Abstract
A warming climate is expected to have an impact on the magnitude and timing of river floods; however, no consistent large-scale climate change signal in observed flood magnitudes has been identified so far. We analyzed the timing of river floods in Europe over the past five decades, using a pan-European database from 4262 observational hydrometric stations, and found clear patterns of change in flood timing. Warmer temperatures have led to earlier spring snowmelt floods throughout northeastern Europe; delayed winter storms associated with polar warming have led to later winter floods around the North Sea and some sectors of the Mediterranean coast; and earlier soil moisture maxima have led to earlier winter floods in western Europe. Our results highlight the existence of a clear climate signal in flood observations at the continental scale.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 588-590 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | Science |
Volume | 357 |
Issue number | 6351 |
Early online date | 11 Aug 2017 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 11 Aug 2017 |
Keywords
- Flooding
- Hydrology
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Thomas Kjeldsen
- Department of Architecture & Civil Engineering - Senior Lecturer
- Centre for Infrastructure, Geotechnical and Water Engineering Research (IGWE)
- Water Innovation and Research Centre (WIRC)
- Research Unit for Water, Environment and Infrastructure Resilience (WEIR)
- EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Statistical Applied Mathematics (SAMBa)
- Institute for Mathematical Innovation (IMI)
Person: Research & Teaching