash droughts, while Western Greece and Peloponnese and Western Macedonia are characterized by rapid development but intense recovery. An innovative empirical classification framework founded on decline and recovery rates indicated that Mild Fast Recovery events prevail in northern and central Greece, while Intense but Recovering events dominate in western and southern Greece. These results offer new perspectives on how flash droughts impact soil–water availability and agricultural resilience, providing a data-driven platform to aid sustainable water management, early warning systems, and adaptation strategies for Mediterranean agriculture in conditions of climate variability.

Keywords: flash droughts; soil moisture; Greece; spatiotemporal analysis; classification (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/11/2290/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/11/2290/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:11:p:2290-:d:1799053

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().