Articles | Volume 370
https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-370-89-2015
© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-370-89-2015
© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
11 Jun 2015
A European Flood Database: facilitating comprehensive flood research beyond administrative boundaries
Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria
B. Arheimer
Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, Norrköping, Sweden
G. T. Aronica
Department of Civil, Informatics, Architectural, Environmental Engineering and Applied Mathematics, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
A. Bilibashi
CSE – Control Systems Engineer, Renewable Energy Systems & Technology, Tirana, Albania
M. Boháč
Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, Prague, Czech Republic
O. Bonacci
Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Geodesy, Split University, Split, Croatia
M. Borga
Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padova, Padua, Italy
P. Burlando
Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
A. Castellarin
Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering (DICAM), Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
G. B. Chirico
Department of Agriculture, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy
P. Claps
Department Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering (DIATI), Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy
K. Fiala
Lower Tisza District Water Directorate, Szeged, Hungary
Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria
L. Gorbachova
Department Hydrological Research, Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Institute, Kiev, Ukraine
A. Gül
Department of Civil Engineering, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey
J. Hannaford
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK
A. Kiss
Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria
T. Kjeldsen
Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, University of Bath, Bath, UK
S. Kohnová
Department of Land and Water Resources Management (Faculty of Civil Engineering), Slovak University of Technology Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia
J. J. Koskela
Finnish Environment Institute, Helsinki, Finland
N. Macdonald
Department of Geography and Planning, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
Institute of Risk and Uncertainty, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
M. Mavrova-Guirguinova
University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Sofia, Bulgaria
O. Ledvinka
Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, Prague, Czech Republic
L. Mediero
Department of Civil Engineering: Hydraulic, Energy and Environment, Technical University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany
Department for Catchment Hydrology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Halle, Germany
P. Molnar
Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padova, Padua, Italy
A. Montanari
Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Institute of Geophysics Polish Academy of Sciences, Department of Hydrology and Hydrodynamics, Warsaw, Poland
J. Parajka
Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria
R. A. P. Perdigão
Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria
I. Radevski
Institute of Geography, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
B. Renard
Irstea, UR HHLY, Hydrology-Hydraulics Research Unit, Lyon, France
M. Rogger
Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria
J. L. Salinas
Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria
E. Sauquet
Irstea, UR HHLY, Hydrology-Hydraulics Research Unit, Lyon, France
Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
J. Szolgay
Department of Land and Water Resources Management (Faculty of Civil Engineering), Slovak University of Technology Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia
A. Viglione
Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria
Department of Engineering, University Roma Tre, Rome, Italy
D. Wilson
Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate, Oslo, Norway
K. Zaimi
Institute of GeoSciences, Energy, Water and Environment (IGEWE), Polytechnic University of Tirana, Tirana, Albania
G. Blöschl
Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria
Related authors
Miriam Bertola, Alberto Viglione, David Lun, Julia Hall, and Günter Blöschl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 1805–1822, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-1805-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-1805-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate changes that occurred in small vs. big flood events and in small vs. large catchments across Europe over 5 decades. Annual maximum discharge series between 1960 and 2010 from 2370 gauges in Europe are analysed. Distinctive patterns of flood regime change are identified for large regions across Europe, which depend on flood magnitude and catchment size.
Julia Hall and Günter Blöschl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 3883–3901, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-3883-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-3883-2018, 2018
Conor Murphy, Ciaran Broderick, Timothy P. Burt, Mary Curley, Catriona Duffy, Julia Hall, Shaun Harrigan, Tom K. R. Matthews, Neil Macdonald, Gerard McCarthy, Mark P. McCarthy, Donal Mullan, Simon Noone, Timothy J. Osborn, Ciara Ryan, John Sweeney, Peter W. Thorne, Seamus Walsh, and Robert L. Wilby
Clim. Past, 14, 413–440, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-413-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-413-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This work reconstructs a continuous 305-year rainfall record for Ireland. The series reveals remarkable variability in decadal rainfall – far in excess of the typical period of digitised data. Notably, the series sheds light on exceptionally wet winters in the 1730s and wet summers in the 1750s. The derived record, one of the longest continuous series in Europe, offers a firm basis for benchmarking other long-term records and reconstructions of past climate both locally and across Europe.
J. Hall, B. Arheimer, M. Borga, R. Brázdil, P. Claps, A. Kiss, T. R. Kjeldsen, J. Kriaučiūnienė, Z. W. Kundzewicz, M. Lang, M. C. Llasat, N. Macdonald, N. McIntyre, L. Mediero, B. Merz, R. Merz, P. Molnar, A. Montanari, C. Neuhold, J. Parajka, R. A. P. Perdigão, L. Plavcová, M. Rogger, J. L. Salinas, E. Sauquet, C. Schär, J. Szolgay, A. Viglione, and G. Blöschl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 2735–2772, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2735-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2735-2014, 2014
S. Harrigan, C. Murphy, J. Hall, R. L. Wilby, and J. Sweeney
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 1935–1952, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-1935-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-1935-2014, 2014
Noriaki Ohara, Andrew D. Parsekian, Benjamin M. Jones, Rodrigo C. Rangel, Kenneth M. Hinkel, and Rui A. P. Perdigão
The Cryosphere, 18, 5139–5152, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5139-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5139-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Snow distribution characterization is essential for accurate snow water estimation for water resource prediction from existing in situ observations and remote-sensing data at a finite spatial resolution. Four different observed snow distribution datasets were analyzed for Gaussianity. We found that non-Gaussianity of snow distribution is a signature of the wind redistribution effect. Generally, seasonal snowpack can be approximated well by a Gaussian distribution for a fully snow-covered area.
Andrea Magnini, Valentina Pavan, and Attilio Castellarin
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3261, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3261, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study describes a new methodology to identify regional structures in the dependence of extreme rainfall on global climate indexes. The study area is north-central Italy, but the methods are highly adaptable to other regions. We observe that the Western Mediterranean Oscillation Index has a strong influence, whose geographical pattern is in line with other studies. We show also that the use of the Index may improve the estimation of the extreme rainfall depth with a given probability.
Peng Huang, Agnès Ducharne, Lucia Rinchiuso, Jan Polcher, Laure Baratgin, Vladislav Bastrikov, and Eric Sauquet
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 4455–4476, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4455-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4455-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We conducted a high-resolution hydrological simulation from 1959 to 2020 across France. We used a simple trial-and-error calibration to reduce the biases of the simulated water budget compared to observations. The selected simulation satisfactorily reproduces water fluxes, including their spatial contrasts and temporal trends. This work offers a reliable historical overview of water resources and a robust configuration for climate change impact analysis at the nationwide scale of France.
Jamie Hannaford, Stephen Turner, Amulya Chevuturi, Wilson Chan, Lucy J. Barker, Maliko Tanguy, Simon Parry, and Stuart Allen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-293, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-293, 2024
Preprint under review for HESS
Short summary
Short summary
This extended review asks whether hydrological (river flow) droughts have become more severe over time in the UK, based on literature review and original analyses. The UK is a good international exemplar, given the richness of available data. We find that there is little compelling evidence towards a trend towards worsening river flow droughts, at odds with future climate change projections. We outline reasons for this discrepancy and make recommendations to guide researchers and policymakers.
Maria Elenius, Charlotta Pers, Sara Schützer, and Berit Arheimer
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-271, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-271, 2024
Preprint under review for HESS
Short summary
Short summary
Simulations of peatland rewetting in Sweden under various conditions of climate, local hydrology and rewetting practices showed insubstantial changes in landscape flow extremes due to mixing with runoff from various landcover. The impact on local hydrological extremes are governed by groundwater levels prior to rewetting and reduced tree cover, hence wetland allocation and management practices are crucial if the purpose is to reduce flow extremes in peatland streams.
Tristan Jaouen, Lionel Benoit, Louis Héraut, and Eric Sauquet
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2737, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2737, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study uses a multi-model approach to assess future changes in river flow intermittency across France under climate change. Combining projections from the Explore2 project with historical flow observations, logistic regressions estimate daily probabilities of flow intermittency (PFI) under RCP 2.6, 4.5, and 8.5 scenarios. Results suggest intensifying and prolonged dry spells throughout the 21st century, with southern France more affected, while uncertainty remains higher in northern regions.
Alison L. Kay, Nick Dunstone, Gillian Kay, Victoria A. Bell, and Jamie Hannaford
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 2953–2970, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-2953-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-2953-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Hydrological hazards affect people and ecosystems, but extremes are not fully understood due to limited observations. A large climate ensemble and simple hydrological model are used to assess unprecedented but plausible floods and droughts. The chain gives extreme flows outside the observed range: summer 2022 ~ 28 % lower and autumn 2023 ~ 42 % higher. Spatial dependence and temporal persistence are analysed. Planning for such events could help water supply resilience and flood risk management.
Viet Dung Nguyen, Jeroen Aerts, Max Tesselaar, Wouter Botzen, Heidi Kreibich, Lorenzo Alfieri, and Bruno Merz
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 2923–2937, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-2923-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-2923-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Our study explored how seasonal flood forecasts could enhance insurance premium accuracy. Insurers traditionally rely on historical data, yet climate fluctuations influence flood risk. We employed a method that predicts seasonal floods to adjust premiums accordingly. Our findings showed significant year-to-year variations in flood risk and premiums, underscoring the importance of adaptability. Despite limitations, this research aids insurers in preparing for evolving risks.
Xiaoxiang Guan, Dung Viet Nguyen, Paul Voit, Bruno Merz, Maik Heistermann, and Sergiy Vorogushyn
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2024-143, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2024-143, 2024
Preprint under review for NHESS
Short summary
Short summary
We evaluated a multi-site stochastic regional weather generator (nsRWG) for its ability to capture the cross-scale extremity of high precipitation events (HPEs) in Germany. We generated 100 realizations of 72 years of daily synthetic precipitation data. The performance was assessed using WEI and xWEI indices, which measure event extremity across spatio-temporal scales. Results show nsRWG simulates well the extremity patterns of HPEs, though it overestimates short-duration, small-extent events.
Ed Hawkins, Nigel Arnell, Jamie Hannaford, and Rowan Sutton
Geosci. Commun., 7, 161–165, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-7-161-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-7-161-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Climate change can often seem rather remote, especially when the discussion is about global averages which appear to have little relevance to local experiences. But those global changes are already affecting people, even if they do not fully realise it, and effective communication of this issue is critical. We use long observations and well-understood physical principles to visually highlight how global emissions influence local flood risk in one river basin in the UK.
Elena Macdonald, Bruno Merz, Viet Dung Nguyen, and Sergiy Vorogushyn
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-181, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-181, 2024
Revised manuscript under review for HESS
Short summary
Short summary
Flood peak distributions indicate how likely the occurrence of an extreme flood is at a certain river. If the distribution has a so-called heavy tail, extreme floods are more likely than might be anticipated. We find heavier tails in small compared to large catchments, and that spatially variable rainfall leads to a lower occurrence probability of extreme floods. Spatially variable runoff does not show an effect. The results can improve estimations of occurrence probabilities of extreme floods.
Luciano Pavesi, Elena Volpi, and Aldo Fiori
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2024-114, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2024-114, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for NHESS
Short summary
Short summary
Several sources of uncertainty affect flood risk estimation for reliable assessment for investors, insurance and risk management. Here, we consider the uncertainty of large-scale flood hazard modeling, providing a range of risk values that show significant variability depending on geomorphic factors and land use types. This allows to identify the critical points where single value estimates may underestimate the risk, and the areas of vulnerability to prioritize risk reduction efforts.
Iván Noguera, Jamie Hannaford, and Maliko Tanguy
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1969, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1969, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we present a detailed characterisation of flash drought in United Kingdom over the period 1969–2021.The spatiotemporal distribution of flash droughts is highly variable, with important regional and seasonal contrasts. In the UK, flash drought occurrence responds primarily to precipitation variability, although the atmospheric evaporative demand (AED) is important as a secondary driver. The atmospheric and oceanic conditions during flash droughts development were also analyzed.
Maliko Tanguy, Michael Eastman, Amulya Chevuturi, Eugene Magee, Elizabeth Cooper, Robert H. B. Johnson, Katie Facer-Childs, and Jamie Hannaford
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-179, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-179, 2024
Preprint under review for HESS
Short summary
Short summary
Our research compares two techniques, Bias-Correction (BC) and Data Assimilation (DA), for improving river flow forecasts across 316 UK catchments. BC, which corrects errors post-simulation, showed broad improvements, while DA, adjusting model states pre-forecast, excelled in specific conditions like snowmelt and high base flows. Each method's unique strengths suit different scenarios. These insights can enhance forecasting systems, offering reliable and user-friendly hydrological predictions.
Günter Blöschl, Andreas Buttinger-Kreuzhuber, Daniel Cornel, Julia Eisl, Michael Hofer, Markus Hollaus, Zsolt Horváth, Jürgen Komma, Artem Konev, Juraj Parajka, Norbert Pfeifer, Andreas Reithofer, José Salinas, Peter Valent, Roman Výleta, Jürgen Waser, Michael H. Wimmer, and Heinz Stiefelmeyer
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 2071–2091, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-2071-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-2071-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
A methodology of regional flood hazard mapping is proposed, based on data in Austria, which combines automatic methods with manual interventions to maximise efficiency and to obtain estimation accuracy similar to that of local studies. Flood discharge records from 781 stations are used to estimate flood hazard patterns of a given return period at a resolution of 2 m over a total stream length of 38 000 km. The hazard maps are used for civil protection, risk awareness and insurance purposes.
Alberto Montanari, Bruno Merz, and Günter Blöschl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 2603–2615, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2603-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2603-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Floods often take communities by surprise, as they are often considered virtually
impossibleyet are an ever-present threat similar to the sword suspended over the head of Damocles in the classical Greek anecdote. We discuss four reasons why extremely large floods carry a risk that is often larger than expected. We provide suggestions for managing the risk of megafloods by calling for a creative exploration of hazard scenarios and communicating the unknown corners of the reality of floods.
Paolo Nasta, Günter Blöschl, Heye R. Bogena, Steffen Zacharias, Roland Baatz, Gabriëlle De Lannoy, Karsten H. Jensen, Salvatore Manfreda, Laurent Pfister, Ana M. Tarquis, Ilja van Meerveld, Marc Voltz, Yijian Zeng, William Kustas, Xin Li, Harry Vereecken, and Nunzio Romano
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1678, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1678, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The Unsolved Problems in Hydrology (UPH) initiative has emphasized the need to establish networks of multi-decadal hydrological observatories to tackle catchment-scale challenges on a global scale. This opinion paper provocatively discusses two end members of possible future hydrological observatory (HO) networks for a given hypothesized community budget: a comprehensive set of moderately instrumented observatories or, alternatively, a small number of highly instrumented super-sites.
Sergiy Vorogushyn, Li Han, Heiko Apel, Viet Dung Nguyen, Björn Guse, Xiaoxiang Guan, Oldrich Rakovec, Husain Najafi, Luis Samaniego, and Bruno Merz
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2024-97, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2024-97, 2024
Revised manuscript under review for NHESS
Short summary
Short summary
The July 2021 flood in Central Europe was one of the deadliest floods in Europe in the past decades and the most expensive flood in Germany. In this paper we show that the hydrological impact of this event in the Ahr valley could have been even worse if the rainfall footprint trajectory was only slightly different. The presented methodology of spatial counterfactuals generates plausible unprecedented events and helps better prepare for future extreme floods.
Christina Franziska Radtke, Xiaoqiang Yang, Christin Müller, Jarno Rouhiainen, Ralf Merz, Stefanie R. Lutz, Paolo Benettin, Hong Wei, and Kay Knöller
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-109, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-109, 2024
Revised manuscript under review for HESS
Short summary
Short summary
Most studies assume no difference between transit times of water and nitrate, because nitrate is transported by water. With an 8-year high-frequency dataset of isotopic signatures of both, water and nitrate, and a transit time model, we show the temporal varying difference of nitrate and water transit times. This finding is highly relevant for applied future research related to nutrient dynamics in landscapes under anthropogenic forcing and for managing impacts of nitrate on aquatic ecosystems.
Hsing-Jui Wang, Ralf Merz, and Stefano Basso
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-159, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-159, 2024
Revised manuscript under review for HESS
Short summary
Short summary
Extreme floods are more common than expected. Knowing where these floods are likely to occur is key for risk management. Traditional methods struggle with limited data, causing uncertainty. We use common streamflow dynamics to indicate extreme flood propensity. Analyzing data from Atlantic Europe, Northern Europe, and the U.S., we validate this novel approach and unravel intrinsic linkages between regional geographic patterns and extreme flood drivers.
Seth Bryant, Heidi Kreibich, and Bruno Merz
Proc. IAHS, 386, 181–187, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-386-181-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-386-181-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Our study found that simplifying data in flood risk models can introduce errors. We tested 344 damage functions and found errors up to 40 % of the total asset value. This means large-scale flood risk assessments may have significant errors due to the modelling approach. Our research highlights the need for more attention to data aggregation in flood risk models.
Matteo Pesce, Alberto Viglione, Jost von Hardenberg, Larisa Tarasova, Stefano Basso, Ralf Merz, Juraj Parajka, and Rui Tong
Proc. IAHS, 385, 65–69, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-385-65-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-385-65-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The manuscript describes an application of PArameter Set Shuffling (PASS) approach in the Alpine region. A machine learning decision-tree algorithm is applied for the regional calibration of a conceptual semi-distributed hydrological model. Regional model efficiencies don't decrease significantly when moving in space from catchments used for the regional calibration (training) to catchments used for the procedure validation (test) and, in time, from the calibration to the verification period.
Bruno Merz, Günter Blöschl, Robert Jüpner, Heidi Kreibich, Kai Schröter, and Sergiy Vorogushyn
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-856, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-856, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We discuss the validation of flood hazard and risk assessments (FHRAs) to ensure they are useful for decision-making. We propose a new validation framework that considers not only technical aspects but also the real-world context in which decisions are made. By applying this framework to flood emergency planning, we demonstrate its practicality.
Elena Macdonald, Bruno Merz, Björn Guse, Viet Dung Nguyen, Xiaoxiang Guan, and Sergiy Vorogushyn
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 833–850, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-833-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-833-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In some rivers, the occurrence of extreme flood events is more likely than in other rivers – they have heavy-tailed distributions. We find that threshold processes in the runoff generation lead to such a relatively high occurrence probability of extremes. Further, we find that beyond a certain return period, i.e. for rare events, rainfall is often the dominant control compared to runoff generation. Our results can help to improve the estimation of the occurrence probability of extreme floods.
Mosisa Tujuba Wakjira, Nadav Peleg, Johan Six, and Peter Molnar
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-37, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-37, 2024
Revised manuscript under review for HESS
Short summary
Short summary
While rainwater is a key resource in crop production, its productivity faces challenges from climate change. Using a simple model of climate, water, and crop yield interactions, we found that rain-scarce croplands in Ethiopia are likely to experience decreases in crop yield during the main growing season, primarily due to future temperature increases. These insights are crucial for shaping future water management plans, policies, and informed decision-making for climate adaptation.
Seth Bryant, Guy Schumann, Heiko Apel, Heidi Kreibich, and Bruno Merz
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 575–588, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-575-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-575-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
A new algorithm has been developed to quickly produce high-resolution flood maps. It is faster and more accurate than current methods and is available as open-source scripts. This can help communities better prepare for and mitigate flood damages without expensive modelling.
Simon Parry, Jonathan D. Mackay, Thomas Chitson, Jamie Hannaford, Eugene Magee, Maliko Tanguy, Victoria A. Bell, Katie Facer-Childs, Alison Kay, Rosanna Lane, Robert J. Moore, Stephen Turner, and John Wallbank
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 417–440, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-417-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-417-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We studied drought in a dataset of possible future river flows and groundwater levels in the UK and found different outcomes for these two sources of water. Throughout the UK, river flows are likely to be lower in future, with droughts more prolonged and severe. However, whilst these changes are also found in some boreholes, in others, higher levels and less severe drought are indicated for the future. This has implications for the future balance between surface water and groundwater below.
Giulia Blandini, Francesco Avanzi, Simone Gabellani, Denise Ponziani, Hervé Stevenin, Sara Ratto, Luca Ferraris, and Alberto Viglione
The Cryosphere, 17, 5317–5333, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5317-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5317-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Automatic snow depth data are a valuable source of information for hydrologists, but they also tend to be noisy. To maximize the value of these measurements for real-world applications, we developed an automatic procedure to differentiate snow cover from grass or bare ground data, as well as to detect random errors. This procedure can enhance snow data quality, thus providing more reliable data for snow models.
Hsing-Jui Wang, Ralf Merz, Soohyun Yang, and Stefano Basso
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 4369–4384, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-4369-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-4369-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Accurately assessing heavy-tailed flood behavior with limited data records is challenging and can lead to inaccurate hazard estimates. Our research introduces a new index that uses hydrograph recession to identify heavy-tailed flood behavior, compare severity, and produce reliable results with short data records. This index overcomes the limitations of current metrics, which lack physical meaning and require long records. It thus provides valuable insight into the flood hazard of river basins.
Samuel Morin, Hugues François, Marion Réveillet, Eric Sauquet, Louise Crochemore, Flora Branger, Étienne Leblois, and Marie Dumont
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 4257–4277, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-4257-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-4257-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Ski resorts are a key socio-economic asset of several mountain areas. Grooming and snowmaking are routinely used to manage the snow cover on ski pistes, but despite vivid debate, little is known about their impact on water resources downstream. This study quantifies, for the pilot ski resort La Plagne in the French Alps, the impact of grooming and snowmaking on downstream river flow. Hydrological impacts are mostly apparent at the seasonal scale and rather neutral on the annual scale.
Emanuele Mombrini, Stefania Tamea, Alberto Viglione, and Roberto Revelli
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2023-218, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2023-218, 2023
Revised manuscript under review for HESS
Short summary
Short summary
In north-western Italy overall drought conditions appear to have worsened over the last 60 years, due to both precipitation deficits and increased evapotranspiration caused by temperature increase. In addition to changes in drought conditions, changes in the characteristics of drought periods, both at a local and at a region-wide level, are found. Links between all the aforementioned changes and the terrain topography are highlited, finding generally worse conditions in lower lying areas.
Laurent Strohmenger, Eric Sauquet, Claire Bernard, Jérémie Bonneau, Flora Branger, Amélie Bresson, Pierre Brigode, Rémy Buzier, Olivier Delaigue, Alexandre Devers, Guillaume Evin, Maïté Fournier, Shu-Chen Hsu, Sandra Lanini, Alban de Lavenne, Thibault Lemaitre-Basset, Claire Magand, Guilherme Mendoza Guimarães, Max Mentha, Simon Munier, Charles Perrin, Tristan Podechard, Léo Rouchy, Malak Sadki, Myriam Soutif-Bellenger, François Tilmant, Yves Tramblay, Anne-Lise Véron, Jean-Philippe Vidal, and Guillaume Thirel
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 3375–3391, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-3375-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-3375-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We present the results of a large visual inspection campaign of 674 streamflow time series in France. The objective was to detect non-natural records resulting from instrument failure or anthropogenic influences, such as hydroelectric power generation or reservoir management. We conclude that the identification of flaws in flow time series is highly dependent on the objectives and skills of individual evaluators, and we raise the need for better practices for data cleaning.
Jessica Droujko, Srividya Hariharan Sudha, Gabriel Singer, and Peter Molnar
Earth Surf. Dynam., 11, 881–897, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-11-881-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-11-881-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We combined data from satellite images with data measured from a kayak in order to understand the propagation of fine sediment in the Vjosa River. We were able to find some storm-activated and some permanent sources of sediment. We also estimated how much fine sediment is carried into the Adriatic Sea by the Vjosa River: approximately 2.5 Mt per year, which matches previous findings. With our work, we hope to show the potential of open-access satellite images.
Yves Tramblay, Patrick Arnaud, Guillaume Artigue, Michel Lang, Emmanuel Paquet, Luc Neppel, and Eric Sauquet
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 2973–2987, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2973-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2973-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Mediterranean floods are causing major damage, and recent studies have shown that, despite the increase in intense rainfall, there has been no increase in river floods. This study reveals that the seasonality of floods changed in the Mediterranean Basin during 1959–2021. There was also an increased frequency of floods linked to short episodes of intense rain, associated with a decrease in soil moisture. These changes need to be taken into consideration to adapt flood warning systems.
Rui Guo and Alberto Montanari
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 2847–2863, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2847-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2847-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The present study refers to the region of Bologna, where the availability of a 209-year-long daily rainfall series allows us to make a unique assessment of global climate models' reliability and their predicted changes in rainfall and multiyear droughts. Our results suggest carefully considering the impact of uncertainty when designing climate change adaptation policies for droughts. Rigorous use and comprehensive interpretation of the available information are needed to avoid mismanagement.
Marcos Julien Alexopoulos, Hannes Müller-Thomy, Patrick Nistahl, Mojca Šraj, and Nejc Bezak
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 2559–2578, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2559-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2559-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
For rainfall-runoff simulation of a certain area, hydrological models are used, which requires precipitation data and temperature data as input. Since these are often not available as observations, we have tested simulation results from atmospheric models. ERA5-Land and COSMO-REA6 were tested for Slovenian catchments. Both lead to good simulations results. Their usage enables the use of rainfall-runoff simulation in unobserved catchments as a requisite for, e.g., flood protection measures.
Maliko Tanguy, Michael Eastman, Eugene Magee, Lucy J. Barker, Thomas Chitson, Chaiwat Ekkawatpanit, Daniel Goodwin, Jamie Hannaford, Ian Holman, Liwa Pardthaisong, Simon Parry, Dolores Rey Vicario, and Supattra Visessri
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 2419–2441, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-2419-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-2419-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Droughts in Thailand are becoming more severe due to climate change. Understanding the link between drought impacts on the ground and drought indicators used in drought monitoring systems can help increase a country's preparedness and resilience to drought. With a focus on agricultural droughts, we derive crop- and region-specific indicator-to-impact links that can form the basis of targeted mitigation actions and an improved drought monitoring and early warning system in Thailand.
Jamie Hannaford, Jonathan D. Mackay, Matthew Ascott, Victoria A. Bell, Thomas Chitson, Steven Cole, Christian Counsell, Mason Durant, Christopher R. Jackson, Alison L. Kay, Rosanna A. Lane, Majdi Mansour, Robert Moore, Simon Parry, Alison C. Rudd, Michael Simpson, Katie Facer-Childs, Stephen Turner, John R. Wallbank, Steven Wells, and Amy Wilcox
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 2391–2415, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2391-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2391-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The eFLaG dataset is a nationally consistent set of projections of future climate change impacts on hydrology. eFLaG uses the latest available UK climate projections (UKCP18) run through a series of computer simulation models which enable us to produce future projections of river flows, groundwater levels and groundwater recharge. These simulations are designed for use by water resource planners and managers but could also be used for a wide range of other purposes.
Tobias Siegfried, Aziz Ul Haq Mujahid, Beatrice Sabine Marti, Peter Molnar, Dirk Nikolaus Karger, and Andrey Yakovlev
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-520, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-520, 2023
Preprint archived
Short summary
Short summary
Our study investigates climate change impacts on water resources in Central Asia's high-mountain regions. Using new data and a stochastic soil moisture model, we found increased precipitation and higher temperatures in the future, leading to higher water discharge despite decreasing glacier melt contributions. These findings are crucial for understanding and preparing for climate change effects on Central Asia's water resources, with further research needed on extreme weather event impacts.
Mohammad Ghoreishi, Amin Elshorbagy, Saman Razavi, Günter Blöschl, Murugesu Sivapalan, and Ahmed Abdelkader
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 1201–1219, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1201-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1201-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The study proposes a quantitative model of the willingness to cooperate in the Eastern Nile River basin. Our results suggest that the 2008 food crisis may account for Sudan recovering its willingness to cooperate with Ethiopia. Long-term lack of trust among the riparian countries may have reduced basin-wide cooperation. The model can be used to explore the effects of changes in future dam operations and other management decisions on the emergence of basin cooperation.
Eleonora Dallan, Francesco Marra, Giorgia Fosser, Marco Marani, Giuseppe Formetta, Christoph Schär, and Marco Borga
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 1133–1149, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1133-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1133-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Convection-permitting climate models could represent future changes in extreme short-duration precipitation, which is critical for risk management. We use a non-asymptotic statistical method to estimate extremes from 10 years of simulations in an orographically complex area. Despite overall good agreement with rain gauges, the observed decrease of hourly extremes with elevation is not fully represented by the model. Climate model adjustment methods should consider the role of orography.
Qinggang Gao, Christian Zeman, Jesus Vergara-Temprado, Daniela C. A. Lima, Peter Molnar, and Christoph Schär
Weather Clim. Dynam., 4, 189–211, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-189-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-189-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We developed a vortex identification algorithm for realistic atmospheric simulations. The algorithm enabled us to obtain a climatology of vortex shedding from Madeira Island for a 10-year simulation period. This first objective climatological analysis of vortex streets shows consistency with observed atmospheric conditions. The analysis shows a pronounced annual cycle with an increasing vortex shedding rate from April to August and a sudden decrease in September.
Fabian Walter, Elias Hodel, Erik S. Mannerfelt, Kristen Cook, Michael Dietze, Livia Estermann, Michaela Wenner, Daniel Farinotti, Martin Fengler, Lukas Hammerschmidt, Flavia Hänsli, Jacob Hirschberg, Brian McArdell, and Peter Molnar
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 4011–4018, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-4011-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-4011-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Debris flows are dangerous sediment–water mixtures in steep terrain. Their formation takes place in poorly accessible terrain where instrumentation cannot be installed. Here we propose to monitor such source terrain with an autonomous drone for mapping sediments which were left behind by debris flows or may contribute to future events. Short flight intervals elucidate changes of such sediments, providing important information for landscape evolution and the likelihood of future debris flows.
Felipe A. Saavedra, Andreas Musolff, Jana von Freyberg, Ralf Merz, Stefano Basso, and Larisa Tarasova
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 6227–6245, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-6227-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-6227-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Nitrate contamination of rivers from agricultural sources is a challenge for water quality management. During runoff events, different transport paths within the catchment might be activated, generating a variety of responses in nitrate concentration in stream water. Using nitrate samples from 184 German catchments and a runoff event classification, we show that hydrologic connectivity during runoff events is a key control of nitrate transport from catchments to streams in our study domain.
Enrico Bonanno, Günter Blöschl, and Julian Klaus
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 6003–6028, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-6003-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-6003-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
There is an unclear understanding of which processes regulate the transport of water, solutes, and pollutants in streams. This is crucial since these processes control water quality in river networks. Compared to other approaches, we obtained clearer insights into the processes controlling solute transport in the investigated reach. This work highlights the risks of using uncertain results for interpreting the processes controlling water movement in streams.
Günter Blöschl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 5015–5033, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5015-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5015-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
There is serious concern that river floods are increasing. Starting from explanations discussed in public, the article addresses three hypotheses: land-use change, hydraulic structures, and climate change increase floods. This review finds that all three changes have the potential to not only increase floods, but also to reduce them. It is crucial to consider all three factors of change in flood risk management and communicate them to the general public in a nuanced way.
Simone Persiano, Alessio Pugliese, Alberto Aloe, Jon Olav Skøien, Attilio Castellarin, and Alberto Pistocchi
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 4435–4443, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4435-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4435-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
For about 24000 river basins across Europe, this study provides a continuous representation of the streamflow regime in terms of empirical flow–duration curves (FDCs), which are key signatures of the hydrological behaviour of a catchment and are widely used for supporting decisions on water resource management as well as for assessing hydrologic change. FDCs at ungauged sites are estimated by means of a geostatistical procedure starting from data observed at about 3000 sites across Europe.
Heiko Apel, Sergiy Vorogushyn, and Bruno Merz
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 3005–3014, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-3005-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-3005-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The paper presents a fast 2D hydraulic simulation model for flood propagation that enables operational forecasts of spatially distributed inundation depths, flood extent, flow velocities, and other flood impacts. The detailed spatial forecast of floods and flood impacts is a large step forward from the currently operational forecasts of discharges at selected gauges, thus enabling a more targeted flood management and early warning.
Silvan Ragettli, Tabea Donauer, Peter Molnar, Ron Delnoije, and Tobias Siegfried
Earth Surf. Dynam., 10, 797–815, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-797-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-797-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a novel methodology to identify and quantitatively analyze deposition and erosion patterns in ephemeral ponds or in perennial lakes with strong water level fluctuations. We apply this method to unravel the water and sediment balance of Lac Wégnia, a designated Ramsar site in Mali. The study can be a showcase for monitoring Sahelian lakes using remote sensing data, as it sheds light on the actual drivers of change in Sahelian lakes.
Giulia Zuecco, Anam Amin, Jay Frentress, Michael Engel, Chiara Marchina, Tommaso Anfodillo, Marco Borga, Vinicio Carraro, Francesca Scandellari, Massimo Tagliavini, Damiano Zanotelli, Francesco Comiti, and Daniele Penna
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 3673–3689, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3673-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3673-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We analyzed the variability in the isotopic composition of plant water extracted by two different methods, i.e., cryogenic vacuum distillation (CVD) and Scholander-type pressure chamber (SPC). Our results indicated that the isotopic composition of plant water extracted by CVD and SPC was significantly different. We concluded that plant water extraction by SPC is not an alternative for CVD as SPC mostly extracts the mobile plant water whereas CVD retrieves all water stored in the sampled tissue.
Aurélien Beaufort, Jacob S. Diamond, Eric Sauquet, and Florentina Moatar
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 3477–3495, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3477-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3477-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We developed one of the largest stream temperature databases to calculate a simple, ecologically relevant metric – the thermal peak – that captures the magnitude of summer thermal extremes. Using statistical models, we extrapolated the thermal peak to nearly every stream in France, finding the hottest thermal peaks along large rivers without forested riparian zones and groundwater inputs. Air temperature was a poor proxy for the thermal peak, highlighting the need to grow monitoring networks.
Veit Blauhut, Michael Stoelzle, Lauri Ahopelto, Manuela I. Brunner, Claudia Teutschbein, Doris E. Wendt, Vytautas Akstinas, Sigrid J. Bakke, Lucy J. Barker, Lenka Bartošová, Agrita Briede, Carmelo Cammalleri, Ksenija Cindrić Kalin, Lucia De Stefano, Miriam Fendeková, David C. Finger, Marijke Huysmans, Mirjana Ivanov, Jaak Jaagus, Jiří Jakubínský, Svitlana Krakovska, Gregor Laaha, Monika Lakatos, Kiril Manevski, Mathias Neumann Andersen, Nina Nikolova, Marzena Osuch, Pieter van Oel, Kalina Radeva, Renata J. Romanowicz, Elena Toth, Mirek Trnka, Marko Urošev, Julia Urquijo Reguera, Eric Sauquet, Aleksandra Stevkov, Lena M. Tallaksen, Iryna Trofimova, Anne F. Van Loon, Michelle T. H. van Vliet, Jean-Philippe Vidal, Niko Wanders, Micha Werner, Patrick Willems, and Nenad Živković
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 2201–2217, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2201-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2201-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Recent drought events caused enormous damage in Europe. We therefore questioned the existence and effect of current drought management strategies on the actual impacts and how drought is perceived by relevant stakeholders. Over 700 participants from 28 European countries provided insights into drought hazard and impact perception and current management strategies. The study concludes with an urgent need to collectively combat drought risk via a European macro-level drought governance approach.
Shengping Wang, Borbala Szeles, Carmen Krammer, Elmar Schmaltz, Kepeng Song, Yifan Li, Zhiqiang Zhang, Günter Blöschl, and Peter Strauss
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 3021–3036, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3021-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3021-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This study explored the quantitative contribution of agricultural intensification and climate change to the sediment load of a small agricultural watershed. Rather than a change in climatic conditions, changes in the land structure notably altered sediment concentrations under high-flow conditions, thereby contributing most to the increase in annual sediment loads. More consideration of land structure improvement is required when combating the transfer of soil from land to water.
Alban de Lavenne, Vazken Andréassian, Louise Crochemore, Göran Lindström, and Berit Arheimer
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 2715–2732, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-2715-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-2715-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
A watershed remembers the past to some extent, and this memory influences its behavior. This memory is defined by the ability to store past rainfall for several years. By releasing this water into the river or the atmosphere, it tends to forget. We describe how this memory fades over time in France and Sweden. A few watersheds show a multi-year memory. It increases with the influence of groundwater or dry conditions. After 3 or 4 years, they behave independently of the past.
Günter Blöschl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 2469–2480, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-2469-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-2469-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Sound understanding of how floods come about allows for the development of more reliable flood management tools that assist in mitigating their negative impacts. This article reviews river flood generation processes and flow paths across space scales, starting from water movement in the soil pores and moving up to hillslopes, catchments, regions and entire continents. To assist model development, there is a need to learn from observed patterns of flood generation processes at all spatial scales.
Andrea Magnini, Michele Lombardi, Simone Persiano, Antonio Tirri, Francesco Lo Conti, and Attilio Castellarin
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1469–1486, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1469-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1469-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We retrieve descriptors of the terrain morphology from a digital elevation model of a 105 km2 study area and blend them through decision tree models to map flood susceptibility and expected water depth. We investigate this approach with particular attention to (a) the comparison with a selected single-descriptor approach, (b) the goodness of decision trees, and (c) the performance of these models when applied to data-scarce regions. We find promising pathways for future research.
Rui Tong, Juraj Parajka, Borbála Széles, Isabella Greimeister-Pfeil, Mariette Vreugdenhil, Jürgen Komma, Peter Valent, and Günter Blöschl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 1779–1799, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1779-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1779-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The role and impact of using additional data (other than runoff) for the prediction of daily hydrographs in ungauged basins are not well understood. In this study, we assessed the model performance in terms of runoff, soil moisture, and snow cover predictions with the existing regionalization approaches. Results show that the best transfer methods are the similarity and the kriging approaches. The performance of the transfer methods differs between lowland and alpine catchments.
Saúl Arciniega-Esparza, Christian Birkel, Andrés Chavarría-Palma, Berit Arheimer, and José Agustín Breña-Naranjo
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 975–999, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-975-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-975-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In the humid tropics, a notoriously data-scarce region, we need to find alternatives in order to reasonably apply hydrological models. Here, we tested remotely sensed rainfall data in order to drive a model for Costa Rica, and we evaluated the simulations against evapotranspiration satellite products. We found that our model was able to reasonably simulate the water balance and streamflow dynamics of over 600 catchments where the satellite data helped to reduce the model uncertainties.
Elena Leonarduzzi, Brian W. McArdell, and Peter Molnar
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 5937–5950, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5937-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5937-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Landslides are a dangerous natural hazard affecting alpine regions, calling for effective warning systems. Here we consider different approaches for the prediction of rainfall-induced shallow landslides at the regional scale, based on open-access datasets and operational hydrological forecasting systems. We find antecedent wetness useful to improve upon the classical rainfall thresholds and the resolution of the hydrological model used for its estimate to be a critical aspect.
Wouter Dorigo, Irene Himmelbauer, Daniel Aberer, Lukas Schremmer, Ivana Petrakovic, Luca Zappa, Wolfgang Preimesberger, Angelika Xaver, Frank Annor, Jonas Ardö, Dennis Baldocchi, Marco Bitelli, Günter Blöschl, Heye Bogena, Luca Brocca, Jean-Christophe Calvet, J. Julio Camarero, Giorgio Capello, Minha Choi, Michael C. Cosh, Nick van de Giesen, Istvan Hajdu, Jaakko Ikonen, Karsten H. Jensen, Kasturi Devi Kanniah, Ileen de Kat, Gottfried Kirchengast, Pankaj Kumar Rai, Jenni Kyrouac, Kristine Larson, Suxia Liu, Alexander Loew, Mahta Moghaddam, José Martínez Fernández, Cristian Mattar Bader, Renato Morbidelli, Jan P. Musial, Elise Osenga, Michael A. Palecki, Thierry Pellarin, George P. Petropoulos, Isabella Pfeil, Jarrett Powers, Alan Robock, Christoph Rüdiger, Udo Rummel, Michael Strobel, Zhongbo Su, Ryan Sullivan, Torbern Tagesson, Andrej Varlagin, Mariette Vreugdenhil, Jeffrey Walker, Jun Wen, Fred Wenger, Jean Pierre Wigneron, Mel Woods, Kun Yang, Yijian Zeng, Xiang Zhang, Marek Zreda, Stephan Dietrich, Alexander Gruber, Peter van Oevelen, Wolfgang Wagner, Klaus Scipal, Matthias Drusch, and Roberto Sabia
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 5749–5804, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5749-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5749-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The International Soil Moisture Network (ISMN) is a community-based open-access data portal for soil water measurements taken at the ground and is accessible at https://ismn.earth. Over 1000 scientific publications and thousands of users have made use of the ISMN. The scope of this paper is to inform readers about the data and functionality of the ISMN and to provide a review of the scientific progress facilitated through the ISMN with the scope to shape future research and operations.
David Lun, Alberto Viglione, Miriam Bertola, Jürgen Komma, Juraj Parajka, Peter Valent, and Günter Blöschl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 5535–5560, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5535-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5535-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate statistical properties of observed flood series on a European scale. There are pronounced regional patterns, for instance: regions with strong Atlantic influence show less year-to-year variability in the magnitude of observed floods when compared with more arid regions of Europe. The hydrological controls on the patterns are quantified and discussed. On the European scale, climate seems to be the dominant driver for the observed patterns.
Elena Mondino, Anna Scolobig, Marco Borga, and Giuliano Di Baldassarre
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 2811–2828, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-2811-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-2811-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Survey data collected over time can provide new insights on how different people respond to floods and can be used in models to study the complex coevolution of human–water systems. We present two methods to collect such data, and we compare the respective results. Risk awareness decreases only for women, while preparedness takes different trajectories depending on the damage suffered. These results support a more diverse representation of society in flood risk modelling and risk management.
Jacob Hirschberg, Alexandre Badoux, Brian W. McArdell, Elena Leonarduzzi, and Peter Molnar
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 2773–2789, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-2773-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-2773-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Debris-flow prediction is often based on rainfall thresholds, but uncertainty assessments are rare. We established rainfall thresholds using two approaches and find that 25 debris flows are needed for uncertainties to converge in an Alpine basin and that the suitable method differs for regional compared to local thresholds. Finally, we demonstrate the potential of a statistical learning algorithm to improve threshold performance. These findings are helpful for early warning system development.
Concetta Di Mauro, Renaud Hostache, Patrick Matgen, Ramona Pelich, Marco Chini, Peter Jan van Leeuwen, Nancy K. Nichols, and Günter Blöschl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 4081–4097, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4081-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4081-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This study evaluates how the sequential assimilation of flood extent derived from synthetic aperture radar data can help improve flood forecasting. In particular, we carried out twin experiments based on a synthetically generated dataset with controlled uncertainty. Our empirical results demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed data assimilation framework, as forecasting errors are substantially reduced as a result of the assimilation.
Paul C. Astagneau, Guillaume Thirel, Olivier Delaigue, Joseph H. A. Guillaume, Juraj Parajka, Claudia C. Brauer, Alberto Viglione, Wouter Buytaert, and Keith J. Beven
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 3937–3973, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-3937-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-3937-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The R programming language has become an important tool for many applications in hydrology. In this study, we provide an analysis of some of the R tools providing hydrological models. In total, two aspects are uniformly investigated, namely the conceptualisation of the models and the practicality of their implementation for end-users. These comparisons aim at easing the choice of R tools for users and at improving their usability for hydrology modelling to support more transferable research.
Abhirup Banerjee, Bedartha Goswami, Yoshito Hirata, Deniz Eroglu, Bruno Merz, Jürgen Kurths, and Norbert Marwan
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 28, 213–229, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-28-213-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-28-213-2021, 2021
Lovrenc Pavlin, Borbála Széles, Peter Strauss, Alfred Paul Blaschke, and Günter Blöschl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 2327–2352, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-2327-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-2327-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We compared the dynamics of streamflow, groundwater and soil moisture to investigate how different parts of an agricultural catchment in Lower Austria are connected. Groundwater is best connected around the stream and worse uphill, where groundwater is deeper. Soil moisture connectivity increases with increasing catchment wetness but is not influenced by spatial position in the catchment. Groundwater is more connected to the stream on the seasonal scale compared to the event scale.
Rui Tong, Juraj Parajka, Andreas Salentinig, Isabella Pfeil, Jürgen Komma, Borbála Széles, Martin Kubáň, Peter Valent, Mariette Vreugdenhil, Wolfgang Wagner, and Günter Blöschl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 1389–1410, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-1389-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-1389-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We used a new and experimental version of the Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) soil water index data set and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) C6 snow cover products for multiple objective calibrations of the TUWmodel in 213 catchments of Austria. Combined calibration to runoff, satellite soil moisture, and snow cover improves runoff (40 % catchments), soil moisture (80 % catchments), and snow (~ 100 % catchments) simulation compared to traditional calibration to runoff only.
Miriam Bertola, Alberto Viglione, Sergiy Vorogushyn, David Lun, Bruno Merz, and Günter Blöschl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 1347–1364, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-1347-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-1347-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We estimate the contribution of extreme precipitation, antecedent soil moisture and snowmelt to changes in small and large floods across Europe.
In northwestern and eastern Europe, changes in small and large floods are driven mainly by one single driver (i.e. extreme precipitation and snowmelt, respectively). In southern Europe both antecedent soil moisture and extreme precipitation significantly contribute to flood changes, and their relative importance depends on flood magnitude.
Elnaz Azmi, Uwe Ehret, Steven V. Weijs, Benjamin L. Ruddell, and Rui A. P. Perdigão
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 1103–1115, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-1103-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-1103-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Computer models should be as simple as possible but not simpler. Simplicity refers to the length of the model and the effort it takes the model to generate its output. Here we present a practical technique for measuring the latter by the number of memory visits during model execution by
Strace, a troubleshooting and monitoring program. The advantage of this approach is that it can be applied to any computer-based model, which facilitates model intercomparison.
Gustavo Andrei Speckhann, Heidi Kreibich, and Bruno Merz
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 731–740, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-731-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-731-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Dams are an important element of water resources management. Data about dams are crucial for practitioners, scientists, and policymakers. We present the most comprehensive open-access dam inventory for Germany to date. The inventory combines multiple sources of information. It comprises 530 dams with information on name, location, river, start year of construction and operation, crest length, dam height, lake area, lake volume, purpose, dam structure, and building characteristics.
Marius G. Floriancic, Wouter R. Berghuijs, Tobias Jonas, James W. Kirchner, and Peter Molnar
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 5423–5438, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-5423-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-5423-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Low river flows affect societies and ecosystems. Here we study how precipitation and potential evapotranspiration shape low flows across a network of 380 Swiss catchments. Low flows in these rivers typically result from below-average precipitation and above-average potential evapotranspiration. Extreme low flows result from long periods of the combined effects of both drivers.
Rudolf Brázdil, Petr Dobrovolný, Martin Bauch, Chantal Camenisch, Andrea Kiss, Oldřich Kotyza, Piotr Oliński, and Ladislava Řezníčková
Clim. Past, 16, 2125–2151, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-2125-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-2125-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Previous studies related to historical droughts in the Czech Lands showed that the summers of 1531–1540 could represent the driest summer decade of the past 500 years. To confirm this hypothesis, documentary data from central Europe were collected and presented for individual summers and complemented by maps of precipitation and drought distribution to document corresponding weather patterns and their various impacts. The main droughts occurred in 1532, 1534–1536, 1538, and particularly in 1540.
Mattia Neri, Juraj Parajka, and Elena Toth
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 5149–5171, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-5149-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-5149-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
One of the most informative ways to gain information on ungauged river sections is through the implementation of a rainfall-runoff model, exploiting the information collected in gauged catchments in the study area. This study analyses how the performances of different model regionalisation approaches are influenced by the informative content of the available regional data set, in order to identify the methods that are more suitable for the data availability in the region.
Elena Leonarduzzi and Peter Molnar
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 2905–2919, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-2905-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-2905-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Landslides are a natural hazard that affects alpine regions. Here we focus on rainfall-induced shallow landslides and one of the most widely used approaches for their predictions: rainfall thresholds. We design several comparisons utilizing a landslide database and rainfall records in Switzerland. We find that using daily rather than hourly rainfall might be a better option in some circumstances, and mean annual precipitation and antecedent wetness can improve predictions at the regional scale.
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.
Gemma Coxon, Nans Addor, John P. Bloomfield, Jim Freer, Matt Fry, Jamie Hannaford, Nicholas J. K. Howden, Rosanna Lane, Melinda Lewis, Emma L. Robinson, Thorsten Wagener, and Ross Woods
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 2459–2483, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2459-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2459-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We present the first large-sample catchment hydrology dataset for Great Britain. The dataset collates river flows, catchment attributes, and catchment boundaries for 671 catchments across Great Britain. We characterise the topography, climate, streamflow, land cover, soils, hydrogeology, human influence, and discharge uncertainty of each catchment. The dataset is publicly available for the community to use in a wide range of environmental and modelling analyses.
Ondrej Ledvinka and Thomas Recknagel
Proc. IAHS, 383, 135–140, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-383-135-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-383-135-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Various estimators of the Hurst exponent characterizing long-term persistence exist, while the values estimated by them may differ. The contribution reviews the possible reasons causing the presence of long-term persistence in time series. Based on the six, relatively long discharge time series from mountainous catchments located in the Elbe River basin close to the borders between Czechia and Germany and two selected estimators, it is shown that the length of time series plays a crucial role.
Lucy J. Barker, Jamie Hannaford, and Miaomiao Ma
Proc. IAHS, 383, 273–279, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-383-273-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-383-273-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Drought monitoring and early warning are critical aspects of drought preparedness and can help mitigate impacts on society and the environment. We reviewed academic literature in England and Chinese on the topic of drought monitoring and early warning in China. The number of papers on this topic has increased substantially but the most recent advances have not been operationalised. We identify the methods that can be translated from the experimental to national, operational systems.
Miaomiao Ma, Juan Lv, Zhicheng Su, Jamie Hannaford, Hongquan Sun, Yanping Qu, Zikang Xing, Lucy Barker, and Yaxu Wang
Proc. IAHS, 383, 267–272, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-383-267-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-383-267-2020, 2020
Kerstin Stahl, Jean-Philippe Vidal, Jamie Hannaford, Erik Tijdeman, Gregor Laaha, Tobias Gauster, and Lena M. Tallaksen
Proc. IAHS, 383, 291–295, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-383-291-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-383-291-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Numerous indices exist for the description of hydrological drought, some are based on absolute thresholds of overall streamflows or water levels and some are based on relative anomalies with respect to the season. This article discusses paradigms and experiences with such index uses in drought monitoring and drought analysis to raise awareness of the different interpretations of drought severity.
Giulia Battista, Peter Molnar, and Paolo Burlando
Earth Surf. Dynam., 8, 619–635, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-8-619-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-8-619-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Suspended sediment load in rivers is highly uncertain because of spatial and temporal variability. By means of a hydrology and suspended sediment transport model, we investigated the effect of spatial variability in precipitation and surface erodibility on catchment sediment fluxes in a mesoscale river basin.
We found that sediment load depends on the spatial variability in erosion drivers, as this affects erosion rates and the location and connectivity to the channel of the erosion areas.
Doris Duethmann, Günter Blöschl, and Juraj Parajka
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 3493–3511, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-3493-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-3493-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate why a conceptual hydrological model failed to correctly predict observed discharge changes in response to increasing precipitation and air temperature in 156 Austrian catchments. Simulations indicate that poor model performance is related to two problems, namely a model structure that neglects changes in vegetation dynamics and inhomogeneities in precipitation data caused by changes in stations density with time. Other hypotheses did not improve simulated discharge changes.
Michal Jenicek and Ondrej Ledvinka
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 3475–3491, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-3475-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-3475-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Changes in snow affect the runoff seasonality, including summer low flows. Here we analyse this effect in 59 mountain catchments in Czechia. We show that snow is more effective in generating runoff compared to rain. Snow-poor years generated lower groundwater recharge than snow-rich years, which resulted in higher deficit volumes in summer. The lower recharge and runoff in the case of a snowfall-to-rain transition due to air temperature increase might be critical for water supply in the future.
Zhihua He, Katy Unger-Shayesteh, Sergiy Vorogushyn, Stephan M. Weise, Doris Duethmann, Olga Kalashnikova, Abror Gafurov, and Bruno Merz
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 3289–3309, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-3289-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-3289-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Quantifying the seasonal contributions of the runoff components, including groundwater, snowmelt, glacier melt, and rainfall, to streamflow is highly necessary for understanding the dynamics of water resources in glacierized basins given the vulnerability of snow- and glacier-dominated environments to the current climate warming. Our study provides the first comparison of two end-member mixing approaches for hydrograph separation in glacierized basins.
Ankit Agarwal, Norbert Marwan, Rathinasamy Maheswaran, Ugur Ozturk, Jürgen Kurths, and Bruno Merz
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 2235–2251, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-2235-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-2235-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
In the climate/hydrology network, each node represents a geographical location of climatological data, and links between nodes are set up based on their interaction or similar variability. Here, using network theory, we first generate a node-ranking measure and then prioritize the rain gauges to identify influential and expandable stations across Germany. To show the applicability of the proposed approach, we also compared the results with existing traditional and contemporary network measures.
Miriam Bertola, Alberto Viglione, David Lun, Julia Hall, and Günter Blöschl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 1805–1822, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-1805-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-1805-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate changes that occurred in small vs. big flood events and in small vs. large catchments across Europe over 5 decades. Annual maximum discharge series between 1960 and 2010 from 2370 gauges in Europe are analysed. Distinctive patterns of flood regime change are identified for large regions across Europe, which depend on flood magnitude and catchment size.
Ayse Duha Metin, Nguyen Viet Dung, Kai Schröter, Sergiy Vorogushyn, Björn Guse, Heidi Kreibich, and Bruno Merz
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 967–979, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-967-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-967-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
For effective risk management, flood risk should be properly assessed. Traditionally, risk is assessed by making the assumption of invariant flow or loss probabilities (the chance that a given discharge or loss is exceeded) within the river catchment during a single flood event. However, in reality, flooding is more severe in some regions than others. This study indicates the importance of representing the spatial dependence of flood peaks and damage for risk assessments.
Björn Guse, Bruno Merz, Luzie Wietzke, Sophie Ullrich, Alberto Viglione, and Sergiy Vorogushyn
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 1633–1648, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-1633-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-1633-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Floods are influenced by river network processes, among others. Flood characteristics of tributaries may affect flood severity downstream of confluences. The impact of flood wave superposition is investigated with regard to magnitude and temporal matching of flood peaks. Our study in Germany and Austria shows that flood wave superposition is not the major driver of flood severity. However, there is the potential for large floods at some confluences in cases of temporal matching of flood peaks.
Tomasz Wawrzyniak and Marzena Osuch
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 805–815, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-805-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-805-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The article presents a climatological dataset from the Polish Polar Station Hornsund (SW Spitsbergen). With a positive trend of mean annual temperature of +1.14 °C per decade during 1979–2018,
the climate in Hornsund is warming over 6 times more than the global average. Due to a general lack of long-term in situ measurements and observations, the High Arctic remains one of the largest climate-data-deficient
regions on the Earth. Therefore, the described series is of unique value.
Yaxu Wang, Juan Lv, Jamie Hannaford, Yicheng Wang, Hongquan Sun, Lucy J. Barker, Miaomiao Ma, Zhicheng Su, and Michael Eastman
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 889–906, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-889-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-889-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Due to the specific applicability of drought impact indicators, this study identifies which drought indicators are suitable for characterising drought impacts and the contribution of vulnerability factors. The results show that the relationship varies across different drought impacts and cities; some factors have a strong positive correlation with drought vulnerability. This study can support drought planning work and provide background for the indices used in drought monitoring applications.
Jordi Bolibar, Antoine Rabatel, Isabelle Gouttevin, Clovis Galiez, Thomas Condom, and Eric Sauquet
The Cryosphere, 14, 565–584, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-565-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-565-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We introduce a novel approach for simulating glacier mass balances using a deep artificial neural network (i.e. deep learning) from climate and topographical data. This has been added as a component of a new open-source parameterized glacier evolution model. Deep learning is found to outperform linear machine learning methods, mainly due to its nonlinearity. Potential applications range from regional mass balance reconstructions from observations to simulations for past and future climates.
Berit Arheimer, Rafael Pimentel, Kristina Isberg, Louise Crochemore, Jafet C. M. Andersson, Abdulghani Hasan, and Luis Pineda
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 535–559, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-535-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-535-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
How far can we reach in predicting river flow globally, using integrated catchment modelling and open global data? For the first time, a catchment model was applied world-wide, covering the entire globe with a relatively high resolution. The results show that stepwise calibration provided better performance than traditional modelling of the globe. The study highlights that open data and models are crucial to advance hydrological sciences by sharing knowledge and enabling transparent evaluation.
Philippe Weyrich, Elena Mondino, Marco Borga, Giuliano Di Baldassarre, Anthony Patt, and Anna Scolobig
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 287–298, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-287-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-287-2020, 2020
Nadav Peleg, Chris Skinner, Simone Fatichi, and Peter Molnar
Earth Surf. Dynam., 8, 17–36, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-8-17-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-8-17-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Extreme rainfall is expected to intensify with increasing temperatures, which will likely affect rainfall spatial structure. The spatial variability of rainfall can affect streamflow and sediment transport volumes and peaks. The sensitivity of the hydro-morphological response to changes in the structure of heavy rainfall was investigated. It was found that the morphological components are more sensitive to changes in rainfall spatial structure in comparison to the hydrological components.
Mattia Zaramella, Marco Borga, Davide Zoccatelli, and Luca Carturan
Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 5251–5265, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-5251-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-5251-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents TOPMELT, a parsimonious snowpack simulation model integrated into a basin-scale hydrological model. TOPMELT implements the full spatial distribution of clear-sky potential solar radiation by means of a statistical representation: this approach reduces computational burden, which is a key potential advantage when parameter sensitivity and uncertainty estimation procedures are carried out. The model is assessed by examining different resolutions of its domain.
Lucy J. Barker, Jamie Hannaford, Simon Parry, Katie A. Smith, Maliko Tanguy, and Christel Prudhomme
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 4583–4602, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-4583-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-4583-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
It is important to understand historic droughts in order to plan and prepare for possible future events. In this study we use the standardised streamflow index for 1891–2015 to systematically identify, characterise and rank hydrological drought events for 108 near-natural UK catchments. Results show when and where the most severe events occurred and describe events of the early 20th century, providing catchment-scale detail important for both science and planning applications of the future.
Yves Tramblay, Louise Mimeau, Luc Neppel, Freddy Vinet, and Eric Sauquet
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 4419–4431, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-4419-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-4419-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
In the present study the flood trends have been assessed for a large sample of 171 basins located in southern France, which has a Mediterranean climate. Results show that, despite the increase in rainfall intensity previously observed in this area, there is no general increase in flood magnitude. Instead, a reduction in the annual number of floods is found, linked to a decrease in soil moisture caused by the increase in temperature observed in recent decades.
Rudolf Brázdil, Gaston R. Demarée, Andrea Kiss, Petr Dobrovolný, Kateřina Chromá, Miroslav Trnka, Lukáš Dolák, Ladislava Řezníčková, Pavel Zahradníček, Danuta Limanowka, and Sylvie Jourdain
Clim. Past, 15, 1861–1884, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1861-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1861-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The paper presents analysis of the 1842 drought in Europe (except the Mediterranean) based on documentary data and instrumental records. First the meteorological background of this drought is shown (seasonal distribution of precipitation, annual variation of temperature, precipitation and drought indices, synoptic reasons) and effects of drought on water management, agriculture, and in society are described in detail with particular attention to human responses.
Serena Ceola, Francesco Laio, and Alberto Montanari
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 3933–3944, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-3933-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-3933-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
A simple and effective index for the quantitative estimation of the evolution of human pressure on rivers at global scale is proposed. This index, based on nightlights and river discharge data, shows a significant increase from 1992 to 2013 worldwide. The most notable changes are found in river basins across Africa and Asia, where human pressure on rivers is growing markedly. This index identifies priority areas that can be targeted for the implementation of mitigation strategies and plans.
Eric Sauquet, Bastien Richard, Alexandre Devers, and Christel Prudhomme
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 3683–3710, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-3683-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-3683-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
This study aims to identify catchments and the associated water uses vulnerable to climate change. Vulnerability is considered here to be the likelihood of water restrictions which are unacceptable for agricultural uses. This study provides the first regional analysis of the stated water restrictions, highlighting heterogeneous decision-making processes; data from a national system of compensation to farmers for uninsurable damages were used to characterize past failure events.
Jürgen Kurths, Ankit Agarwal, Roopam Shukla, Norbert Marwan, Maheswaran Rathinasamy, Levke Caesar, Raghavan Krishnan, and Bruno Merz
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 26, 251–266, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-26-251-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-26-251-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
We examined the spatial diversity of Indian rainfall teleconnection at different timescales, first by identifying homogeneous communities and later by computing non-linear linkages between the identified communities (spatial regions) and dominant climatic patterns, represented by climatic indices such as El Nino–Southern Oscillation, Indian Ocean Dipole, North Atlantic Oscillation, Pacific Decadal Oscillation and Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation.
Katie A. Smith, Lucy J. Barker, Maliko Tanguy, Simon Parry, Shaun Harrigan, Tim P. Legg, Christel Prudhomme, and Jamie Hannaford
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 3247–3268, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-3247-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-3247-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
This paper describes the multi-objective calibration approach used to create a consistent dataset of reconstructed daily river flow data for 303 catchments in the UK over 1891–2015. The modelled data perform well when compared to observations, including in the timing and the classification of drought events. This method and data will allow for long-term studies of flow trends and past extreme events that have not been previously possible, enabling water managers to better plan for the future.
Mattia Amadio, Anna Rita Scorzini, Francesca Carisi, Arthur H. Essenfelder, Alessio Domeneghetti, Jaroslav Mysiak, and Attilio Castellarin
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 661–678, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-19-661-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-19-661-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Flood risk management relies on assessments performed using flood loss models of different complexities. We compared the performances of expert-based and empirical damage models on three major flood events in northern Italy. Our findings suggest that multivariate models have better potential to provide reliable damage estimates if extensive ancillary characterisation data are available. Expert-based approaches are better suited for transferability compared to empirically based approaches.
Eva Steirou, Lars Gerlitz, Heiko Apel, Xun Sun, and Bruno Merz
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 1305–1322, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-1305-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-1305-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate whether flood probabilities in Europe vary for different large-scale atmospheric circulation conditions. Maximum seasonal river flows from 600 gauges in Europe and five synchronous atmospheric circulation indices are analyzed. We find that a high percentage of stations is influenced by at least one of the climate indices, especially during winter. These results can be useful for preparedness and damage planning by (re-)insurance companies.
Laurie Caillouet, Jean-Philippe Vidal, Eric Sauquet, Benjamin Graff, and Jean-Michel Soubeyroux
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 11, 241–260, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-241-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-241-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
SCOPE Climate is a 25-member ensemble of 142-year daily high-resolution reconstructions of precipitation, temperature, and Penman–Monteith reference evapotranspiration over France. It is the first century-long gridded high-resolution homogeneous dataset available over France. It thus paves the way for studying local historical meteorological events and for assessing the local climate variability from the end of the 19th century.
John K. Hillier, Geoffrey R. Saville, Mike J. Smith, Alister J. Scott, Emma K. Raven, Jonathon Gascoigne, Louise J. Slater, Nevil Quinn, Andreas Tsanakas, Claire Souch, Gregor C. Leckebusch, Neil Macdonald, Alice M. Milner, Jennifer Loxton, Rebecca Wilebore, Alexandra Collins, Colin MacKechnie, Jaqui Tweddle, Sarah Moller, MacKenzie Dove, Harry Langford, and Jim Craig
Geosci. Commun., 2, 1–23, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-2-1-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-2-1-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Worldwide there is intense interest in converting research excellence in universities into commercial success, but there has been scant attention devoted to exactly how individual scientists' workload and incentive structures may be a key barrier to this. Our work reveals the real challenge posed by a time-constrained university culture, better describes how work with business might fit into an academic job, and gives tips on working together in an
user guidefor scientists and (re)insurers.
Theano Iliopoulou, Cristina Aguilar, Berit Arheimer, María Bermúdez, Nejc Bezak, Andrea Ficchì, Demetris Koutsoyiannis, Juraj Parajka, María José Polo, Guillaume Thirel, and Alberto Montanari
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 73–91, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-73-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-73-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate the seasonal memory properties of a large sample of European rivers in terms of high and low flows. We compute seasonal correlations between peak and low flows and average flows in the previous seasons and explore the links with various physiographic and hydro-climatic catchment descriptors. Our findings suggest that there is a traceable physical basis for river memory which in turn can be employed to reduce uncertainty and improve probabilistic predictions of floods and droughts.
Nevil Quinn, Günter Blöschl, András Bárdossy, Attilio Castellarin, Martyn Clark, Christophe Cudennec, Demetris Koutsoyiannis, Upmanu Lall, Lubomir Lichner, Juraj Parajka, Christa D. Peters-Lidard, Graham Sander, Hubert Savenije, Keith Smettem, Harry Vereecken, Alberto Viglione, Patrick Willems, Andy Wood, Ross Woods, Chong-Yu Xu, and Erwin Zehe
Proc. IAHS, 380, 3–8, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-380-3-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-380-3-2018, 2018
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.
Christian Reszler, Jürgen Komma, Hermann Stadler, Elmar Strobl, and Günter Blöschl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 6147–6161, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-6147-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-6147-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Karst aquifers are vulnerable to pollution due to the typically short particle travel times. As the rainwater runs off on the surface it may collect contamination before infiltrating. This paper proposes a new field-mapping method for the ability of the landscape to produce and convey surface runoff. The method is based on local data collection in the field, and a visual assessment of surface runoff traces from a distance, which makes it suitable for larger areas than traditional field mapping.
Ayse Duha Metin, Nguyen Viet Dung, Kai Schröter, Björn Guse, Heiko Apel, Heidi Kreibich, Sergiy Vorogushyn, and Bruno Merz
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 3089–3108, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-3089-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-3089-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We present a comprehensive sensitivity analysis considering changes along the complete flood risk chain to understand how changes in different drivers affect flood risk. Results show that changes in dike systems or in vulnerability may outweigh changes in often investigated components, such as climate change. Although the specific results are conditional on the case study and assumptions, they highlight the need for a broader consideration of potential drivers of change in a comprehensive way.
Nguyen Van Khanh Triet, Nguyen Viet Dung, Bruno Merz, and Heiko Apel
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 2859–2876, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-2859-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-2859-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
In this study we provide an estimation of flood damages and risks to rice cultivation in the Mekong Delta. The derived modelling concept explicitly takes plant phenomenology and timing of floods in a probabilistic modelling framework into account. This results in spatially explicit flood risk maps to rice cultivation, quantified as expected annual damage. Furthermore, the changes in flood risk of two land-use scenarios were estimated and discussed.
Nevil Quinn, Günter Blöschl, András Bárdossy, Attilio Castellarin, Martyn Clark, Christophe Cudennec, Demetris Koutsoyiannis, Upmanu Lall, Lubomir Lichner, Juraj Parajka, Christa D. Peters-Lidard, Graham Sander, Hubert Savenije, Keith Smettem, Harry Vereecken, Alberto Viglione, Patrick Willems, Andy Wood, Ross Woods, Chong-Yu Xu, and Erwin Zehe
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 5735–5739, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-5735-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-5735-2018, 2018
Giuliano Di Baldassarre, Heidi Kreibich, Sergiy Vorogushyn, Jeroen Aerts, Karsten Arnbjerg-Nielsen, Marlies Barendrecht, Paul Bates, Marco Borga, Wouter Botzen, Philip Bubeck, Bruna De Marchi, Carmen Llasat, Maurizio Mazzoleni, Daniela Molinari, Elena Mondino, Johanna Mård, Olga Petrucci, Anna Scolobig, Alberto Viglione, and Philip J. Ward
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 5629–5637, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-5629-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-5629-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
One common approach to cope with floods is the implementation of structural flood protection measures, such as levees. Numerous scholars have problematized this approach and shown that increasing levels of flood protection can generate a false sense of security and attract more people to the risky areas. We briefly review the literature on this topic and then propose a research agenda to explore the unintended consequences of structural flood protection.
William Amponsah, Pierre-Alain Ayral, Brice Boudevillain, Christophe Bouvier, Isabelle Braud, Pascal Brunet, Guy Delrieu, Jean-François Didon-Lescot, Eric Gaume, Laurent Lebouc, Lorenzo Marchi, Francesco Marra, Efrat Morin, Guillaume Nord, Olivier Payrastre, Davide Zoccatelli, and Marco Borga
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 1783–1794, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-1783-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-1783-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The EuroMedeFF database comprises 49 events that occurred in France, Israel, Germany, Slovenia, Romania, and Italy. The dataset may be of help to hydrologists as well as other scientific communities because it offers benchmark data for the verification of flash flood hydrological models and for hydro-meteorological forecast systems. It provides, moreover, a sample of rainfall and flood discharge extremes in different climates.
Doris Duethmann and Günter Blöschl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 5143–5158, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-5143-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-5143-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We analyze changes in catchment evaporation estimated from the water balances of 156 catchments in Austria over 1977–2014, as well as the possible causes of these changes. Our results show that catchment evaporation increased on average by 29 ± 14 mm yr−1 decade−1. We attribute this increase to changes in atmospheric demand (based on reference and pan evaporation), changes in vegetation (quantified by a satellite-based vegetation index), and changes in precipitation.
Alessio Pugliese, Simone Persiano, Stefano Bagli, Paolo Mazzoli, Juraj Parajka, Berit Arheimer, René Capell, Alberto Montanari, Günter Blöschl, and Attilio Castellarin
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 4633–4648, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-4633-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-4633-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This research work focuses on the development of an innovative method for enhancing the predictive capability of macro-scale rainfall–runoff models by means of a geostatistical apporach. In our method, one can get enhanced streamflow simulations without any further model calibration. Indeed, this method is neither computational nor data-intensive and is implemented only using observed streamflow data and a GIS vector layer with catchment boundaries. Assessments are performed in the Tyrol region.
Efthymios I. Nikolopoulos, Elisa Destro, Md Abul Ehsan Bhuiyan, Marco Borga, and Emmanouil N. Anagnostou
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 2331–2343, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-2331-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-2331-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Debris flows, following wildfires, constitute a significant threat to downstream populations and infrastructure. Therefore, developing measures to reduce the vulnerability of local communities to debris flows is of paramount importance. This work proposes a new model for predicting post-fire debris flow occurrence on a regional scale and demonstrates that the proposed model has notably higher skill than the currently used approaches.
Rafael Pimentel and Berit Arheimer
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2018-387, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2018-387, 2018
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary
Short summary
The Västmanland wildfire, Sweden, burned 14 000 hectares and removed the Boreal forest in this area during the summer 2014. This empirical study evaluates the hydrological effects of this wildfire. A paired catchment methodology is used to evaluate 23 catchment characteristics of flow and physiography defined using in situ and remote sensing data. The results show a change in the snow dynamics over the burnt areas with shorter duration of the snow season and a higher stream flow during autumn.
Francesca Carisi, Kai Schröter, Alessio Domeneghetti, Heidi Kreibich, and Attilio Castellarin
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 2057–2079, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-2057-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-2057-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
By analyzing a comprehensive loss dataset of affected private households after a recent river flood event in northern Italy, we tackle the problem of flood damage estimation in Emilia-Romagna (Italy). We develop empirical uni- and multivariable loss models for the residential sector. Outcomes highlight that the latter seem to outperform the former and, in addition, results show a higher accuracy of univariable models based on local data compared to literature ones derived for different contexts.
Julia Hall and Günter Blöschl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 3883–3901, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-3883-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-3883-2018, 2018
Mehdi Rahmati, Lutz Weihermüller, Jan Vanderborght, Yakov A. Pachepsky, Lili Mao, Seyed Hamidreza Sadeghi, Niloofar Moosavi, Hossein Kheirfam, Carsten Montzka, Kris Van Looy, Brigitta Toth, Zeinab Hazbavi, Wafa Al Yamani, Ammar A. Albalasmeh, Ma'in Z. Alghzawi, Rafael Angulo-Jaramillo, Antônio Celso Dantas Antonino, George Arampatzis, Robson André Armindo, Hossein Asadi, Yazidhi Bamutaze, Jordi Batlle-Aguilar, Béatrice Béchet, Fabian Becker, Günter Blöschl, Klaus Bohne, Isabelle Braud, Clara Castellano, Artemi Cerdà, Maha Chalhoub, Rogerio Cichota, Milena Císlerová, Brent Clothier, Yves Coquet, Wim Cornelis, Corrado Corradini, Artur Paiva Coutinho, Muriel Bastista de Oliveira, José Ronaldo de Macedo, Matheus Fonseca Durães, Hojat Emami, Iraj Eskandari, Asghar Farajnia, Alessia Flammini, Nándor Fodor, Mamoun Gharaibeh, Mohamad Hossein Ghavimipanah, Teamrat A. Ghezzehei, Simone Giertz, Evangelos G. Hatzigiannakis, Rainer Horn, Juan José Jiménez, Diederik Jacques, Saskia Deborah Keesstra, Hamid Kelishadi, Mahboobeh Kiani-Harchegani, Mehdi Kouselou, Madan Kumar Jha, Laurent Lassabatere, Xiaoyan Li, Mark A. Liebig, Lubomír Lichner, María Victoria López, Deepesh Machiwal, Dirk Mallants, Micael Stolben Mallmann, Jean Dalmo de Oliveira Marques, Miles R. Marshall, Jan Mertens, Félicien Meunier, Mohammad Hossein Mohammadi, Binayak P. Mohanty, Mansonia Pulido-Moncada, Suzana Montenegro, Renato Morbidelli, David Moret-Fernández, Ali Akbar Moosavi, Mohammad Reza Mosaddeghi, Seyed Bahman Mousavi, Hasan Mozaffari, Kamal Nabiollahi, Mohammad Reza Neyshabouri, Marta Vasconcelos Ottoni, Theophilo Benedicto Ottoni Filho, Mohammad Reza Pahlavan-Rad, Andreas Panagopoulos, Stephan Peth, Pierre-Emmanuel Peyneau, Tommaso Picciafuoco, Jean Poesen, Manuel Pulido, Dalvan José Reinert, Sabine Reinsch, Meisam Rezaei, Francis Parry Roberts, David Robinson, Jesús Rodrigo-Comino, Otto Corrêa Rotunno Filho, Tadaomi Saito, Hideki Suganuma, Carla Saltalippi, Renáta Sándor, Brigitta Schütt, Manuel Seeger, Nasrollah Sepehrnia, Ehsan Sharifi Moghaddam, Manoj Shukla, Shiraki Shutaro, Ricardo Sorando, Ajayi Asishana Stanley, Peter Strauss, Zhongbo Su, Ruhollah Taghizadeh-Mehrjardi, Encarnación Taguas, Wenceslau Geraldes Teixeira, Ali Reza Vaezi, Mehdi Vafakhah, Tomas Vogel, Iris Vogeler, Jana Votrubova, Steffen Werner, Thierry Winarski, Deniz Yilmaz, Michael H. Young, Steffen Zacharias, Yijian Zeng, Ying Zhao, Hong Zhao, and Harry Vereecken
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 1237–1263, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-1237-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-1237-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents and analyzes a global database of soil infiltration data, the SWIG database, for the first time. In total, 5023 infiltration curves were collected across all continents in the SWIG database. These data were either provided and quality checked by the scientists or they were digitized from published articles. We are convinced that the SWIG database will allow for a better parameterization of the infiltration process in land surface models and for testing infiltration models.
Anna Costa, Daniela Anghileri, and Peter Molnar
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 3421–3434, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-3421-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-3421-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We analyse the control of hydroclimatic factors – erosive rainfall, ice melt, and snowmelt – on suspended sediment concentration (SSC) of Alpine catchments regulated by hydropower, and we develop a multivariate hydroclimatic–informed rating curve. We show that while erosive rainfall determines the variability of SSC, ice melt generates the highest contribution to SSC per unit of runoff. This approach allows the exploration of climate–driven changes in fine sediment dynamics in Alpine catchments.
Marlies Holkje Barendrecht, Alberto Viglione, Heidi Kreibich, Sergiy Vorogushyn, Bruno Merz, and Günter Blöschl
Proc. IAHS, 379, 193–198, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-379-193-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-379-193-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The aim of this paper is to assess whether a Socio-Hydrological model can be calibrated to data artificially generated from it. This is not trivial because the model is highly nonlinear and it is not clear what amount of data would be needed for calibration. We demonstrate that, using Bayesian inference, the parameters of the model can be estimated quite accurately from relatively few data, which could be available in real case studies.
Maliko Tanguy, Christel Prudhomme, Katie Smith, and Jamie Hannaford
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 951–968, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-951-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-951-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Potential evapotranspiration (PET) is necessary input data for most hydrological models, used to simulate river flows. To reconstruct PET prior to the 1960s, simplified methods are needed because of lack of climate data required for complex methods. We found that the McGuinness–Bordne PET equation, which only needs temperature as input data, works best for the UK provided it is calibrated for local conditions. This method was used to produce a 5 km gridded PET dataset for the UK for 1891–2015.
Aurélien Beaufort, Nicolas Lamouroux, Hervé Pella, Thibault Datry, and Eric Sauquet
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 3033–3051, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-3033-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-3033-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Streams which may stop flowing are poorly gauged. To improve their characterisation, we use an extended network providing monthly visual observations stating whether streams are flowing or not across France. These observations are combined with discharge and groundwater level in models to predict daily regional probability of drying. This approach allows identification of the most impacted regions by flow intermittence and estimation of the probability of drying dynamics over the last 27 years.
Conor Murphy, Ciaran Broderick, Timothy P. Burt, Mary Curley, Catriona Duffy, Julia Hall, Shaun Harrigan, Tom K. R. Matthews, Neil Macdonald, Gerard McCarthy, Mark P. McCarthy, Donal Mullan, Simon Noone, Timothy J. Osborn, Ciara Ryan, John Sweeney, Peter W. Thorne, Seamus Walsh, and Robert L. Wilby
Clim. Past, 14, 413–440, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-413-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-413-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This work reconstructs a continuous 305-year rainfall record for Ireland. The series reveals remarkable variability in decadal rainfall – far in excess of the typical period of digitised data. Notably, the series sheds light on exceptionally wet winters in the 1730s and wet summers in the 1750s. The derived record, one of the longest continuous series in Europe, offers a firm basis for benchmarking other long-term records and reconstructions of past climate both locally and across Europe.
Nguyen Le Duy, Ingo Heidbüchel, Hanno Meyer, Bruno Merz, and Heiko Apel
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1239–1262, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1239-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1239-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This study analyzes the influence of local and regional meteorological factors on the isotopic composition of precipitation. The impact of the different factors on the isotopic condition was quantified by multiple linear regression of all factor combinations combined with relative importance analysis. The proposed approach might open a pathway for the improved reconstruction of paleoclimates based on isotopic records.
Erik Tijdeman, Jamie Hannaford, and Kerstin Stahl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1051–1064, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1051-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1051-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, a screening approach was applied on a set of streamflow records for which various human influences are indicated to identify streamflow records that have drought characteristics that deviate from those expected under pristine conditions. Prolonged streamflow drought duration, a weaker correlation between streamflow and precipitation, and changes in streamflow drought occurrence over time were related to human influences such as groundwater abstractions or reservoir operations.
Fernando Jaramillo, Neil Cory, Berit Arheimer, Hjalmar Laudon, Ype van der Velde, Thomas B. Hasper, Claudia Teutschbein, and Johan Uddling
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 567–580, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-567-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-567-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Which is the dominant effect on evapotranspiration in northern forests, an increase by recent forests expansion or a decrease by the water use response due to increasing CO2 concentrations? We determined the dominant effect during the period 1961–2012 in 65 Swedish basins. We used the Budyko framework to study the hydroclimatic movements in Budyko space. Our findings suggest that forest expansion is the dominant driver of long-term and large-scale evapotranspiration changes.
Anna Costa, Peter Molnar, Laura Stutenbecker, Maarten Bakker, Tiago A. Silva, Fritz Schlunegger, Stuart N. Lane, Jean-Luc Loizeau, and Stéphanie Girardclos
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 509–528, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-509-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-509-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We explore the signal of a warmer climate in the suspended-sediment dynamics of a regulated and human-impacted Alpine catchment. We demonstrate that temperature-driven enhanced melting of glaciers, which occurred in the mid-1980s, played a dominant role in suspended sediment concentration rise, through increased runoff from sediment-rich proglacial areas, increased contribution of sediment-rich meltwater, and increased sediment supply in proglacial areas due to glacier recession.
Sophie Bachmair, Cecilia Svensson, Ilaria Prosdocimi, Jamie Hannaford, and Kerstin Stahl
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 1947–1960, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-17-1947-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-17-1947-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This study tests the potential for developing empirical
drought impact functionsbased on hydro-meteorological drought indicators as predictors and text-based reports on drought impacts as a surrogate variable for drought damage. We showcase three data-driven modeling approaches and assess the effect of impact report quantification method.
Ankit Agarwal, Norbert Marwan, Maheswaran Rathinasamy, Bruno Merz, and Jürgen Kurths
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 24, 599–611, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-24-599-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-24-599-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Extreme events such as floods and droughts result from synchronization of different natural processes working at multiple timescales. Investigation on an observation timescale will not reveal the inherent underlying dynamics triggering these events. This paper develops a new method based on wavelets and event synchronization to unravel the hidden dynamics responsible for such sudden events. This method is tested with synthetic and real-world cases and the results are promising.
Francesco Marra, Elisa Destro, Efthymios I. Nikolopoulos, Davide Zoccatelli, Jean Dominique Creutin, Fausto Guzzetti, and Marco Borga
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 4525–4532, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4525-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4525-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Previous studies have reported a systematic underestimation of debris flow occurrence thresholds, due to the use of sparse networks in non-stationary rain fields. We analysed high-resolution radar data to show that spatially aggregated estimates (e.g. satellite data) largely reduce this issue, in light of a reduced estimation variance. Our findings are transferable to other situations in which lower envelope curves are used to predict point-like events in the presence of non-stationary fields.
Giuseppina Brigandì, Giuseppe Tito Aronica, Brunella Bonaccorso, Roberto Gueli, and Giuseppe Basile
Adv. Geosci., 44, 79–88, https://doi.org/10.5194/adgeo-44-79-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/adgeo-44-79-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
The paper presents the flood and landslide early warning system HEWS developed by the University of Messina for the
Integrated Multi-Risk Decentralised Functional Centreof Sicily (Italy). HEWS implements a methodology based on the combined use of rainfall thresholds, soil moisture modelling and quantitative precipitation forecast (QPF) to issue alert bulletins both for floods and landslide. The software Delft-FEWS has been adopted as operation platform to support the implementation of HEWS.
Daniela Molinari, Karin De Bruijn, Jessica Castillo, Giuseppe T. Aronica, and Laurens M. Bouwer
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2017-303, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2017-303, 2017
Preprint retracted
Short summary
Short summary
Flood risk estimates are characterised by significant uncertainties; accordingly, evaluating the reliability of such estimates (i.e. validating flood risk models) is crucial. Here, we discuss the state of art of flood risk models validation with the aim of identifying policy and research recommendations towards promoting more common practice of validation. The main conclusions from this review can be summarised as the need of higher quality data to perform validation and of benchmark solutions.
Nguyen Van Khanh Triet, Nguyen Viet Dung, Hideto Fujii, Matti Kummu, Bruno Merz, and Heiko Apel
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 3991–4010, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3991-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3991-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
In this study we provide a numerical quantification of changes in flood hazard in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta as a result of dyke development. Other important drivers to the alteration of delta flood hazard are also investigated, e.g. tidal level. The findings of our study are substantial valuable for the decision makers in Vietnam to develop holistic and harmonized floods and flood-related issues management plan for the whole delta.
Yeshewatesfa Hundecha, Juraj Parajka, and Alberto Viglione
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2017-356, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2017-356, 2017
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary
Short summary
The main triggering mechanisms of flood events in different regions of Europe in the recent past have been identified and changes in their frequency in time have been investigated. Although the frequency of occurence of flooding hasn't changed continentally over a 50 years period, the frequency of heavy rain induced floods has been on the rise in Western Europe and the Alps while the frequency of floods caused by rain falling on snow covers has been declining in Norhern and Eastern Europe.
Cristina Aguilar, Alberto Montanari, and María-José Polo
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 3687–3700, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3687-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3687-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Assuming that floods are driven by both short- (meteorological forcing) and long-term perturbations (higher-than-usual moisture), we propose a technique for updating a season in advance the flood frequency distribution. Its application in the Po and Danube rivers helped to reduce the uncertainty in the estimation of floods and thus constitutes a promising tool for real-time management of flood risk mitigation. This study is the result of the stay of the first author at the University of Bologna.
Anna Costa, Daniela Anghileri, and Peter Molnar
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2017-419, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2017-419, 2017
Manuscript not accepted for further review
Short summary
Short summary
We develop a novel rating curve to simulate suspended sediment concentration (SSC) in Alpine catchments (Process-Based Rating Curve, PBRC). Instead of relating SSC to discharge, as in traditional approaches, we model SSC by differentiating the potential contributions of the main erosional and transport processes of Alpine environments: erosive rainfall, snowmelt, and icemelt. We show that PBRC significantly improves predictions of SSC, especially when analysing climate-induced changes.
Gregor Laaha, Tobias Gauster, Lena M. Tallaksen, Jean-Philippe Vidal, Kerstin Stahl, Christel Prudhomme, Benedikt Heudorfer, Radek Vlnas, Monica Ionita, Henny A. J. Van Lanen, Mary-Jeanne Adler, Laurie Caillouet, Claire Delus, Miriam Fendekova, Sebastien Gailliez, Jamie Hannaford, Daniel Kingston, Anne F. Van Loon, Luis Mediero, Marzena Osuch, Renata Romanowicz, Eric Sauquet, James H. Stagge, and Wai K. Wong
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 3001–3024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3001-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3001-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
In 2015 large parts of Europe were affected by a drought. In terms of low flow magnitude, a region around the Czech Republic was most affected, with return periods > 100 yr. In terms of deficit volumes, the drought was particularly severe around S. Germany where the event lasted notably long. Meteorological and hydrological events developed differently in space and time. For an assessment of drought impacts on water resources, hydrological data are required in addition to meteorological indices.
Laurie Caillouet, Jean-Philippe Vidal, Eric Sauquet, Alexandre Devers, and Benjamin Graff
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 2923–2951, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-2923-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-2923-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
The historical depth of streamflow observations in France is extended through daily hydrometeorogical reconstructions from 1871 onwards over a large set of near-natural catchments. Innovative approaches are proposed to identify and intercompare extreme low-flow events from these reconstructions, both in time and across France in a homogeneous way over more than 140 years. Analyses bring forward recent well-known events like 1976 and 1989–1990 but also much older ones like 1878 and 1893.
Anna Kuentz, Berit Arheimer, Yeshewatesfa Hundecha, and Thorsten Wagener
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 2863–2879, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-2863-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-2863-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Our study aims to explore and understand the physical controls on spatial patterns of pan-European flow signatures by taking advantage of large open datasets. Using tools like correlation analysis, stepwise regressions and different types of catchment classifications, we explore the relationships between catchment descriptors and flow signatures across 35 215 catchments which cover a wide range of pan-European physiographic and anthropogenic characteristics.
Amin Elshorbagy, Raja Bharath, Anchit Lakhanpal, Serena Ceola, Alberto Montanari, and Karl-Erich Lindenschmidt
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 2219–2232, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-2219-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-2219-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Flood mapping is one of Canada's major national interests. This work presents a simple and effective method for large-scale flood hazard and risk mapping, applied in this study to Canada. Readily available data, such as remote sensing night-light data, topography, and stream network were used to create the maps.
George Papaioannou, Lampros Vasiliades, Athanasios Loukas, and Giuseppe T. Aronica
Adv. Geosci., 44, 23–34, https://doi.org/10.5194/adgeo-44-23-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/adgeo-44-23-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Probabilistic flood inundation mapping at ungauged streams due to roughness coefficient uncertainty in hydraulic modelling. The results of this study show that the proposed procedure supports probabilistic flood hazard mapping at ungauged rivers and provides water resources managers with valuable information for planning and implementing flood risk mitigation strategies.
Giuliano Di Baldassarre, Fabian Martinez, Zahra Kalantari, and Alberto Viglione
Earth Syst. Dynam., 8, 225–233, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-8-225-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-8-225-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
There is still little understanding about the dynamics emerging from human–water interactions. As a result, policies and measures to reduce the impacts of floods and droughts often lead to unintended consequences. This paper proposes a research agenda to improve our understanding of human–water interactions, and presents an initial attempt to model the reciprocal effects between water management, droughts, and floods.
Neil Macdonald and Heather Sangster
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 1631–1650, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1631-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1631-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We use historical records to extend current understanding of flood risk, examining past spatial and temporal variability and ask
are the perceived high-magnitude flood events witnessed in recent years really unprecedented?We identify that there are statistically significant relationships between the British flood index and climatic drivers, whereby the largest floods often transcend single catchments affecting regions and that the current flood-rich period is not unprecedented.
Mathias Seibert, Bruno Merz, and Heiko Apel
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 1611–1629, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1611-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1611-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Seasonal early warning is vital for drought management in arid regions like the Limpopo Basin in southern Africa. This study shows that skilled seasonal forecasts can be achieved with statistical methods built upon driving factors for drought occurrence. These are the hydrological factors for current streamflow and meteorological drivers represented by anomalies in sea surface temperatures of the surrounding oceans, which combine to form unique combinations in the drought forecast models.
Nadav Peleg, Frank Blumensaat, Peter Molnar, Simone Fatichi, and Paolo Burlando
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 1559–1572, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1559-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1559-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We investigated the relative contribution of the spatial versus climatic rainfall variability for flow peaks by applying an advanced stochastic rainfall generator to simulate rainfall for a small urban catchment and simulate flow dynamics in the sewer system. We found that the main contribution to the total flow variability originates from the natural climate variability. The contribution of spatial rainfall variability to the total flow variability was found to increase with return periods.
Søren Thorndahl, Thomas Einfalt, Patrick Willems, Jesper Ellerbæk Nielsen, Marie-Claire ten Veldhuis, Karsten Arnbjerg-Nielsen, Michael R. Rasmussen, and Peter Molnar
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 1359–1380, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1359-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1359-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This paper reviews how weather radar data can be used in urban hydrological applications. It focuses on three areas of research: (1) temporal and spatial resolution of rainfall data, (2) rainfall estimation, radar data adjustment and data quality, and (3) nowcasting of radar rainfall and real-time applications. Moreover, the paper provides examples of urban hydrological applications which can benefit from radar rainfall data in comparison to tradition rain gauge measurements of rainfall.
Brunella Bonaccorso, Giuseppina Brigandì, and Giuseppe Tito Aronica
Adv. Geosci., 44, 15–22, https://doi.org/10.5194/adgeo-44-15-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/adgeo-44-15-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
A Monte Carlo approach for deriving flood frequency curves in ungauged basins in Sicily region (Italy) is proposed. The procedure consists of: (i) a regional frequency analysis of extreme rainfall series, combined with Huff curves-based synthetic hyetographs, for design storms and (ii) a rainfall-runoff model, based on the Time-Area technique, to generate synthetic hydrographs. Validation of the procedure is carried out on four gauged river basins in Sicily (Italy) with promising results.
Giuliano Di Baldassarre, Smeralda Saccà, Giuseppe Tito Aronica, Salvatore Grimaldi, Alessio Ciullo, and Massimiliano Crisci
Adv. Geosci., 44, 9–13, https://doi.org/10.5194/adgeo-44-9-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/adgeo-44-9-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Throughout history, the city of Rome has experienced numerous flooding events from the Tiber river. Ancient Rome mostly developed on the hills, while the Tiber’s floodplain was mainly used for agricultural purposes. Instead, many people live nowadays in modern districts in the Tiber’s floodplain, often unaware of their exposure to potentially flooding. This research work aims to explore the dynamics of changing flood risk between these two opposite pictures of ancient and contemporary Rome.
Remko Nijzink, Christopher Hutton, Ilias Pechlivanidis, René Capell, Berit Arheimer, Jim Freer, Dawei Han, Thorsten Wagener, Kevin McGuire, Hubert Savenije, and Markus Hrachowitz
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 4775–4799, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-4775-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-4775-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
The core component of many hydrological systems, the moisture storage capacity available to vegetation, is typically treated as a calibration parameter in hydrological models and often considered to remain constant in time. In this paper we test the potential of a recently introduced method to robustly estimate catchment-scale root-zone storage capacities exclusively based on climate data to reproduce the temporal evolution of root-zone storage under change (deforestation).
Chantal Camenisch, Kathrin M. Keller, Melanie Salvisberg, Benjamin Amann, Martin Bauch, Sandro Blumer, Rudolf Brázdil, Stefan Brönnimann, Ulf Büntgen, Bruce M. S. Campbell, Laura Fernández-Donado, Dominik Fleitmann, Rüdiger Glaser, Fidel González-Rouco, Martin Grosjean, Richard C. Hoffmann, Heli Huhtamaa, Fortunat Joos, Andrea Kiss, Oldřich Kotyza, Flavio Lehner, Jürg Luterbacher, Nicolas Maughan, Raphael Neukom, Theresa Novy, Kathleen Pribyl, Christoph C. Raible, Dirk Riemann, Maximilian Schuh, Philip Slavin, Johannes P. Werner, and Oliver Wetter
Clim. Past, 12, 2107–2126, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-2107-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-2107-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Throughout the last millennium, several cold periods occurred which affected humanity. Here, we investigate an exceptionally cold decade during the 15th century. The cold conditions challenged the food production and led to increasing food prices and a famine in parts of Europe. In contrast to periods such as the “Year Without Summer” after the eruption of Tambora, these extreme climatic conditions seem to have occurred by chance and in relation to the internal variability of the climate system.
Lars Gerlitz, Sergiy Vorogushyn, Heiko Apel, Abror Gafurov, Katy Unger-Shayesteh, and Bruno Merz
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 4605–4623, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-4605-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-4605-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Most statistically based seasonal precipitation forecast models utilize a small set of well-known climate indices as potential predictor variables. However, for many target regions, these indices do not lead to sufficient results and customized predictors are required for an accurate prediction.
This study presents a statistically based routine, which automatically identifies suitable predictors from globally gridded SST and climate variables by means of an extensive data mining procedure.
Esraa Tarawneh, Jonathan Bridge, and Neil Macdonald
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 4391–4407, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-4391-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-4391-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
The study presents a rapid, robust and reproducible approach to select optimum inputs for hydrological models. We show significant variation in pre-calibrated model performance due to the choice of different combinations of land-use, soil and weather datasets, particularly in data-scarce regions most in need of computationally-efficient approaches to optimise reliability of models and support decision-making. Our case study is directly relevant to planners and decision-makers in Wala, Jordan.
Aline Murawski, Gerd Bürger, Sergiy Vorogushyn, and Bruno Merz
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 4283–4306, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-4283-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-4283-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
To understand past flood changes in the Rhine catchment and the role of anthropogenic climate change in extreme flows, an attribution study relying on a proper GCM (general circulation model) downscaling is needed. A downscaling based on conditioning a stochastic weather generator on weather patterns is a promising approach. Here the link between patterns and local climate is tested, and the skill of GCMs in reproducing these patterns is evaluated.
Claudio I. Meier, Jorge Sebastián Moraga, Geri Pranzini, and Peter Molnar
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 4177–4190, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-4177-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-4177-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
We show that the derived distribution approach is able to characterize the interannual variability of precipitation much better than fitting a probabilistic model to annual rainfall totals, as long as continuously gauged data are available. The method is a useful tool for describing temporal changes in the distribution of annual rainfall, as it works for records as short as 5 years, and therefore does not require any stationarity assumption over long periods.
Bahareh Kianfar, Simone Fatichi, Athansios Paschalis, Max Maurer, and Peter Molnar
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2016-536, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2016-536, 2016
Revised manuscript has not been submitted
Short summary
Short summary
Raingauge observations show a large variability in extreme rainfall depths in the current climate. Climate model predictions of extreme rainfall in the future have to be compared with this natural variability. Our work shows that predictions of future extreme rainfall often lie within the range of natural variability of present-day climate, and therefore predictions of change are highly uncertain. We demonstrate this by using stochastic rainfall models and 10-min rainfall data in Switzerland.
Gregor Laaha, Juraj Parajka, Alberto Viglione, Daniel Koffler, Klaus Haslinger, Wolfgang Schöner, Judith Zehetgruber, and Günter Blöschl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 3967–3985, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-3967-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-3967-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
We present a framework for assessing climate impacts on future low flows that combines different sources of information termed pillars. To illustrate the framework, three pillars are chosen: low-flow observation, climate observations and climate projections. By combining different sources of information we aim at more robust projections than obtained from each pillar alone. The viability of the framework is illustrated for four example catchments from Austria.
Jean-Philippe Vidal, Benoît Hingray, Claire Magand, Eric Sauquet, and Agnès Ducharne
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 3651–3672, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-3651-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-3651-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Possible transient futures of winter and summer low flows for two snow-influenced catchments in the southern French Alps show a strong decrease signal. It is however largely masked by the year-to-year variability, which should be the main target for defining adaptation strategies. Responses of different hydrological models strongly diverge in the future, suggesting to carefully check the robustness of evapotranspiration and snowpack components under a changing climate.
Anne F. Van Loon, Kerstin Stahl, Giuliano Di Baldassarre, Julian Clark, Sally Rangecroft, Niko Wanders, Tom Gleeson, Albert I. J. M. Van Dijk, Lena M. Tallaksen, Jamie Hannaford, Remko Uijlenhoet, Adriaan J. Teuling, David M. Hannah, Justin Sheffield, Mark Svoboda, Boud Verbeiren, Thorsten Wagener, and Henny A. J. Van Lanen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 3631–3650, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-3631-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-3631-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
In the Anthropocene, drought cannot be viewed as a natural hazard independent of people. Drought can be alleviated or made worse by human activities and drought impacts are dependent on a myriad of factors. In this paper, we identify research gaps and suggest a framework that will allow us to adequately analyse and manage drought in the Anthropocene. We need to focus on attribution of drought to different drivers, linking drought to its impacts, and feedbacks between drought and society.
Matteo Saletti, Peter Molnar, Marwan A. Hassan, and Paolo Burlando
Earth Surf. Dynam., 4, 549–566, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-4-549-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-4-549-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents a new reduced-complexity model with few parameters linked to basic physical processes, which aims to reproduce the transport of sediment as bed load and the formation and stability of channel morphology in steep mountain streams. The model is able to simulate the formation and stability of steps, bed structures commonly encountered in steep channels, by assuming that their formation is due to intense sediment transport during high flows causing jamming of particles.
S. Bachmair, C. Svensson, J. Hannaford, L. J. Barker, and K. Stahl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 2589–2609, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-2589-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-2589-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
To date, there is little empirical evidence as to which indicator best represents drought impact occurrence for any given region and/or sector. We therefore exploited text-based data from the European Drought Impact report Inventory (EDII) to evaluate drought indicators, empirically determine indicator thresholds, and model drought impacts. A quantitative analysis using Germany and the UK as a testbed proved to be a useful tool for objectively appraising drought indicators.
Lucy J. Barker, Jamie Hannaford, Andrew Chiverton, and Cecilia Svensson
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 2483–2505, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-2483-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-2483-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Standardised meteorological indicators are widely used in drought monitoring, but applications to hydrological drought are less extensive. Here we assess the utility of standardised indicators for characterising drought duration, severity and propagation in a diverse set of 121 UK catchments. Spatial variations in streamflow drought characteristics reflect differences in drought propagation behaviour that are themselves largely driven by heterogeneity in catchment properties around the UK.
Juraj Parajka, Alfred Paul Blaschke, Günter Blöschl, Klaus Haslinger, Gerold Hepp, Gregor Laaha, Wolfgang Schöner, Helene Trautvetter, Alberto Viglione, and Matthias Zessner
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 2085–2101, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-2085-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-2085-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Streamflow estimation during low-flow conditions is important for estimation of environmental flows, effluent water quality, hydropower operations, etc. However, it is not clear how the uncertainties in assumptions used in the projections translate into uncertainty of estimated future low flows. The objective of the study is to explore the relative role of hydrologic model calibration and climate scenarios in the uncertainty of low-flow projections in Austria.
Marzena Osuch, Renata J. Romanowicz, Deborah Lawrence, and Wai K. Wong
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 1947–1969, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-1947-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-1947-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Possible future climate change effects on dryness conditions in Poland are estimated for six climate projections using the standardized precipitation index. The time series of precipitation represent six different climate model runs under the A1B SRES scenario for the period 1971–2099. Monthly precipitation values were used to estimate the standardized precipitation index for multiple timescales (1, 3, 6, 12 and 24 months) for a spatial resolution of 25 km for the whole country.
Francesca Carisi, Alessio Domeneghetti, and Attilio Castellarin
Proc. IAHS, 373, 161–166, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-373-161-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-373-161-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Can differential land-subsidence significantly alter river flooding dynamics, and thus flood risk in flood prone areas? In the area around Ravenna, in Italy, that experimented a cumulative drop of more than 1.5 m after World War II due to groundwater pumping and gas production platforms, we compared the actual effects on flood-hazard dynamics of differential land-subsidence relative to those associated with other man-made topographic alterations, which proved to be much more significant.
Heidi Kreibich, Kai Schröter, and Bruno Merz
Proc. IAHS, 373, 179–182, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-373-179-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-373-179-2016, 2016
Günter Blöschl
Proc. IAHS, 373, 57–60, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-373-57-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-373-57-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
The spatial dimensions of water management heavily rely on accurate hydrological estimates in the landscape. This has been the focus of the Predictions in Ungauged Basins (PUB) initiative of the IAHS. The initiative has significantly advanced the science by furthering process understanding and estimation methods, and by synthesising the knowledge across processes, places and scales. Ongoing research on PUB is increasingly accounts for the feedbacks between humans and water in the landscape.
Ján Szolgay, Ladislav Gaál, Tomáš Bacigál, Silvia Kohnová, Kamila Hlavčová, Roman Výleta, and Günter Blöschl
Proc. IAHS, 373, 61–67, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-373-61-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-373-61-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
The design of hydraulic structures where storage is involved, requires estimates of joint probability distribution of flood volumes and flood peaks. The problem of choosing a joint distribution was so far approached more from a statistical point of view. In the paper the suitability of various copula models of this relationships was analysed with a particular focus on the type and seasonality of flood generation processes in a regional context.
Serena Ceola, Alberto Montanari, Juraj Parajka, Alberto Viglione, Günter Blöschl, and Francesco Laio
Proc. IAHS, 373, 131–136, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-373-131-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-373-131-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
This paper analyses the evolution in space and time of human presence in terms of settlements and associated economic activities along the Eastern Alpine river network in Austria and Italy by using high-resolution satellite images. To this aim, nocturnal artificial luminosity images and the geographical location of streams and rivers are employed. Our results reveal a significant increase of nighttime lights, and thus of human presence.
Simone Persiano, Attilio Castellarin, Jose Luis Salinas, Alessio Domeneghetti, and Armando Brath
Proc. IAHS, 373, 95–100, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-373-95-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-373-95-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
The growing concern about the possible effects of climate change on flood frequency regime is leading Authorities to review reference procedures for design flood estimation. Our study focuses on Triveneto (Italy) and proposes an update of the existing reference procedure by properly considering climate and scale controls on flood frequency. Moreover, the study highlights the remarkable influence of a single extreme-floods year on analyses for detecting possible changes in flood frequency regime.
Daniele Ganora, Francesco Laio, Alessandro Masoero, and Pierluigi Claps
Proc. IAHS, 373, 73–80, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-373-73-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-373-73-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
The flow duration curve is a widely used tool to support water resources management, planning of hydropower plants and many other problems in hydrological engineering. This paper describe a procedure to estimate the flow duration curve in river sections where no data are available by exploiting observations from other gauged river basins. The procedure also allows one to include information about existing water intakes that alter the natural flow in the river.
Cristina Aguilar, Alberto Montanari, and María José Polo
Proc. IAHS, 373, 189–192, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-373-189-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-373-189-2016, 2016
Heiko Apel, Oriol Martínez Trepat, Nguyen Nghia Hung, Do Thi Chinh, Bruno Merz, and Nguyen Viet Dung
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 16, 941–961, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-16-941-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-16-941-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Many urban areas experience both fluvial and pluvial floods, thus this study aims to analyse fluvial and pluvial flood hazards as well as combined pluvial and fluvial flood hazards. This combined fluvial–pluvial flood hazard analysis is performed in a tropical environment for Can Tho city in the Mekong Delta. The final results are probabilistic hazard maps, showing the maximum inundation caused by floods of different magnitudes along with an uncertainty estimation.
Laurie Caillouet, Jean-Philippe Vidal, Eric Sauquet, and Benjamin Graff
Clim. Past, 12, 635–662, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-635-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-635-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
This paper describes a daily high-resolution reconstruction of precipitation and temperature fields in France from 1871 onwards. A statistical method linking atmospheric circulation to local precipitation is refined for taking advantage of recently published global long-term atmospheric and oceanic reconstructions. The resulting data set allows filling in the spatial and temporal data gaps in historical surface observations, and improving our knowledge on the local-scale climate variability.
Demetris Koutsoyiannis, Günter Blöschl, András Bárdossy, Christophe Cudennec, Denis Hughes, Alberto Montanari, Insa Neuweiler, and Hubert Savenije
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 1081–1084, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-1081-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-1081-2016, 2016
G. Blöschl, A. P. Blaschke, M. Broer, C. Bucher, G. Carr, X. Chen, A. Eder, M. Exner-Kittridge, A. Farnleitner, A. Flores-Orozco, P. Haas, P. Hogan, A. Kazemi Amiri, M. Oismüller, J. Parajka, R. Silasari, P. Stadler, P. Strauss, M. Vreugdenhil, W. Wagner, and M. Zessner
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 227–255, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-227-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-227-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
This paper illustrates the experimental and monitoring set-up of the 66 ha Hydrological Open Air Laboratory (HOAL) in Petzenkirchen, Lower Austria, which allows meaningful hypothesis testing. The HOAL catchment features a range of different runoff generation processes (surface runoff, springs, tile drains, wetlands), and is convenient from a logistic point of view as all instruments can be connected to the power grid and a high-speed glassfibre local area network.
I. G. Pechlivanidis and B. Arheimer
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 4559–4579, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-4559-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-4559-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
We modify the recommendations for flow predictions in ungauged catchments to address the challenges at the large scale. We use examples from the HYPE hydrological model set-up across 6000 subbasins for the Indian subcontinent. Multi-basin modelling reveals the spatial patterns of catchment functioning and dominant flow processes across the hydroclimatic gradient. The model set-up procedure according to the PUB recommendations brought insights into where the single model structure is inadequate.
A. Lucía, F. Comiti, M. Borga, M. Cavalli, and L. Marchi
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 15, 1741–1755, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-15-1741-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-15-1741-2015, 2015
F. Carisi, A. Domeneghetti, and A. Castellarin
Proc. IAHS, 370, 209–215, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-370-209-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-370-209-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Our study proposes simplified graphical tools (Hypsometric Vulnerability Curves) for assessing the recent dynamics of the flood vulnerability and risk over a large floodable area along the River Po, Northern Italy, and for defining sustainable flood-risk mitigation strategies. We assess the accuracy of the proposed methodology, based on inundation scenarios simulated with a quasi-2D model, by means of a comparison with a traditional approach relying on the simulations of a to a fully-2D model.
S. Kohnová, B. Karabová, and K. Hlavčová
Proc. IAHS, 370, 171–175, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-370-171-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-370-171-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
This paper is devoted to the SCN-CN method. The aim of the study was to derive empirical regional runoff CNs based on rainfall and discharge measurements for selected region in Slovakia. The CNs were treated as a random variable and were divided into three classes (I,II and III) with percentiles limits (0.10 and 0.90) of their distribution. A regional relationship for estimating coefficient λ was proposed. Finally, empirical regional runof curves with coefficient λ were derived.
R. A. P. Perdigão and G. Blöschl
Proc. IAHS, 370, 125–130, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-370-125-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-370-125-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Flood regimes are behavioural patterns in floods across a wide variety of events under diverse circumstances. Our goal is to provide a unifying framework to address those regimes, how and why they change in space and time. For that purpose, we introduce a general model of flood regime dynamics under interacting natural factors and validate it with observations spanning a great diversity of hydrological settings. The model ultimately brings better flood understanding and forecasting abilities.
K. Hlavčová, K. Kotríková, S. Kohnová, and P. Valent
Proc. IAHS, 370, 109–116, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-370-109-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-370-109-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
An evaluation of changes in the snow water equivalent (SWE) during the period of 1961- 2010 in the representative catchment of the mountainous regions in Central Slovakia is provided in this paper. Simulated values of the SWE by a conceptual semi-distributed rainfall-runoff model in different altitude zones were analysed. A decrease in the simulated data and the snow duration with significant decreasing trends in December, January and February were detected in the highest altitude zone.
J. Szolgay, L. Gaál, S. Kohnová, K. Hlavčová, R. Výleta, T. Bacigál, and G. Blöschl
Proc. IAHS, 370, 183–188, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-370-183-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-370-183-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
The design of hydraulic structures where storage is involved, requires estimates of flood volumes related to flood peaks. The problem was so far approached more from a statistical point of view. In the paper it was attempted to better understand the hydrological factors controlling this relationship. The suitability of various copula models of the relationships between flood peaks and flood volumes was analysed with a particular focus on the type and seasonality of flood generation processes.
J. Grames, A. Prskawetz, D. Grass, and G. Blöschl
Proc. IAHS, 369, 3–6, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-369-3-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-369-3-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Communities live close to rivers and therefore are confronted with the risk of flooding. It is important to understand the drivers and mechanisms of the consumption and investment behavior of these societies in order to identify an optimal investment strategy into flood defense capital. To solve such an economic optimization model we develop a periodic water function to approximate the former discrete stochastic time series of rainfall events and apply it to an existing socio-hydrology model.
O. Ledvinka
Proc. IAHS, 369, 87–95, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-369-87-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-369-87-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Selected series of drought-related characteristics derived from mean daily discharges measured in Czechia were tested for the presence of significant trends. Three modifications of the Mann-Kendall test were employed that account for short-term persistence and long-term persistence. One of them was utilised for the first time in hydrology. Unlike previous studies, the present study highlighted the differences among trend in deficit volumes (decrease in the west and increase in the east).
A. Chiverton, J. Hannaford, I. P. Holman, R. Corstanje, C. Prudhomme, T. M. Hess, and J. P. Bloomfield
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 2395–2408, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-2395-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-2395-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Current hydrological change detection methods are subject to a host of limitations. This paper develops a new method, temporally shifting variograms (TSVs), which characterises variability in the river flow regime using several parameters, changes in which can then be attributed to precipitation characteristics. We demonstrate the use of the method through application to 94 UK catchments, showing that periods of extremes as well as more subtle changes can be detected.
C. K. Folland, J. Hannaford, J. P. Bloomfield, M. Kendon, C. Svensson, B. P. Marchant, J. Prior, and E. Wallace
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 2353–2375, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-2353-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-2353-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
The English Lowlands is a heavily populated, water-stressed region, which is vulnerable to long droughts typically associated with dry winters. We conduct a long-term (1910-present) quantitative analysis of precipitation, flow and groundwater droughts for the region, and then review potential climatic drivers. No single driver is dominant, but we demonstrate a physical link between La Nina conditions, winter rainfall and long droughts in the region.
S. Ceola, B. Arheimer, E. Baratti, G. Blöschl, R. Capell, A. Castellarin, J. Freer, D. Han, M. Hrachowitz, Y. Hundecha, C. Hutton, G. Lindström, A. Montanari, R. Nijzink, J. Parajka, E. Toth, A. Viglione, and T. Wagener
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 2101–2117, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-2101-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-2101-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
We present the outcomes of a collaborative hydrological experiment undertaken by five different international research groups in a virtual laboratory. Moving from the definition of accurate protocols, a rainfall-runoff model was independently applied by the research groups, which then engaged in a comparative discussion. The results revealed that sharing protocols and running the experiment within a controlled environment is fundamental for ensuring experiment repeatability and reproducibility.
A. F. Van Loon, S. W. Ploum, J. Parajka, A. K. Fleig, E. Garnier, G. Laaha, and H. A. J. Van Lanen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 1993–2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-1993-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-1993-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Hydrological drought types in cold climates have complex causing factors and impacts. In Austria and Norway, a lack of snowmelt is mainly related to below-normal winter precipitation, and a lack of glaciermelt is mainly related to below-normal summer temperature. These and other hydrological drought types impacted hydropower production, water supply, and agriculture in Europe and the US in the recent and far past. For selected drought events in Norway impacts could be coupled to causing factors.
M. A. Sunyer, Y. Hundecha, D. Lawrence, H. Madsen, P. Willems, M. Martinkova, K. Vormoor, G. Bürger, M. Hanel, J. Kriaučiūnienė, A. Loukas, M. Osuch, and I. Yücel
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 1827–1847, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-1827-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-1827-2015, 2015
P. Molnar, S. Fatichi, L. Gaál, J. Szolgay, and P. Burlando
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 1753–1766, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-1753-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-1753-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
We present an empirical study of the rates of increase in precipitation intensity with air temperature using high-resolution 10 min precipitation records in Switzerland. We estimated the scaling rates for lightning (convective) and non-lightning event subsets and show that scaling rates are between 7 and 14%/C for convective rain and that mixing of storm types exaggerates the relations to air temperature. Doubled CC rates reported by other studies are an exception in our data set.
E. I. Nikolopoulos, M. Borga, F. Marra, S. Crema, and L. Marchi
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 15, 647–656, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-15-647-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-15-647-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
This study examines the seasonal and synoptic forcing patterns linked to debris flows occurring in the eastern Italian Alps. Results highlight that seasonal and synoptic pattern dependence is pronounced in both the debris-flow occurrence and the properties of triggering rainfall. Therefore, considering classification of debris flow events according to season and atmospheric circulation patterns can be used to improve existing warning systems that are operating on the basis of rainfall thresholds
A. Gafurov, S. Vorogushyn, D. Farinotti, D. Duethmann, A. Merkushkin, and B. Merz
The Cryosphere, 9, 451–463, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-451-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-451-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Spatially distributed snow-cover data are available only for the recent past from remote sensing. Sometimes we need snow-cover data over a longer period for climate impact analysis for the calibration/validation of hydrological models. In this study we present a methodology to reconstruct snow cover in the past using available long-term in situ data and recently available remote sensing snow-cover data. The results show about 85% accuracy although only a limited number of stations (7) were used.
B. Arheimer and G. Lindström
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 771–784, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-771-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-771-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Is the occurrence of floods changing in frequency or magnitude? We have analyzed 100 years of observed time series from 69 gauging sites and high-resolution modeling of climate change impact across Sweden for 140 years. The results indicate no significant trend in high flows in the past but some shifts in flood-generating processes at present and in the future. Rain-generated floods may have a more marked effect, and some specific rivers may be more affected by climate change than others.
C. A. L. Pires and R. A. P. Perdigão
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 22, 87–108, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-22-87-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-22-87-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Non-Gaussian joint PDFs and Shannon negentropies allow for nonlinear correlations and synergetic interaction information among random variables. Third-order cross-cumulants (triadic correlations -- TCs) under pair-wise (total or partial) independence are maximized on projections and orthogonal rotations of the full PDF. Fourier analysis allows decomposing TCs as wave resonant triads working as non-Gaussian sources of dynamical predictability. An illustration is given in a minimal fluid model.
I. Andrés-Doménech, R. García-Bartual, A. Montanari, and J. B. Marco
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 379–387, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-379-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-379-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Does climate variability necessarily imply hydrological variability? This paper analyses the catchment filtering role by analytically deriving the annual maximum peak flow frequency distribution based on realistic hypotheses about the rainfall process and the rainfall-runoff transformation. Depending on changes in the annual number of rainfall events, the catchment filtering role is particularly significant. Results also largely depend on the return period considered.
K. Schröter, M. Kunz, F. Elmer, B. Mühr, and B. Merz
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 309–327, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-309-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-309-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Extreme antecedent precipitation, increased initial hydraulic load in the river network and strong but not extraordinary event precipitation were key drivers for the flood in June 2013 in Germany. Our results are based on extreme value statistics and aggregated severity indices which we evaluated for a set of 74 historic large-scale floods. This flood database and the methodological framework enable the rapid assessment of future floods using precipitation and discharge observations.
K. Džubáková, P. Molnar, K. Schindler, and M. Trizna
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 195–208, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-195-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-195-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
We use a high-resolution ground-based camera system with near-infrared sensitivity to quantify the response of riparian vegetation in an Alpine river to floods with the use of vegetation indices. The vegetation showed both damage and enhancement within 1 week following floods, with a selective impact determined by pre-flood vegetation vigour, morphological setting and intensity of flood forcing. The tested vegetation indices differed in the direction of predicted change in the range 0.7-35.8%.
Z. H. He, J. Parajka, F. Q. Tian, and G. Blöschl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 4773–4789, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-4773-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-4773-2014, 2014
Short summary
Short summary
In this paper, we propose a new method for estimating the snowmelt degree-day factor (DDFS) directly from MODIS snow covered area (SCA) and ground-based snow depth data without calibration. Snow density is estimated as the ratio between observed precipitation and changes in the snow volume for days with snow accumulation. DDFS values are estimated as the ratio between changes in the snow water equivalent and difference between the daily temperature and a threshold value for days with snowmelt.
J. L. Salinas, A. Castellarin, A. Viglione, S. Kohnová, and T. R. Kjeldsen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 4381–4389, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-4381-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-4381-2014, 2014
N. Macdonald, T. R. Kjeldsen, I. Prosdocimi, and H. Sangster
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 14, 2817–2828, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-14-2817-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-14-2817-2014, 2014
A. Pugliese, A. Castellarin, and A. Brath
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 3801–3816, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-3801-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-3801-2014, 2014
I. Braud, P.-A. Ayral, C. Bouvier, F. Branger, G. Delrieu, J. Le Coz, G. Nord, J.-P. Vandervaere, S. Anquetin, M. Adamovic, J. Andrieu, C. Batiot, B. Boudevillain, P. Brunet, J. Carreau, A. Confoland, J.-F. Didon-Lescot, J.-M. Domergue, J. Douvinet, G. Dramais, R. Freydier, S. Gérard, J. Huza, E. Leblois, O. Le Bourgeois, R. Le Boursicaud, P. Marchand, P. Martin, L. Nottale, N. Patris, B. Renard, J.-L. Seidel, J.-D. Taupin, O. Vannier, B. Vincendon, and A. Wijbrans
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 3733–3761, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-3733-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-3733-2014, 2014
N. V. Manh, N. V. Dung, N. N. Hung, B. Merz, and H. Apel
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 3033–3053, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-3033-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-3033-2014, 2014
U. Mallast, R. Gloaguen, J. Friesen, T. Rödiger, S. Geyer, R. Merz, and C. Siebert
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 2773–2787, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2773-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2773-2014, 2014
J. Hall, B. Arheimer, M. Borga, R. Brázdil, P. Claps, A. Kiss, T. R. Kjeldsen, J. Kriaučiūnienė, Z. W. Kundzewicz, M. Lang, M. C. Llasat, N. Macdonald, N. McIntyre, L. Mediero, B. Merz, R. Merz, P. Molnar, A. Montanari, C. Neuhold, J. Parajka, R. A. P. Perdigão, L. Plavcová, M. Rogger, J. L. Salinas, E. Sauquet, C. Schär, J. Szolgay, A. Viglione, and G. Blöschl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 2735–2772, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2735-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2735-2014, 2014
B. Merz, J. Aerts, K. Arnbjerg-Nielsen, M. Baldi, A. Becker, A. Bichet, G. Blöschl, L. M. Bouwer, A. Brauer, F. Cioffi, J. M. Delgado, M. Gocht, F. Guzzetti, S. Harrigan, K. Hirschboeck, C. Kilsby, W. Kron, H.-H. Kwon, U. Lall, R. Merz, K. Nissen, P. Salvatti, T. Swierczynski, U. Ulbrich, A. Viglione, P. J. Ward, M. Weiler, B. Wilhelm, and M. Nied
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 14, 1921–1942, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-14-1921-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-14-1921-2014, 2014
M. Exner-Kittridge, J. L. Salinas, and M. Zessner
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 2715–2734, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2715-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2715-2014, 2014
A. Candela, G. Brigandì, and G. T. Aronica
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 14, 1819–1833, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-14-1819-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-14-1819-2014, 2014
G. B. Chirico, H. Medina, and N. Romano
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 2503–2520, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2503-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2503-2014, 2014
H. Medina, N. Romano, and G. B. Chirico
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 2521–2541, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2521-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2521-2014, 2014
H. Medina, N. Romano, and G. B. Chirico
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 2543–2557, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2543-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2543-2014, 2014
G. Blöschl, A. Bárdossy, D. Koutsoyiannis, Z. W. Kundzewicz, I. Littlewood, A. Montanari, and H. Savenije
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 2433–2435, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2433-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2433-2014, 2014
J. M. Delgado, B. Merz, and H. Apel
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 14, 1579–1589, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-14-1579-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-14-1579-2014, 2014
D. Penna, M. Borga, G. T. Aronica, G. Brigandì, and P. Tarolli
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 2127–2139, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2127-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2127-2014, 2014
H. M. Holländer, H. Bormann, T. Blume, W. Buytaert, G. B. Chirico, J.-F. Exbrayat, D. Gustafsson, H. Hölzel, T. Krauße, P. Kraft, S. Stoll, G. Blöschl, and H. Flühler
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 2065–2085, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2065-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2065-2014, 2014
S. Harrigan, C. Murphy, J. Hall, R. L. Wilby, and J. Sweeney
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 1935–1952, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-1935-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-1935-2014, 2014
I. Prosdocimi, T. R. Kjeldsen, and C. Svensson
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 14, 1125–1144, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-14-1125-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-14-1125-2014, 2014
L. Gaál, P. Molnar, and J. Szolgay
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 1561–1573, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-1561-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-1561-2014, 2014
D. Molinari, S. Menoni, G. T. Aronica, F. Ballio, N. Berni, C. Pandolfo, M. Stelluti, and G. Minucci
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 14, 901–916, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-14-901-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-14-901-2014, 2014
A. Eder, M. Exner-Kittridge, P. Strauss, and G. Blöschl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 1043–1052, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-1043-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-1043-2014, 2014
S. Surer, J. Parajka, and Z. Akyurek
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 763–774, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-763-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-763-2014, 2014
K. Kochanek, B. Renard, P. Arnaud, Y. Aubert, M. Lang, T. Cipriani, and E. Sauquet
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 14, 295–308, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-14-295-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-14-295-2014, 2014
U. Ehret, H. V. Gupta, M. Sivapalan, S. V. Weijs, S. J. Schymanski, G. Blöschl, A. N. Gelfan, C. Harman, A. Kleidon, T. A. Bogaard, D. Wang, T. Wagener, U. Scherer, E. Zehe, M. F. P. Bierkens, G. Di Baldassarre, J. Parajka, L. P. H. van Beek, A. van Griensven, M. C. Westhoff, and H. C. Winsemius
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 649–671, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-649-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-649-2014, 2014
H. V. Gupta, C. Perrin, G. Blöschl, A. Montanari, R. Kumar, M. Clark, and V. Andréassian
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 463–477, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-463-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-463-2014, 2014
S. Uhlemann, A. H. Thieken, and B. Merz
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 14, 189–208, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-14-189-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-14-189-2014, 2014
A. Kiczko, R. J. Romanowicz, M. Osuch, and E. Karamuz
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 13, 3443–3455, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-13-3443-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-13-3443-2013, 2013
G. Blöschl, T. Nester, J. Komma, J. Parajka, and R. A. P. Perdigão
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 5197–5212, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-5197-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-5197-2013, 2013
S. E. Thompson, M. Sivapalan, C. J. Harman, V. Srinivasan, M. R. Hipsey, P. Reed, A. Montanari, and G. Blöschl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 5013–5039, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-5013-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-5013-2013, 2013
S. Radanovics, J.-P. Vidal, E. Sauquet, A. Ben Daoud, and G. Bontron
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 4189–4208, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-4189-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-4189-2013, 2013
S. Vorogushyn and B. Merz
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 3871–3884, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3871-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3871-2013, 2013
G. Di Baldassarre, A. Viglione, G. Carr, L. Kuil, J. L. Salinas, and G. Blöschl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 3295–3303, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3295-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3295-2013, 2013
T. Roje-Bonacci and O. Bonacci
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 13, 2041–2052, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-13-2041-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-13-2041-2013, 2013
A. Domeneghetti, S. Vorogushyn, A. Castellarin, B. Merz, and A. Brath
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 3127–3140, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3127-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3127-2013, 2013
N. V. Manh, B. Merz, and H. Apel
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 3039–3057, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3039-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3039-2013, 2013
A. I. Requena, L. Mediero, and L. Garrote
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 3023–3038, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3023-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3023-2013, 2013
J. Hannaford, G. Buys, K. Stahl, and L. M. Tallaksen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 2717–2733, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-2717-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-2717-2013, 2013
T. H. Snelder, T. Datry, N. Lamouroux, S. T. Larned, E. Sauquet, H. Pella, and C. Catalogne
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 2685–2699, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-2685-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-2685-2013, 2013
J. L. Salinas, G. Laaha, M. Rogger, J. Parajka, A. Viglione, M. Sivapalan, and G. Blöschl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 2637–2652, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-2637-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-2637-2013, 2013
D. Duethmann, J. Zimmer, A. Gafurov, A. Güntner, D. Kriegel, B. Merz, and S. Vorogushyn
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 2415–2434, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-2415-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-2415-2013, 2013
A. Viglione, J. Parajka, M. Rogger, J. L. Salinas, G. Laaha, M. Sivapalan, and G. Blöschl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 2263–2279, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-2263-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-2263-2013, 2013
J. Parajka, A. Viglione, M. Rogger, J. L. Salinas, M. Sivapalan, and G. Blöschl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 1783–1795, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-1783-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-1783-2013, 2013
S. A. Archfield, A. Pugliese, A. Castellarin, J. O. Skøien, and J. E. Kiang
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 1575–1588, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-1575-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-1575-2013, 2013
M. Nied, Y. Hundecha, and B. Merz
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 1401–1414, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-1401-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-1401-2013, 2013
S. Fatichi, S. Rimkus, P. Burlando, R. Bordoy, and P. Molnar
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hessd-10-3743-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hessd-10-3743-2013, 2013
Revised manuscript not accepted
S. Uhlemann, R. Bertelmann, and B. Merz
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 895–911, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-895-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-895-2013, 2013
N. V. Dung, B. Merz, A. Bárdossy, and H. Apel
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/nhessd-1-275-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhessd-1-275-2013, 2013
Revised manuscript not accepted
B. Merz, H. Kreibich, and U. Lall
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 13, 53–64, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-13-53-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-13-53-2013, 2013
E. Baratti, A. Montanari, A. Castellarin, J. L. Salinas, A. Viglione, and A. Bezzi
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 16, 4651–4660, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-16-4651-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-16-4651-2012, 2012
Cited articles
Hall, J., Arheimer, B., Borga, M., Brázdil, R., Claps, P., Kiss, A., Kjeldsen, T. R., Kriaučiūnien\.e, J., Kundzewicz, Z. W., Lang, M., Llasat, M. C., Macdonald, N., McIntyre, N., Mediero, L., Merz, B., Merz, R., Molnar, P., Montanari, A., Neuhold, C., Parajka, J., Perdigão, R. A. P., Plavcová, L., Rogger, M., Salinas, J. L., Sauquet, E., Schär, C., Szolgay, J., Viglione, A., and Blöschl, G.: Understanding flood regime changes in Europe: a state-of-the-art assessment, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 2735–2772, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2735-2014, 2014.
