Spatio‐temporal variability of dryness/wetness in the Danube River Basin

The present study focuses on the analysis of dryness/wetness conditions in the Danube River catchment area from 1901 to 2013 based on reanalysis data. The spatio‐temporal variability of dryness/wetness conditions is analyzed by means of the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) for an accumulation periods of 6 months. To characterize the spatial variability of SPI6 at monthly time scales, an empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis was applied. The leading mode of SPI variability captures in‐phase variability of SPI over the entire catchment area of Danube River. The leading mode of dryness/wetness variability was found to be strongly related to the different phases of the Arctic Oscillation. The second and third modes of variability show a more regional character of the dryness/wetness variability over the Danube River catchment area. Based on a composite map analysis, between the time series corresponding to the first three leading modes of dryness/wetness variability and the geopotential height at 850 mb and precipitation totals, it is shown that dryness (wetness) conditions over the Danube catchment area are associated with an anticyclonic (cyclonic) circulation, transport of dry (humid) air towards the Danube catchment area and reduced (enhanced) number of rain days. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.