Articles | Volume 22, issue 9
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 2891–2920, 2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2891-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Special issue: Hydro-meteorological extremes and hazards: vulnerability,...
Research article
| Highlight paper
02 Sep 2022
Research article
| Highlight paper
| 02 Sep 2022
Comprehensive space–time hydrometeorological simulations for estimating very rare floods at multiple sites in a large river basin
Daniel Viviroli et al.
Related authors
No articles found.
Maxime Morel, Guillaume Piton, Damien Kuss, Guillaume Evin, and Caroline Le Bouteiller
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-1494, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-1494, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In mountain catchments, damage during floods are generally primarily driven by the supply of massive amount of sediment. Predicting how much sediment can be delivered by frequent and infrequent events is thus important in hazard studies. This paper use data gathered during the maintenance operation of about one hundred debris retention basins to build simple equations aiming at predicting sediment supply from simple parameters describing the upstream catchment.
Sarah Shannon, Anthony Payne, Jim Freer, Gemma Coxon, Martina Kauzlaric, David Kriegel, and Stephan Harrison
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 453–480, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-453-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-453-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Climate change poses a potential threat to water supply in glaciated river catchments. In this study, we added a snowmelt and glacier melt model to the Dynamic fluxEs and ConnectIvity for Predictions of HydRology model (DECIPHeR). The model is applied to the Naryn River catchment in central Asia and is found to reproduce past change discharge and the spatial extent of seasonal snow cover well.
Juliette Blanchet, Alix Reverdy, Antoine Blanc, Jean-Dominique Creutin, Périne Kiennemann, and Guillaume Evin
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2022-276, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2022-276, 2023
Preprint under review for NHESS
Short summary
Short summary
We study the atmospheric conditions at the origin of damaging torrential events in the Northern French Alps over the long run. We consider seven atmospheric variables that describe the nature of the air masses involved and the possible triggers of precipitation and we try to isolate the most discriminating variables. The results show that humidity and particularly humidity transport plays the greatest role under westerly flows while instability potential is mostly at play under southerly flows.
Rosanna A. Lane, Gemma Coxon, Jim Freer, Jan Seibert, and Thorsten Wagener
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 5535–5554, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5535-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5535-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This study modelled the impact of climate change on river high flows across Great Britain (GB). Generally, results indicated an increase in the magnitude and frequency of high flows along the west coast of GB by 2050–2075. In contrast, average flows decreased across GB. All flow projections contained large uncertainties; the climate projections were the largest source of uncertainty overall but hydrological modelling uncertainties were considerable in some regions.
Nicole Clerx, Horst Machguth, Andrew Tedstone, Nicolas Jullien, Nander Wever, Rolf Weingartner, and Ole Roessler
The Cryosphere, 16, 4379–4401, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4379-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4379-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Meltwater runoff is one of the main contributors to mass loss on the Greenland Ice Sheet that influences global sea level rise. However, it remains unclear where meltwater runs off and what processes cause this. We measured the velocity of meltwater flow through snow on the ice sheet, which ranged from 0.17–12.8 m h−1 for vertical percolation and from 1.3–15.1 m h−1 for lateral flow. This is an important step towards understanding where, when and why meltwater runoff occurs on the ice sheet.
Jana Erdbrügger, Ilja van Meerveld, Jan Seibert, and Kevin Bishop
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2022-114, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2022-114, 2022
Preprint under review for ESSD
Short summary
Short summary
Groundwater can respond quickly to precipitation and is the main source of streamflow in most catchments in humid, temperate climates. To better understand shallow groundwater dynamics, we installed a network of groundwater wells in two boreal headwater catchments in Sweden. We recorded groundwater levels in 75 wells for two years and sampled the water and analyzed its chemical composition in one summer. This paper describes these datasets.
Cécile Duvillier, Nicolas Eckert, Guillaume Evin, and Michael Deschâtres
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2022-177, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2022-177, 2022
Preprint under review for NHESS
Short summary
Short summary
Identification of snow avalanche Potential Release Areas (PRAs) is useful for objective hazard assessment. This study develops a method that efficiently identifies individual PRAs based on terrain analysis and watershed delineation, and demonstrates its efficiency in the French Alps context using an extensive cadastre of past avalanche limits. Crucial steps to reach high accuracy in PRA detection are highlighted and outlooks for further progresses are discussed.
Erwan Le Roux, Guillaume Evin, Nicolas Eckert, Juliette Blanchet, and Samuel Morin
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 1059–1075, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-1059-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-1059-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Anticipating risks related to climate extremes is critical for societal adaptation to climate change. In this study, we propose a statistical method in order to estimate future climate extremes from past observations and an ensemble of climate change simulations. We apply this approach to snow load data available in the French Alps at 1500 m elevation and find that extreme snow load is projected to decrease by −2.9 kN m−2 (−50 %) between 1986–2005 and 2080–2099 for a high-emission scenario.
Isabelle Ousset, Guillaume Evin, Damien Raynaud, and Thierry Faug
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2022-93, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2022-93, 2022
Preprint under review for NHESS
Short summary
Short summary
This paper deals with an exceptional rain-on-snow event in a Mediterranean area (France) in 2018 that led to a research center building collapse. A back analysis is done using multiple sources of information to quantify the meteorological event and conducting simulations of the building. Thanks to the two latter approaches, the collapse is attributed to both the event intensity and an inadequate roof drainage. This raises questions about extreme snow loads mitigation in Mediterranean areas.
Jan Seibert and Sten Bergström
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 1371–1388, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1371-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1371-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Hydrological catchment models are commonly used as the basis for water resource management planning. The HBV model, which is a typical example of such a model, was first applied about 50 years ago in Sweden. We describe and reflect on the model development and applications. The aim is to provide an understanding of the background of model development and a basis for addressing the balance between model complexity and data availability that will continue to face hydrologists in the future.
Guillaume Evin, Samuel Somot, and Benoit Hingray
Earth Syst. Dynam., 12, 1543–1569, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-12-1543-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-12-1543-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This research paper proposes an assessment of mean climate change responses and related uncertainties over Europe for mean seasonal temperature and total seasonal precipitation. An advanced statistical approach is applied to a large ensemble of 87 high-resolution EURO-CORDEX projections. For the first time, we provide a comprehensive estimation of the relative contribution of GCMs and RCMs, RCP scenarios, and internal variability to the total variance of a very large ensemble.
Philipp Wanner, Noemi Buri, Kevin Wyss, Andreas Zischg, Rolf Weingartner, Jan Baumgartner, Benjamin Berger, and Christoph Wanner
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2021-512, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2021-512, 2021
Preprint withdrawn
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we quantified the glacial meltwater contribution to mountainous streams using high-resolution stable water isotope analysis. The glacial meltwater made up almost 28 % of the annual mountainous stream discharges. This high contribution demonstrates that the mountainous streamflow regimes will change in the future when the glacial meltwater contribution will disappear due to global warming posing a major challenge for hydropower energy production in mountainous regions.
Guillaume Evin, Matthieu Lafaysse, Maxime Taillardat, and Michaël Zamo
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 28, 467–480, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-28-467-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-28-467-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Forecasting the height of new snow is essential for avalanche hazard surveys, road and ski resort management, tourism attractiveness, etc. Météo-France operates a probabilistic forecasting system using a numerical weather prediction system and a snowpack model. It provides better forecasts than direct diagnostics but exhibits significant biases. Post-processing methods can be applied to provide automatic forecasting products from this system.
Erwan Le Roux, Guillaume Evin, Nicolas Eckert, Juliette Blanchet, and Samuel Morin
The Cryosphere, 15, 4335–4356, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4335-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4335-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Extreme snowfall can cause major natural hazards (avalanches, winter storms) that can generate casualties and economic damage. In the French Alps, we show that between 1959 and 2019 extreme snowfall mainly decreased below 2000 m of elevation and increased above 2000 m. At 2500 m, we find a contrasting pattern: extreme snowfall decreased in the north, while it increased in the south. This pattern might be related to increasing trends in extreme snowfall observed near the Mediterranean Sea.
Silja Stefnisdóttir, Anna E. Sikorska-Senoner, Eyjólfur I. Ásgeirsson, and David C. Finger
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2021-325, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2021-325, 2021
Manuscript not accepted for further review
Short summary
Short summary
We combine multiple dataset calibration with metaheuristic calibration techniques, namely Mone Carlo (MC), Simulated Annealing (SA) and Genetic Algorithms (GA), to improve hydrological models. Our results demonstrate that GA improves the overall performance of hydrological models. This leads to precise scenario simulations and, accordingly, is a major achievement in hydrology.
Regula Muelchi, Ole Rössler, Jan Schwanbeck, Rolf Weingartner, and Olivia Martius
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 3577–3594, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-3577-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-3577-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This study analyses changes in magnitude, frequency, and seasonality of moderate low and high flows for 93 catchments in Switzerland. In lower-lying catchments (below 1500 m a.s.l.), moderate low-flow magnitude (frequency) will decrease (increase). In Alpine catchments (above 1500 m a.s.l.), moderate low-flow magnitude (frequency) will increase (decrease). Moderate high flows tend to occur more frequent, and their magnitude increases in most catchments except some Alpine catchments.
Marit Van Tiel, Anne F. Van Loon, Jan Seibert, and Kerstin Stahl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 3245–3265, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-3245-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-3245-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Glaciers can buffer streamflow during dry and warm periods, but under which circumstances can melt compensate precipitation deficits? Streamflow responses to warm and dry events were analyzed using
long-term observations of 50 glacierized catchments in Norway, Canada, and the European Alps. Region, timing of the event, relative glacier cover, and antecedent event conditions all affect the level of compensation during these events. This implies that glaciers do not compensate straightforwardly.
Regula Muelchi, Ole Rössler, Jan Schwanbeck, Rolf Weingartner, and Olivia Martius
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 3071–3086, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-3071-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-3071-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Runoff regimes in Switzerland will change significantly under climate change. Projected changes are strongly elevation dependent with earlier time of emergence and stronger changes in high-elevation catchments where snowmelt and glacier melt play an important role. The magnitude of change and the climate model agreement on the sign increase with increasing global mean temperatures and stronger emission scenarios. This amplification highlights the importance of climate change mitigation.
Camila Alvarez-Garreton, Juan Pablo Boisier, René Garreaud, Jan Seibert, and Marc Vis
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 429–446, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-429-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-429-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The megadrought experienced in Chile (2010–2020) has led to larger than expected water deficits. By analysing 106 basins with snow-/rainfall regimes, we relate such intensification with the hydrological memory of the basins, explained by snow and groundwater. Snow-dominated basins have larger memory and thus accumulate the effect of persistent precipitation deficits more strongly than pluvial basins. This notably affects central Chile, a water-limited region where most of the population lives.
Anna E. Sikorska-Senoner, Bettina Schaefli, and Jan Seibert
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 3521–3549, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-3521-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-3521-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
This work proposes methods for reducing the computational requirements of hydrological simulations for the estimation of very rare floods that occur on average less than once in 1000 years. These methods enable the analysis of long streamflow time series (here for example 10 000 years) at low computational costs and with modelling uncertainty. They are to be used within continuous simulation frameworks with long input time series and are readily transferable to similar simulation tasks.
Maria Staudinger, Stefan Seeger, Barbara Herbstritt, Michael Stoelzle, Jan Seibert, Kerstin Stahl, and Markus Weiler
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 3057–3066, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-3057-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-3057-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The data set CH-IRP provides isotope composition in precipitation and streamflow from 23 Swiss catchments, being unique regarding its long-term multi-catchment coverage along an alpine–pre-alpine gradient. CH-IRP contains fortnightly time series of stable water isotopes from streamflow grab samples complemented by time series in precipitation. Sampling conditions, catchment and climate information, lab standards and errors are provided together with areal precipitation and catchment boundaries.
Erwan Le Roux, Guillaume Evin, Nicolas Eckert, Juliette Blanchet, and Samuel Morin
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 2961–2977, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-2961-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-2961-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
To minimize the risk of structure collapse due to extreme snow loads, structure standards rely on 50-year return levels of ground snow load (GSL), i.e. levels exceeded once every 50 years on average, that do not account for climate change. We study GSL data in the French Alps massifs from 1959 and 2019 and find that these 50-year return levels are decreasing with time between 900 and 4800 m of altitude, but they still exceed return levels of structure standards for half of the massifs at 1800 m.
Michael Stoelzle, Maria Staudinger, Kerstin Stahl, and Markus Weiler
Proc. IAHS, 383, 43–50, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-383-43-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-383-43-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The role of recharge and catchment storage is crucial to understand streamflow drought sensitivity. Here we introduce a model experiment with recharge stress tests as complement to climate scenarios to quantify the streamflow drought sensitivities of catchments in Switzerland. We identified a pre-drought period of 12 months as maximum storage-memory for the study catchments. From stress testing, we found up to 200 days longer summer streamflow droughts and minimum flow reductions of 50 %–80 %.
Marc Girons Lopez, Marc J. P. Vis, Michal Jenicek, Nena Griessinger, and Jan Seibert
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 4441–4461, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-4441-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-4441-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Snow processes are crucial for runoff in mountainous areas, but their complexity makes water management difficult. Temperature models are widely used as they are simple and do not require much data, but not much thought is usually given to which model to use, which may lead to bad predictions. We studied the impact of many model alternatives and found that a more complex model does not necessarily perform better. Finding which processes are most important in each area is a much better strategy.
Damien Raynaud, Benoit Hingray, Guillaume Evin, Anne-Catherine Favre, and Jérémy Chardon
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 4339–4352, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-4339-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-4339-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
This research paper proposes a weather generator combining two sampling approaches. A first generator recombines large-scale atmospheric situations. A second generator is applied to these atmospheric trajectories in order to simulate long time series of daily regional precipitation and temperature. The method is applied to daily time series in Switzerland. It reproduces adequately the observed climatology and improves the reproduction of extreme precipitation values.
Kirsti Hakala, Nans Addor, Thibault Gobbe, Johann Ruffieux, and Jan Seibert
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 3815–3833, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-3815-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-3815-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Under a changing climate, reliable information on future hydrological conditions is necessary to inform water resource management. Here, we collaborated with a hydropower company that selected streamflow and energy demand indices. Using these indices, we identified stakeholder needs and used this to tailor the production of our climate change impact projections. We show that opportunities and risks for a hydropower company depend on a range of factors beyond those covered by traditional studies.
Leonie Kiewiet, Ilja van Meerveld, Manfred Stähli, and Jan Seibert
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 3381–3398, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-3381-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-3381-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The sources of stream water are important, for instance, for predicting floods. The connectivity between streams and different (ground-)water sources can change during rain events, which affects the stream water composition. We investigated this for stream water sampled during four events and found that stream water came from different sources. The stream water composition changed gradually, and we showed that changes in solute concentrations could be partly linked to changes in connectivity.
Barbara Strobl, Simon Etter, H. J. Ilja van Meerveld, and Jan Seibert
Geosci. Commun., 3, 109–126, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-3-109-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-3-109-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Training can deter people from joining a citizen science project but may be needed to ensure good data quality. In this study, we found that an online game that was originally developed for data quality control in a citizen science project can be used for training as well. These findings are useful for the development of training strategies for other citizen science projects because they indicate that gamified approaches might be valuable scalable training methods.
H. J. Ilja van Meerveld, James W. Kirchner, Marc J. P. Vis, Rick S. Assendelft, and Jan Seibert
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 4825–4834, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-4825-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-4825-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Flowing stream networks extend and retract seasonally and in response to precipitation. This affects the distances and thus the time that it takes a water molecule to reach the flowing stream and the stream outlet. When the network is fully extended, the travel times are short, but when the network retracts, the travel times become longer and more uniform. These dynamics should be included when modeling solute or pollutant transport.
Jari-Pekka Nousu, Matthieu Lafaysse, Matthieu Vernay, Joseph Bellier, Guillaume Evin, and Bruno Joly
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 26, 339–357, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-26-339-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-26-339-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Forecasting the height of new snow is crucial for avalanche hazard, road viability, ski resorts and tourism. The numerical models suffer from systematic and significant errors which are misleading for the final users. Here, we applied for the first time a state-of-the-art statistical method to correct ensemble numerical forecasts of the height of new snow from their statistical link with measurements in French Alps and Pyrenees. Thus the realism of automatic forecasts can be quickly improved.
Judith Meyer, Irene Kohn, Kerstin Stahl, Kirsti Hakala, Jan Seibert, and Alex J. Cannon
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 1339–1354, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-1339-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-1339-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Several multivariate bias correction methods have been developed recently, but only a few studies have tested the effect of multivariate bias correction on hydrological impact projections. This study shows that incorporating or ignoring inter-variable relations between air temperature and precipitation can have a notable effect on the projected snowfall fraction. The effect translated to considerable consequences for the glacio-hydrological responses and streamflow components of the catchments.
Manuela I. Brunner, Reinhard Furrer, and Anne-Catherine Favre
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 107–124, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-107-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-107-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Floods often affect a whole region and not only a single location. When estimating the rarity of regional events, the dependence of floods at different locations should be taken into account. We propose a simple model that considers the dependence of flood events at different locations and the network structure of the river system. We test this model on a medium-sized catchment in Switzerland. The model allows for the simulations of flood event sets at multiple gauged and ungauged locations.
Simon Etter, Barbara Strobl, Jan Seibert, and H. J. Ilja van Meerveld
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 5243–5257, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-5243-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-5243-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
To evaluate the potential value of streamflow estimates for hydrological model calibration, we created synthetic streamflow datasets in various temporal resolutions based on the errors in streamflow estimates of 136 citizens. Our results show that streamflow estimates of untrained citizens are too inaccurate to be useful for model calibration. If, however, the errors can be reduced by training or filtering, the estimates become useful if also a sufficient number of estimates are available.
Guillaume Evin, Thomas Curt, and Nicolas Eckert
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 2641–2651, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-2641-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-2641-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Very large wildfires have high human, economic, and ecological impacts. Preventing such events is a major objective of the new fire policy set up in France in 1994, which is oriented towards fast and massive fire suppression. This study investigates the effect of this policy on the largest fires. We estimate the burned area corresponding to fires that occur every 5, 20, and 50 years on average (so-called return periods) in southern France.
Andreas Paul Zischg, Guido Felder, Rolf Weingartner, Niall Quinn, Gemma Coxon, Jeffrey Neal, Jim Freer, and Paul Bates
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 2759–2773, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-2759-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-2759-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We developed a model experiment and distributed different rainfall patterns over a mountain river basin. For each rainfall scenario, we computed the flood losses with a model chain. The experiment shows that flood losses vary considerably within the river basin and depend on the timing of the flood peaks from the basin's sub-catchments. Basin-specific characteristics such as the location of the main settlements within the floodplains play an additional important role in determining flood losses.
Daphné Freudiger, David Mennekes, Jan Seibert, and Markus Weiler
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 805–814, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-805-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-805-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
To understand glacier changes in the Swiss Alps at the large scale, long-term datasets are needed. To fill the gap between the existing glacier inventories of the Swiss Alps between 1850 and 1973, we digitized glacier outlines from topographic historical maps of Switzerland for the time periods ca. 1900 and ca. 1935. We found that > 88 % of the digitized glacier area was plausible compared to four inventories. The presented dataset is therefore valuable information for long-term glacier studies.
Jan Seibert, Marc J. P. Vis, Irene Kohn, Markus Weiler, and Kerstin Stahl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 2211–2224, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-2211-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-2211-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
In many glacio-hydrological models glacier areas are assumed to be constant over time, which is a crucial limitation. Here we describe a novel approach to translate mass balances as simulated by the (glacio)hydrological model into glacier area changes. We combined the Δh approach of Huss et al. (2010) with the bucket-type model HBV and introduced a lookup table approach, which also allows periods with advancing glaciers to be represented, which is not possible with the original Huss method.
Simon Schick, Ole Rössler, and Rolf Weingartner
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 929–942, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-929-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-929-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Forecasting at the seasonal timescale aims to answer questions such as the following: how much water do we have next summer? Is next winter going to be extremely cold? Constrained by computer power, earth system models (ESMs) do not resolve all environmental variables of interest. Our study tests a method to refine the output of such an ESM for streamflow forecasting in the Rhine basin. The results show that the method is able to translate skill at different spatial scales.
Guillaume Evin, Anne-Catherine Favre, and Benoit Hingray
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 655–672, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-655-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-655-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This research paper proposes a multi-site daily precipitation model, named GWEX, which aims to reproduce the statistical features of extremely rare events at different temporal and spatial scales. Recent advances and various statistical methods (regionalization, disaggregation) are considered in order to obtain a robust and appropriate representation of the most extreme precipitation fields. Performances are shown with an application to 105 stations, covering a large region in Switzerland.
Jérémy Chardon, Benoit Hingray, and Anne-Catherine Favre
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 265–286, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-265-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-265-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We present a two-stage statistical downscaling model for the probabilistic prediction of local precipitation, where the downscaling statistical link is estimated from atmospheric circulation analogs of the current prediction day.
The model allows for a day-to-day adaptive and tailored downscaling. It can reveal specific predictors for peculiar and non-frequent weather configurations. This approach noticeably improves the skill of the prediction for both precipitation occurrence and quantity.
Sandra Pool, Marc J. P. Vis, Rodney R. Knight, and Jan Seibert
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 5443–5457, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-5443-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-5443-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This modeling study explores the effect of different model calibration criteria on the accuracy of simulated streamflow characteristics (SFCs). The results imply that one has to consider significant uncertainties when simulated time series are used to derive SFCs that were not included in the calibration. Thus, we strongly recommend calibrating the runoff model explicitly for the SFCs of interest. Our study helps improve the estimation of SFCs for ungauged catchments based on runoff models.
Daniel B. Bernet, Volker Prasuhn, and Rolf Weingartner
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 1659–1682, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-17-1659-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-17-1659-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
To quantify the relevance of surface water floods in Switzerland, we introduce and analyze an exhaustive set of insurance flood damage claims. First, we present a method to classify such claims and then we analyze the classified data with respect to space and time. The results reveal that just as fluvial floods are responsible for vast damage in Switzerland, so too are surface water floods. Accordingly, surface water floods should receive similar attention like fluvial floods.
H. J. Ilja van Meerveld, Marc J. P. Vis, and Jan Seibert
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 4895–4905, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4895-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4895-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We tested the usefulness of stream level class data for hydrological model calibration. Only two stream level classes, e.g. above or below a rock in the stream, were already informative, particularly when the boundary was chosen at a high stream level. There was hardly any improvement in model performance when using more than five stream level classes. These results suggest that model based streamflow time series can be obtained from citizen science based water level class data.
Simon Schick, Ole Rössler, and Rolf Weingartner
Proc. IAHS, 374, 159–163, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-374-159-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/piahs-374-159-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
In water resources management, planning at the seasonal time scale is confronted with large uncertainties. Key variables are often unknown or hard to forecast, e.g. precipitation of the next three months. In the present study, we try to highlight some aspects concerning the development of a model faced with these uncertainties. Using the example of statistical streamflow forecasts, the results of the study indicate that the forecast accuracy is improved by the combination of several models.
Tracy Ewen and Jan Seibert
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 4079–4091, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-4079-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-4079-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Games are an optimal way to teach about water resource sharing, as they allow real-world scenarios to be explored. We look at how games can be used to teach about water resource sharing, by both playing and developing water games. An evaluation of the web-based game Irrigania found Irrigania to be an effective and easy tool to incorporate into curriculum, and a course on developing water games encouraged students to think about water resource sharing in a more critical and insightful way.
Nena Griessinger, Jan Seibert, Jan Magnusson, and Tobias Jonas
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 3895–3905, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-3895-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-3895-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
In Alpine catchments, snowmelt is a major contribution to runoff. In this study, we address the question of whether the performance of a hydrological model can be enhanced by integrating data from an external snow monitoring system. To this end, a hydrological model was driven with snowmelt input from snow models of different complexities. Best performance was obtained with a snow model, which utilized data assimilation, in particular for catchments at higher elevations and for snow-rich years.
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.
Michal Jenicek, Jan Seibert, Massimiliano Zappa, Maria Staudinger, and Tobias Jonas
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 859–874, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-859-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-859-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
We quantified how long snowmelt affects runoff, and we estimated the sensitivity of catchments to changes in snowpack. This is relevant as the increase of air temperature might cause decreased snow storage. We used time series from 14 catchments in Switzerland. On average, a decrease of maximum snow storage by 10 % caused a decrease of minimum discharge in July by 2 to 9 %. The results showed a higher sensitivity of summer low flow to snow in alpine catchments compared to pre-alpine catchments.
P. Froidevaux, J. Schwanbeck, R. Weingartner, C. Chevalier, and O. Martius
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 3903–3924, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-3903-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-3903-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate precipitation characteristics prior to 4000 annual floods in Switzerland since 1961. The floods were preceded by heavy precipitation, but in most catchments extreme precipitation occurred only during the last 3 days prior to the flood events. Precipitation sums for earlier time periods (like e.g. 4-14 days prior to floods) were mostly average and do not correlate with the return period of the floods.
M. Rinderer, H. C. Komakech, D. Müller, G. L. B. Wiesenberg, and J. Seibert
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 3505–3516, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-3505-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-3505-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
A field method for assessing soil moisture in semi-arid conditions is proposed and tested in terms of inter-rater reliability with 40 Tanzanian farmers, students and experts. The seven wetness classes are based on qualitative indicators that one can see, feel or hear. It could be shown that the qualitative wetness classes reflect differences in volumetric water content and neither experience nor a certain level of education was a prerequisite to gain high agreement among raters.
J. E. Reynolds, S. Halldin, C. Y. Xu, J. Seibert, and A. Kauffeldt
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hessd-12-7437-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hessd-12-7437-2015, 2015
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary
Short summary
In this study it was found that time-scale dependencies of hydrological model parameters are a result of the numerical method used in the model rather than a real time-scale-data dependence. This study further indicates that as soon as sub-daily driving data can be secured, flood forecasting in watersheds with sub-daily concentration times is possible with model parameter values inferred from long time series of daily data, as long as an appropriate numerical method is used.
A. Kuentz, T. Mathevet, J. Gailhard, and B. Hingray
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 2717–2736, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-2717-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-2717-2015, 2015
M. Staudinger, M. Weiler, and J. Seibert
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 1371–1384, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-1371-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-1371-2015, 2015
B. François, B. Hingray, F. Hendrickx, and J. D. Creutin
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 3787–3800, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-3787-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-3787-2014, 2014
I. K. Westerberg, L. Gong, K. J. Beven, J. Seibert, A. Semedo, C.-Y. Xu, and S. Halldin
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 2993–3013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2993-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2993-2014, 2014
O. Rössler, P. Froidevaux, U. Börst, R. Rickli, O. Martius, and R. Weingartner
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 2265–2285, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2265-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-2265-2014, 2014
P. Schneider, S. Pool, L. Strouhal, and J. Seibert
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 875–892, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-875-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-875-2014, 2014
R. Weingartner, B. Schädler, and P. Hänggi
Geogr. Helv., 68, 239–248, https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-68-239-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-68-239-2013, 2013
C. Teutschbein and J. Seibert
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 5061–5077, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-5061-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-5061-2013, 2013
D. Finger, A. Hugentobler, M. Huss, A. Voinesco, H. Wernli, D. Fischer, E. Weber, P.-Y. Jeannin, M. Kauzlaric, A. Wirz, T. Vennemann, F. Hüsler, B. Schädler, and R. Weingartner
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 3261–3277, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3261-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3261-2013, 2013
M. H. Mueller, R. Weingartner, and C. Alewell
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 1661–1679, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-1661-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-1661-2013, 2013
N. Köplin, B. Schädler, D. Viviroli, and R. Weingartner
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 619–635, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-619-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-619-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Hydrological Hazards
Comparison of estimated flood exposure and consequences generated by different event-based inland flood inundation maps
How uncertain are precipitation and peak flow estimates for the July 2021 flooding event?
Estimating the likelihood of roadway pluvial flood based on crowdsourced traffic data and depression-based DEM analysis
A multi-strategy-mode waterlogging-prediction framework for urban flood depth
Multiscale flood risk assessment under climate change: the case of the Miño River in the city of Ourense, Spain
Interactions between precipitation, evapotranspiration and soil-moisture-based indices to characterize drought with high-resolution remote sensing and land-surface model data
Rare flood scenarios for a rapidly growing high-mountain city: Pokhara, Nepal
A climate-conditioned catastrophe risk model for UK flooding
Brief communication: Impact forecasting could substantially improve the emergency management of deadly floods: case study July 2021 floods in Germany
Brief communication: Western Europe flood in 2021 – mapping agriculture flood exposure from synthetic aperture radar (SAR)
Bare-earth DEM Generation from ArcticDEM, and Its Use in Flood Simulation
A new index to quantify the extremeness of precipitation across scales
Effectiveness of Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 for flood detection assessment in Europe
Assessing flood hazard changes using climate model forcing
Characterizing multivariate coastal flooding events in a semi-arid region: the implications of copula choice, sampling, and infrastructure
Different drought types and the spatial variability in their hazard, impact, and propagation characteristics
More than heavy rain turning into fast-flowing water – a landscape perspective on the 2021 Eifel floods
Integrated drought risk assessment to support adaptive policymaking in the Netherlands
INSYDE-BE: adaptation of the INSYDE model to the Walloon region (Belgium)
A multi-disciplinary analysis of the exceptional flood event of July 2021 in central Europe. Part 1: Event description and analysis
Assessing flooding impact to riverine bridges: an integrated analysis
Warming of 0.5 °C may cause double the economic loss and increase the population affected by floods in China
First application of the Integrated Karst Aquifer Vulnerability (IKAV) method – potential and actual vulnerability in Yucatán, Mexico
Brief communication: Seismological analysis of flood dynamics and hydrologically triggered earthquake swarms associated with Storm Alex
System vulnerability to flood events and risk assessment of railway systems based on national and river basin scales in China
Machine-learning blends of geomorphic descriptors: value and limitations for flood hazard assessment across large floodplains
A performance-based approach to quantify atmospheric river flood risk
Estimating soil moisture conditions for drought monitoring with random forests and a simple soil moisture accounting scheme
A globally-applicable framework for compound flood hazard modeling
Extreme-coastal-water-level estimation and projection: a comparison of statistical methods
Spatiotemporal evolution and meteorological triggering conditions of hydrological drought in the Hun River basin, NE China
The Cambodian Mekong floodplain under future development plans and climate change
Geo-historical database of flood impacts in Alpine catchments (HIFAVa database, Arve River, France, 1850–2015)
Compound flood modeling framework for surface–subsurface water interactions
Assessing tropical cyclone compound flood risk using hydrodynamic modelling: a case study in Haikou City, China
An approach to identify the best climate models for the assessment of climate change impacts on meteorological and hydrological droughts
Evolution of multivariate drought hazard, vulnerability and risk in India under climate change
Flash flood warnings in context: combining local knowledge and large-scale hydro-meteorological patterns
A comparative flood damage and risk impact assessment of land use changes
Temporal changes in rainfall intensity–duration thresholds for post-wildfire flash floods in southern California
Compound inland flood events: different pathways, different impacts and different coping options
Review article: Factors leading to the occurrence of flood fatalities: a systematic review of research papers published between 2010 and 2020
Modeling of a compound flood induced by the levee breach at Qianbujing Creek, Shanghai, during Typhoon Fitow
Improving flood damage assessments in data-scarce areas by retrieval of building characteristics through UAV image segmentation and machine learning – a case study of the 2019 floods in southern Malawi
Assessment of direct economic losses of flood disasters based on spatial valuation of land use and quantification of vulnerabilities: a case study on the 2014 flood in Lishui city of China
Evaluating integrated water management strategies to inform hydrological drought mitigation
Global riverine flood risk – how do hydrogeomorphic floodplain maps compare to flood hazard maps?
Global flood exposure from different sized rivers
A paradigm of extreme rainfall pluvial floods in complex urban areas: the flood event of 15 July 2020 in Palermo (Italy)
Space-time clustering of climate extremes amplify global climate impacts, leading to fat-tailed risk
Joseph L. Gutenson, Ahmad A. Tavakoly, Mohammad S. Islam, Oliver E. J. Wing, William P. Lehman, Chase O. Hamilton, Mark D. Wahl, and T. Christopher Massey
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 261–277, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-261-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-261-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Emergency managers use event-based flood inundation maps (FIMs) to plan and coordinate flood emergency response. We perform a case study test of three different FIM frameworks to see if FIM differences lead to substantial differences in the location and magnitude of flood exposure and consequences. We find that the FIMs are very different spatially and that the spatial differences do produce differences in the location and magnitude of exposure and consequences.
Mohamed Saadi, Carina Furusho-Percot, Alexandre Belleflamme, Ju-Yu Chen, Silke Trömel, and Stefan Kollet
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 159–177, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-159-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-159-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
On 14 July 2021, heavy rainfall fell over central Europe, causing considerable damage and human fatalities. We analyzed how accurate our estimates of rainfall and peak flow were for these flooding events in western Germany. We found that the rainfall estimates from radar measurements were improved by including polarimetric variables and their vertical gradients. Peak flow estimates were highly uncertain due to uncertainties in hydrological model parameters and rainfall measurements.
Arefeh Safaei-Moghadam, David Tarboton, and Barbara Minsker
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 1–19, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-1-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-1-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Climate change, urbanization, and aging infrastructure contribute to flooding on roadways. This study evaluates the potential for flood reports collected from Waze – a community-based navigation app – to predict these events. Waze reports correlate primarily with low-lying depressions on roads. Therefore, we developed two data-driven models to determine whether roadways will flood. Analysis showed that in the city of Dallas, drainage area and imperviousness are the most significant contributors.
Zongjia Zhang, Jun Liang, Yujue Zhou, Zhejun Huang, Jie Jiang, Junguo Liu, and Lili Yang
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 4139–4165, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-4139-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-4139-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
An innovative multi-strategy-mode waterlogging-prediction framework for predicting waterlogging depth is proposed in the paper. The framework selects eight regression algorithms for comparison and tests the prediction accuracy and robustness of the model under different prediction strategies. Ultimately, the accuracy of predicting water depth after 30 min can exceed 86.1 %. This can aid decision-making in terms of issuing early warning information and determining emergency responses in advance.
Diego Fernández-Nóvoa, Orlando García-Feal, José González-Cao, Maite deCastro, and Moncho Gómez-Gesteira
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 3957–3972, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-3957-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-3957-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
A multiscale analysis, where the historical and future precipitation data from the CORDEX project were used as input in a hydrological model (HEC-HMS) that, in turn, feeds a 2D hydraulic model (Iber+), was applied to the case of the Miño-Sil basin (NW Spain), specifically to Ourense city, in order to analyze future changes in flood hazard. Detailed flood maps indicate an increase in the frequency and intensity of future floods, implying an increase in flood hazard in important areas of the city.
Jaime Gaona, Pere Quintana-Seguí, María José Escorihuela, Aaron Boone, and María Carmen Llasat
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 3461–3485, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-3461-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-3461-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Droughts represent a particularly complex natural hazard and require explorations of their multiple causes. Part of the complexity has roots in the interaction between the continuous changes in and deviation from normal conditions of the atmosphere and the land surface. The exchange between the atmospheric and surface conditions defines feedback towards dry or wet conditions. In semi-arid environments, energy seems to exceed water in its impact over the evolution of conditions, favoring drought.
Melanie Fischer, Jana Brettin, Sigrid Roessner, Ariane Walz, Monique Fort, and Oliver Korup
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 3105–3123, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-3105-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-3105-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Nepal’s second-largest city has been rapidly growing since the 1970s, although its valley has been affected by rare, catastrophic floods in recent and historic times. We analyse potential impacts of such floods on urban areas and infrastructure by modelling 10 physically plausible flood scenarios along Pokhara’s main river. We find that hydraulic effects would largely affect a number of squatter settlements, which have expanded rapidly towards the river by a factor of up to 20 since 2008.
Paul D. Bates, James Savage, Oliver Wing, Niall Quinn, Christopher Sampson, Jeffrey Neal, and Andrew Smith
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-829, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-829, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In this work we present and validate a new flood model for the UK that simulates pluvial, fluvial and coastal flooding. We show that previous UK flood losses based on government data and used in national climate change risk assessments are overestimated by a factor of ~3. These official estimates lie well outside our modelled loss distribution, which is plausibly centred on the observations.
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.
Kang He, Qing Yang, Xinyi Shen, and Emmanouil N. Anagnostou
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 2921–2927, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2921-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2921-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This study depicts the flood-affected areas in western Europe in July 2021 and particularly the agriculture land that was under flood inundation. The results indicate that the total inundated area over western Europe is about 1920 km2, of which 1320 km2 is in France. Around 64 % of the inundated area is agricultural land. We expect that the agricultural productivity in western Europe will have been severely impacted.
Yinxue Liu, Paul Bates, and Jeffery Neal
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2022-210, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2022-210, 2022
Revised manuscript accepted for NHESS
Short summary
Short summary
In this paper, we test two approaches for removing buildings and other above-ground objects from a state-of-the-art satellite photogrammetry topography product, ArcticDEM. Our best technique gives a 70 % reduction in vertical error, with an average difference of 1.02 m from a benchmark LIDAR for the city of Helsinki in Finland. When used in a simulation of rainfall-driven flooding the bare-earth version of ArcticDEM yields a significant improvement in predicted inundation extent and water depth.
Paul Voit and Maik Heistermann
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 2791–2805, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2791-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2791-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
To better understand how the frequency and intensity of heavy precipitation events (HPEs) will change with changing climate and to adapt disaster risk management accordingly, we have to quantify the extremeness of HPEs in a reliable way. We introduce the xWEI (cross-scale WEI) and show that this index can reveal important characteristics of HPEs that would otherwise remain hidden. We conclude that the xWEI could be a valuable instrument in both disaster risk management and research.
Angelica Tarpanelli, Alessandro C. Mondini, and Stefania Camici
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 2473–2489, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2473-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2473-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We analysed 10 years of river discharge data from almost 2000 sites in Europe, and we extracted flood events, as proxies of flood inundations, based on the overpasses of Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellites to derive the percentage of potential inundation events that they were able to observe. Results show that on average 58 % of flood events are potentially observable by Sentinel-1 and only 28 % by Sentinel-2 due to the obstacle of cloud coverage.
David P. Callaghan and Michael G. Hughes
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 2459–2472, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2459-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2459-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
A new method was developed to estimate changes in flood hazard under climate change. We use climate projections covering New South Wales, Australia, with two emission paths of business as usual and one with reduced emissions. We apply our method to the lower floodplain of the Gwydir Valley with changes in flood hazard provided over the next 90 years compared with the previous 50 years. We find that changes in flood hazard decrease over time within the Gwydir Valley floodplain.
Joseph T. D. Lucey and Timu W. Gallien
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 2145–2167, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2145-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2145-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Coastal flooding can result from multiple flood drivers (e.g., tides, waves, river flows, rainfall) occurring at the same time. This study characterizes flooding events caused by high marine water levels and rain. Results show that wet-season coinciding sampling may better describe extreme flooding events in a dry, tidally dominated region. A joint-probability-based function is then used to estimate sea wall impacts on urban coastal flooding.
Erik Tijdeman, Veit Blauhut, Michael Stoelzle, Lucas Menzel, and Kerstin Stahl
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 2099–2116, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2099-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2099-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We identified different drought types with typical hazard and impact characteristics. The summer drought type with compounding heat was most impactful. Regional drought propagation of this drought type exhibited typical characteristics that can guide drought management. However, we also found a large spatial variability that caused distinct differences among propagating drought signals. Accordingly, local multivariate drought information was needed to explain the full range of drought impacts.
Michael Dietze, Rainer Bell, Ugur Ozturk, Kristen L. Cook, Christoff Andermann, Alexander R. Beer, Bodo Damm, Ana Lucia, Felix S. Fauer, Katrin M. Nissen, Tobias Sieg, and Annegret H. Thieken
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1845–1856, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1845-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1845-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The flood that hit Europe in July 2021, specifically the Eifel, Germany, was more than a lot of fast-flowing water. The heavy rain that fell during the 3 d before also caused the slope to fail, recruited tree trunks that clogged bridges, and routed debris across the landscape. Especially in the upper parts of the catchments the flood was able to gain momentum. Here, we discuss how different landscape elements interacted and highlight the challenges of holistic future flood anticipation.
Marjolein J. P. Mens, Gigi van Rhee, Femke Schasfoort, and Neeltje Kielen
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1763–1776, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1763-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1763-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Many countries have to prepare for droughts by proposing policy actions to increase water supply, reduce water demand, or limit the societal impact. Societal cost–benefit analysis is required to support decision-making for a range of future scenarios, accounting for climate change and socio-economic developments. This paper presents a framework to assess drought policy actions based on quantification of drought risk and exemplifies it for the Netherlands’ drought risk management strategy.
Anna Rita Scorzini, Benjamin Dewals, Daniela Rodriguez Castro, Pierre Archambeau, and Daniela Molinari
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1743–1761, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1743-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1743-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents a replicable procedure for the adaptation of synthetic, multi-variable flood damage models among countries that may have different hazard and vulnerability features. The procedure is exemplified here for the case of adaptation to the Belgian context of a flood damage model, INSYDE, for the residential sector, originally developed for Italy. The study describes necessary changes in model assumptions and input parameters to properly represent the new context of implementation.
Susanna Mohr, Uwe Ehret, Michael Kunz, Patrick Ludwig, Alberto Caldas-Alvarez, James E. Daniell, Florian Ehmele, Hendrik Feldmann, Mário J. Franca, Christian Gattke, Marie Hundhausen, Peter Knippertz, Katharina Küpfer, Bernhard Mühr, Joaquim G. Pinto, Julian Quinting, Andreas M. Schäfer, Marc Scheibel, Frank Seidel, and Christina Wisotzky
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2022-137, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2022-137, 2022
Revised manuscript accepted for NHESS
Short summary
Short summary
The flood event in July 2021 was one of the most severe natural disasters in Europe in the last half century. The objective of this two-part study is a multi-disciplinary assessment that examine the complex process interactions in different compartments, from meteorology to hydrological conditions to hydro-morphological processes to impacts on assets and environment. While Part 1 focuses on the description of the event, the second part puts the event in historical and climate change contexts.
Maria Pregnolato, Andrew O. Winter, Dakota Mascarenas, Andrew D. Sen, Paul Bates, and Michael R. Motley
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1559–1576, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1559-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1559-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The interaction of flow, structure and network is complex, and yet to be fully understood. This study aims to establish rigorous practices of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for modelling hydrodynamic forces on inundated bridges, and understanding the consequences of such impacts on the surrounding network. The objectives of this study are to model hydrodynamic forces as the demand on the bridge structure, to advance a structural reliability and network-level analysis.
Lulu Liu, Jiangbo Gao, and Shaohong Wu
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1577–1590, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1577-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1577-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The impact of extreme events is increasing with global warming. Based on future scenario data and an improved quantitative assessment model of natural-disaster risk, this study analyses the spatial and temporal patterns of floods in China at 1.5 °C and 2 °C of global warming, quantitatively assesses the socioeconomic risks posed by floods, and determines the integrated risk levels. Global warming of 1.5 °C can effectively reduce the population affected and the economic risks of floods.
Miguel Moreno-Gómez, Carolina Martínez-Salvador, Rudolf Liedl, Catalin Stefan, and Julia Pacheco
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1591–1608, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1591-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1591-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Current vulnerability methods, as tools to protect groundwater resources from pollution, present some limitations and drawbacks: the roles of population and economic activities are not considered by such methods. The methodology presented in this work combines natural characteristics and human-driven conditions of a given region to improve the process of groundwater vulnerability analysis. Results indicate the reliability of this alternative method to improve groundwater protection strategies.
Małgorzata Chmiel, Maxime Godano, Marco Piantini, Pierre Brigode, Florent Gimbert, Maarten Bakker, Françoise Courboulex, Jean-Paul Ampuero, Diane Rivet, Anthony Sladen, David Ambrois, and Margot Chapuis
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1541–1558, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1541-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1541-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
On 2 October 2020, the French Maritime Alps were struck by an extreme rainfall event caused by Storm Alex. Here, we show that seismic data provide the timing and velocity of the propagation of flash-flood waves along the Vésubie River. We also detect 114 small local earthquakes triggered by the rainwater weight and/or its infiltration into the ground. This study paves the way for future works that can reveal further details of the impact of Storm Alex on the Earth’s surface and subsurface.
Weihua Zhu, Kai Liu, Ming Wang, Philip J. Ward, and Elco E. Koks
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1519–1540, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1519-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1519-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We present a simulation framework to analyse the system vulnerability and risk of the Chinese railway system to floods. To do so, we develop a method for generating flood events at both the national and river basin scale. Results show flood system vulnerability and risk of the railway system are spatially heterogeneous. The event-based approach shows how we can identify critical hotspots, taking the first steps in developing climate-resilient infrastructure.
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.
Corinne Bowers, Katherine A. Serafin, and Jack Baker
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1371–1393, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1371-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1371-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric rivers (ARs) cause significant flooding on the US west coast. We present a new Performance-based Atmospheric River Risk Analysis (PARRA) framework that connects models of atmospheric forcings, hydrologic impacts, and economic consequences to better estimate losses from AR-induced river flooding. We apply the PARRA framework to a case study in Sonoma County, CA, USA, and show that the framework can quantify the potential benefit of flood mitigation actions such as home elevation.
Yves Tramblay and Pere Quintana Seguí
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1325–1334, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1325-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1325-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Monitoring soil moisture is important during droughts, but very few measurements are available. Consequently, land-surface models are essential tools for reproducing soil moisture dynamics. In this study, a hybrid approach allowed for regionalizing soil water content using a machine learning method. This approach proved to be efficient, compared to the use of soil property maps, to run a simple soil moisture accounting model, and therefore it can be applied in various regions.
Dirk Eilander, Anaïs Couasnon, Tim Leijnse, Hiroaki Ikeuchi, Dai Yamazaki, Sanne Muis, Job Dullaart, Hessel C. Winsemius, and Philip J. Ward
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-149, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-149, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In coastal deltas flooding can occur from interactions between surge and waves, river discharge and precipitation, so-called compound flooding. Global flood models however ignore these interaction. We therefore present a framework to create a reproducible compound flood model anywhere at the globe and show how it can be used to better understand compound flooding. The framework is applied to two historical events tropical cyclone events in Mozambique with good results.
Maria Francesca Caruso and Marco Marani
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1109–1128, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1109-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1109-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We comparatively evaluate the predictive performance of traditional and new approaches to estimate the probability distributions of extreme coastal water levels. The metastatistical approach maximizes the use of observational information and provides reliable estimates of high quantiles with respect to traditional methods. Leveraging the increased estimation accuracy afforded by this approach, we investigate future changes in the frequency of extreme total water levels.
Shupeng Yue, Xiaodan Sheng, and Fengtian Yang
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 995–1014, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-995-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-995-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
To develop drought assessment and early warning systems, it is necessary to explore the characteristics of drought and its propagation process. In this article, a generalized and efficient drought research framework is studied and verified. It includes the evaluation of the spatiotemporal evolution, the construction of the return period calculation model, and the quantitative analysis of the meteorological trigger conditions of drought based on an improved Bayesian network model.
Alexander J. Horton, Nguyen V. K. Triet, Long P. Hoang, Sokchhay Heng, Panha Hok, Sarit Chung, Jorma Koponen, and Matti Kummu
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 967–983, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-967-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-967-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We studied the cumulative impact of future development and climate change scenarios on discharge and floods in the Cambodian Mekong floodplain. We found that hydropower impacts dominate, acting in opposition to climate change impacts to drastically increase dry season flows and reduce wet season flows even when considering the higher RCP8.5 level. The consequent reduction in flood extent and duration may reduce regional flood risk but may also have negative impacts on floodplain productivity.
Eva Boisson, Bruno Wilhelm, Emmanuel Garnier, Alain Mélo, Sandrine Anquetin, and Isabelle Ruin
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 831–847, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-831-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-831-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We present the database of Historical Impacts of Floods in the Arve Valley (HIFAVa). It reports flood occurrences and impacts (1850–2015) in a French Alpine catchment. Our results show an increasing occurrence of impacts from 1920 onwards, which is more likely related to indirect source effects and/or increasing exposure rather than hydrological changes. The analysis reveals that small mountain streams caused more impacts (67 %) than the main river.
Francisco Peña, Fernando Nardi, Assefa Melesse, Jayantha Obeysekera, Fabio Castelli, René M. Price, Todd Crowl, and Noemi Gonzalez-Ramirez
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 775–793, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-775-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-775-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Groundwater-induced flooding, a rare phenomenon that is increasing in low-elevation coastal cities due to higher water tables, is often neglected in flood risk mapping due to its sporadic frequency and considerably lower severity with respect to other flood hazards. A loosely coupled flood model is used to simulate the interplay between surface and subsurface flooding mechanisms simultaneously. This work opens new horizons on the development of compound flood models from a holistic perspective.
Qing Liu, Hanqing Xu, and Jun Wang
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 665–675, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-665-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-665-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The coastal area is a major floodplain in compound flood events in coastal cities, primarily due to storm tide, with the inundation severity positively correlated with the height of the storm tide. Simply accumulating every single-driven flood hazard (rainstorm inundation and storm tide flooding) to define the compound flood hazard may cause underestimation. The assessment of tropical cyclone compound flood risk can provide vital insight for research on coastal flooding prevention.
Antonio-Juan Collados-Lara, Juan-de-Dios Gómez-Gómez, David Pulido-Velazquez, and Eulogio Pardo-Igúzquiza
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 599–616, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-599-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-599-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This work studies the benefit of using more reliable local climate scenarios to analyse hydrological impacts. It has been applied in the Cenajo basin (south-eastern Spain), where we showed that the best approximations of the historical meteorology also provide the best approximations of the hydrology. The two selected climate models predict worrying changes in precipitation, temperature, streamflows and meteorological and hydrological droughts for the period 2071–2100 under the RCP8.5.
Venkataswamy Sahana and Arpita Mondal
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2022-18, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2022-18, 2022
Revised manuscript accepted for NHESS
Short summary
Short summary
In an agriculture-dependent, densely-populated country such as India, drought risk projection is important to assess future water security. This study presents the first comprehensive drought risk assessment over India, integrating hazard and vulnerability information. Future drought risk is found to be more significantly driven by increased vulnerability resulting from societal developments rather than climate-induced changes in hazard. These findings can inform planning for drought resilience.
Agathe Bucherie, Micha Werner, Marc van den Homberg, and Simon Tembo
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 461–480, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-461-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-461-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Local communities in northern Malawi have well-developed knowledge of the conditions leading to flash floods, spatially and temporally. Scientific analysis of catchment geomorphology and global reanalysis datasets corroborates this local knowledge, underlining the potential of these large-scale scientific datasets. Combining local knowledge with contemporary scientific datasets provides a common understanding of flash flood events, contributing to a more people-centred warning to flash floods.
Karen Gabriels, Patrick Willems, and Jos Van Orshoven
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 395–410, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-395-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-395-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
As land use influences hydrological processes (e.g., forests have a high water retention and infiltration capacity), it also impacts floods downstream in the river system. This paper demonstrates an approach quantifying the impact of land use changes on economic flood damages: damages in an initial situation are quantified and compared to damages of simulated floods associated with a land use change scenario. This approach can be used as an explorative tool in sustainable flood risk management.
Tao Liu, Luke A. McGuire, Nina Oakley, and Forest Cannon
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 361–376, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-361-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-361-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
A well-constrained rainfall-runoff model forced by radar-derived precipitation is used to define rainfall intensity-duration (ID) thresholds for flash floods. The rainfall ID doubles in 5 years after a severe wildfire in a watershed in southern California, USA. Rainfall ID performs stably well for intense pulses of rainfall over durations of 30-60 minutes that cover at least 15%-25% of the watershed. This finding could help issuing flash flood warnings based on radar-derived precipitation.
Annegret H. Thieken, Guilherme Samprogna Mohor, Heidi Kreibich, and Meike Müller
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 165–185, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-165-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-165-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Various floods hit Germany recently. While there was a river flood with some dike breaches in 2013, flooding in 2016 resulted directly from heavy rainfall, causing overflowing drainage systems in urban areas and destructive flash floods in steep catchments. Based on survey data, we analysed how residents coped with these different floods. We observed significantly different flood impacts, warnings, behaviour and recovery, offering entry points for tailored risk communication and support.
Olga Petrucci
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 71–83, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-71-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-71-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This systematic review highlights flood mortality factors and the strategies to mitigate them, as obtained from 44 scientific articles published between 2010 and 2020. The findings are the classification of flood mortality drivers in two groups and the identification of strategies to cope with them. Future studies should fill the data gaps regarding flood fatalities in developing countries and information on people who have survived floods, which can be useful in educational campaigns.
Yuhan Yang, Jie Yin, Weiguo Zhang, Yan Zhang, Yi Lu, Yufan Liu, Aoyue Xiao, Yunxiao Wang, and Wenming Song
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 3563–3572, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-3563-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-3563-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This is the first time the compound flooding process of heavy rain and levee-breach-induced flooding has been modeled. Real-life cases of historical flooding events have been adequately investigated. Our results provide a comprehensive view of the spatial patterns of the flood evolution, the dynamic process, and mechanism of these cases, which can help decision makers to develop effective emergency response plans and flood adaptation strategies.
Lucas Wouters, Anaïs Couasnon, Marleen C. de Ruiter, Marc J. C. van den Homberg, Aklilu Teklesadik, and Hans de Moel
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 3199–3218, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-3199-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-3199-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This research introduces a novel approach to estimate flood damage in Malawi by applying a machine learning model to UAV imagery. We think that the development of such a model is an essential step to enable the swift allocation of resources for recovery by humanitarian decision-makers. By comparing this method (EUR 10 140) to a conventional land-use-based approach (EUR 15 782) for a specific flood event, recommendations are made for future assessments.
Haixia Zhang, Weihua Fang, Hua Zhang, and Lu Yu
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 3161–3174, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-3161-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-3161-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Taking a single flood disaster in Lishui city as an example, a rapid and refined assessment of economic loss is studied and verified, which can effectively simulate the distribution of loss ratio and loss value. It includes the construction of land use type and value based on data fusion and an expert questionnaire survey, the fitting and calibration of vulnerability curves based on an existing database and disaster loss reporting, and estimation of loss ratio and loss value by spatial analysis.
Doris E. Wendt, John P. Bloomfield, Anne F. Van Loon, Margaret Garcia, Benedikt Heudorfer, Joshua Larsen, and David M. Hannah
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 3113–3139, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-3113-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-3113-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Managing water demand and supply during droughts is complex, as highly pressured human–water systems can overuse water sources to maintain water supply. We evaluated the impact of drought policies on water resources using a socio-hydrological model. For a range of hydrogeological conditions, we found that integrated drought policies reduce baseflow and groundwater droughts most if extra surface water is imported, reducing the pressure on water resources during droughts.
Sara Lindersson, Luigia Brandimarte, Johanna Mård, and Giuliano Di Baldassarre
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 2921–2948, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-2921-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-2921-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Riverine flood risk assessments require the identification of areas prone to potential flooding. We find that (topography-based) hydrogeomorphic floodplain maps can in many cases be useful for riverine flood risk assessments, particularly where hydrologic data are scarce. For 26 countries across the global south, we also demonstrate how dataset choice influences the estimated number of people living within flood-prone zones.
Mark V. Bernhofen, Mark A. Trigg, P. Andrew Sleigh, Christopher C. Sampson, and Andrew M. Smith
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 2829–2847, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-2829-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-2829-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The use of different global datasets to calculate flood exposure can lead to differences in global flood exposure estimates. In this study, we use three global population datasets and a simple measure of a river’s flood susceptibility (based on the terrain alone) to explore how the choice of population data and the size of river represented in global flood models affect global and national flood exposure estimates.
Antonio Francipane, Dario Pumo, Marco Sinagra, Goffredo La Loggia, and Leonardo Valerio Noto
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 2563–2580, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-2563-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-2563-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
In the last few years, some cities in the Mediterranean area have witnessed an increase in extreme rainfall events such as urban floods. The study focuses on a particularly intense urban flood that occurred in Palermo on 15 July 2020, which highlighted the need for a shift in the way stormwater in urban settlements is managed. We think that the framework used to study the impacts of the event and some conclusive remarks could be easily transferred to other urban contexts.
Luc Bonnafous and Upmanu Lall
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 2277–2284, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-2277-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-2277-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Extreme climate events can cause human and economic catastrophe at the global scale. For specific sectors, such as humanitarian aid or insurance, being able to understand how (i.e., with which frequency and intensity) these events can occur simultaneously at different locations or several times in a given amount of time and hit critical assets is all-important to design contingency plans. Here we develop an indicator to study co-occurence in space and time of wet and dry extremes.
Cited articles
Andres, N., Steeb, N., Badoux, A., and Hegg, C. (Eds.): Grundlagen Extremhochwasser Aare: Hauptbericht Projekt EXAR, Methodik und Resultate,
WSL Berichte 104, WSL, Birmensdorf, https://www.wsl.ch/de/projekte/exar-1.html (last access: 12 August 2022), 2021.
Arnaud, P. and Lavabre, J.: Using a stochastic model for generating hourly
hyetographs to study extreme rainfalls, Hydrolog. Sci. J., 44, 433–446,
https://doi.org/10.1080/02626669909492238, 1999.
Arnaud, P. and Lavabre, J.: Coupled rainfall model and discharge model for
flood frequency estimation, Water Resour. Res., 38, 1075, https://doi.org/10.1029/2001WR000474, 2002.
Arnaud, P., Cantet, P., and Odry, J.: Uncertainties of flood frequency estimation approaches based on continuous simulation using data resampling,
J. Hydrol., 554, 360–369, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2017.09.011, 2017.
Asadi, P., Engelke, S., and Davison, A. C.: Optimal regionalization of extreme value distributions for flood estimation, J. Hydrol., 556, 182–193,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2017.10.051, 2018.
Aubert, Y., Arnaud, P., Ribstein, P., and Fine, J.-A.: La méthode SHYREG
débit – application sur 1605 bassins versants en France métropolitaine, Hydrolog. Sci. J., 59, 993–1005,
https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2014.902061, 2014.
Baer, P. and Schwab, S.: Extremhochwasser an der Aare: Detailbericht B Projekt EXAR, Historische Hochwasser, ARGE GEOTEST-HZP-IUB, Zollikofen, https://www.wsl.ch/de/projekte/exar-1.html (last access: 12 August 2022), 2020.
Baker, V. R.: Paleoflood hydrology: Origin, progress, prospects, Geomorphology, 101, 1–13, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2008.05.016, 2008.
Baker, V. R., Webb, R. H., and House, P. K.: The Scientific and Societal
Value of Paleoflood Hydrology, in: Ancient floods, modern hazards: Principles and applications of paleoflood hydrology, edited by: House, P. K., American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, 1–19, https://doi.org/10.1029/WS005p0001, 2010.
Barth, N. A., Villarini, G., and White, K.: Accounting for Mixed Populations
in Flood Frequency Analysis: Bulletin 17C Perspective, J. Hydrol. Eng., 24,
04019002, https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)HE.1943-5584.0001762, 2019.
Basso, S., Schirmer, M., and Botter, G.: On the emergence of heavy-tailed
streamflow distributions, Adv. Water Resour., 82, 98–105,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2015.04.013, 2015.
Basso, S., Schirmer, M., and Botter, G.: A physically based analytical model
of flood frequency curves, Geophys. Res. Lett., 43, 9070–9076,
https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069915, 2016.
Basso, S., Botter, G., Merz, R., and Miniussi, A.: PHEV! The PHysically-based Extreme Value distribution of river flows, Environ. Res. Lett., 16, 124065, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac3d59, 2021.
Baumgartner, E., Boldi, M.-O., Kan, C., and Schick, S.: Hochwasserstatistik
am BAFU – Diskussion eines neuen Methodensets, Wasser Energie Luft, 105,
103–110, 2013.
Bayliss, A. C. and Reed, D. W.: The use of historical data in flood frequency estimation, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK, 92 pp., https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/8060/1/BaylissRepN008060CR.pdf (last access: 12 August 2022), 2001.
Ben Alaya, M. A., Zwiers, F., and Zhang, X.: Probable Maximum Precipitation:
Its Estimation and Uncertainty Quantification Using Bivariate Extreme Value
Analysis, J. Hydrometeorl., 19, 679–694, https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-17-0110.1, 2018.
Benito, G. and O'Connor, J. E.: Quantitative Paleoflood Hydrology, in:
Treatise on geomorphology, edited by: Shroder, J. F., Academic Press, London, Waltham, MA, 459–474, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-374739-6.00250-5, 2013.
Benito, G. and Thorndycraft, V. R.: Palaeoflood hydrology and its role in
applied hydrological sciences, J. Hydrol., 313, 3–15, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2005.02.002, 2005.
Benito, G., Brázdil, R., Herget, J., and Machado, M. J.: Quantitative
historical hydrology in Europe, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 3517–3539,
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-3517-2015, 2015.
Bergström, S.: Utveckling och tillämpning av en digital avrinningsmodell, SMHI Notiser och preliminära rapporter, serie
HYDROLOGI 22, SMHI, Norrköping, https://www.smhi.se/polopoly_fs/1.83595!/Menu/general/extGroup/attachmentColHold/mainCol1/file/Notiser_prel_rapporter_hydrologi_22.pdf (last access: 12 August 2022), 1972.
Bergström, S.: The HBV Model – its structure and applications, Reports
Hydrology 4, Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI)/Sveriges Meteorologiska och Hydrologiska Institut (SMHI), Norrköping, https://www.smhi.se/polopoly_fs/1.83592!/Menu/general/extGroup/attachmentColHold/mainCol1/file/RH_4.pdf (last access: 12 August 2022), 1992.
Beven, K.: Towards the use of catchment geomorphology in flood frequency
predictions, Earth Surf. Proc. Land., 12, 69–82, https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.3290120109, 1987.
Beven, K. J.: Rainfall-Runoff Modelling: The Primer, 2nd Edn. Wiley, Chichester, ISBN 978-0-470-71459-1, 2011.
Botter, G., Porporato, A., Rodriguez-Iturbe, I., and Rinaldo, A.: Basin-scale soil moisture dynamics and the probabilistic characterization of carrier hydrologic flows: Slow, leaching-prone components of the hydrologic response, Water Resour. Res., 43, W02417, https://doi.org/10.1029/2006WR005043, 2007.
Botter, G., Porporato, A., Rodriguez-Iturbe, I., and Rinaldo, A.: Nonlinear
storage-discharge relations and catchment streamflow regimes, Water Resour.
Res., 45, W10427, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008WR007658, 2009.
Breinl, K. and Di Baldassarre, G.: Space-time disaggregation of precipitation and temperature across different climates and spatial scales,
J. Hydrol.: Reg. Stud., 21, 126–146, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2018.12.002, 2019.
Brunner, M. I., Viviroli, D., Sikorska, A. E., Vannier, O., Favre, A.-C., and Seibert, J.: Flood type specific construction of synthetic design hydrographs, Water Resour. Res., 53, 1390–1406, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016WR019535, 2017.
Buishand, T. A. and Brandsma, T.: Multisite simulation of daily precipitation and temperature in the Rhine Basin by nearest-neighbor resampling, Water Resour. Res., 37, 2761–2776, https://doi.org/10.1029/2001WR000291, 2001.
Bundesamt für Energie: Richtlinie über die Sicherheit der
Stauanlagen: Teil C2: Hochwassersicherheit und Stauseeabsenkung, Richtlinie
über die Sicherheit der Stauanlagen, 32 pp., https://www.bfe.admin.ch/bfe/de/home/versorgung/aufsicht-und-sicherheit/talsperren/richtlinien-und-hilfsmittel.exturl.html/aHR0cHM6Ly9wdWJkYi5iZmUuYW (last access: 12 August 2022), 2018.
Bundesamt für Umwelt: Stationsbericht Hochwasserstatistik Aare –
Untersiggenthal, Stilli, https://www.hydrodaten.admin.ch/lhg/sdi/hq_studien/hq_statistics/2205_hq_Bericht.pdf (last access: 12 August 2022), 2020.
Bundesministerium für Land- und Forstwirtschaft, Umwelt und Wasserwirtschaft and Technische Universität Wien: Leitfaden zum Nachweis
der Hochwassersicherheit von Talsperren, Wien, 107 pp., https://info.bml.gv.at/dam/jcr:4fd43e9f-c845-475e-ba34-62b4b25e9c60/Leitfaden_zum_Nachweis_der_Hochwassersicherheit_von_Talsperren_12_09.pdf (last access: 12 August 2022), 2009.
Burn, D. H.: Catchment similarity for regional flood frequency analysis using seasonality measures, J. Hydrol., 202, 212–230, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-1694(97)00068-1, 1997.
Calver, A. and Lamb, R.: Flood frequency estimation using continuous rainfall-runoff modelling, Phys. Chem. Earth, 20, 479–483,
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0079-1946(96)00010-9, 1995.
Castellarin, A., Vogel, R. M., and Matalas, N. C.: Probabilistic behavior of
a regional envelope curve, Water Resour. Res., 41, W06018, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004WR003042, 2005.
Castellarin, A., Kohnová, S., Gaál, L., Fleig, A., Salinas, J. L.,
Toumazis, A., Kjeldsen, T. R., and Macdonald, N.: Review of Applied European
Flood Frequency Analysis Methods, COST Action ES0901, WG2, Wallingford,
Oxfordshire, UK, 130 pp., ISBN 978-1-906698-32-4, 2012.
Chardon, J., Hingray, B., Favre, A.-C., Autin, P., Gailhard, J., Zin, I.,
and Obled, C.: Spatial Similarity and Transferability of Analog Dates for
Precipitation Downscaling over France, J. Climate, 27, 5056–5074,
https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-13-00464.1, 2014.
Chardon, J., Favre, A.-C., and Hingray, B.: Effects of Spatial Aggregation
on the Accuracy of Statistically Downscaled Precipitation Predictions, J.
Hydrometeorl., 17, 1561–1578, https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-15-0031.1, 2016.
Chardon, J., Hingray, B., and Favre, A.-C.: An adaptive two-stage analog/regression model for probabilistic prediction of small-scale precipitation in France, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 265–286,
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-265-2018, 2018.
Chardon, J., Evin, G., Favre, A.-C., Hingray, B., Nicolet, G., and Raynaud,
D.: Weather Generators: GWEX and SCAMP, in: Extremhochwasser an der Aare:
Detailbericht A Projekt EXAR, Hydrometeorologische Grundlagen, edited by:
Staudinger, M. and Viviroli, D., University of Zurich, Zurich, 7–22,
https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-201388, 2020.
Chebana, F., Dabo-Niang, S., and Ouarda, T. B. M. J.: Exploratory functional
flood frequency analysis and outlier detection, Water Resour. Res., 48, W04514, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011WR011040, 2012.
Dang, V. and Whealton, C.: Extremhochwasser an der Aare: Detailbericht G Projekt EXAR, Ereignisbaumanalyse und Gefährdungskurven, Paul Scherrer
Institut, Villigen, https://www.wsl.ch/de/projekte/exar-1.html (last access: 12 August 2022), 2020.
Deutsche Vereinigung für Wasserwirtschaft, Abwasser und Abfall: Ermittlung von Hochwasserwahrscheinlichkeiten: DWA-Regelwerk, Merkblatt
DWA-M 552, Hennef, 90 pp., ISBN 978-3-942964-25-8, 2012.
Diezig, R. and Weingartner, R.: Hochwasserprozesstypen – Schlüssel zur
Hochwasserabschätzung, Wasser Abfall, 9, 18–26, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03247473, 2007.
Eidgenössisches Amt für Strassen- und Flussbau: Die grössten bis
zum Jahre 1969 beobachteten Abflussmengen von schweizerischen Gewässern:
Beitrag zum internationalen hydrologischen Dezennium 1965–1974, EDMZ, Bern,
http://permalink.snl.ch/bib/sz000413758 (last access: 29 August 2022), 1974.
England Jr., J. F., Cohn, T. A., Faber, B. A., Stedinger, J. R., Thomas Jr., W. O., Veilleux, A. G., Kiang, J. E., and Mason Jr., R. R.: Guidelines for Determining Flood Flow Frequency: Bulletin 17C, Version 1.1, May 2019,
US Geological Survey Techniques and Methods, Book 4, chap. 5b, US Geoglogical Survey, 168 pp., https://doi.org/10.3133/tm4B5, 2019.
Environment Agency: Flood Estimation Guidelines, Technical guidance 197_08,
129 pp., https://www.jbaconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Flood-Estimation-Guidelines-2020-197_08.pdf (last access: 12 August 2022), 2020.
Evin, G., Blanchet, J., Paquet, E., Garavaglia, F., and Penot, D.: A
regional model for extreme rainfall based on weather patterns subsampling,
J. Hydrol., 541, 1185–1198, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2016.08.024, 2016.
Evin, G., Favre, A.-C., and Hingray, B.: Stochastic generation of multi-site
daily precipitation focusing on extreme events, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 655–672, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-655-2018, 2018.
Evin, G., Favre, A.-C., and Hingray, B.: Stochastic generators of multi-site
daily temperature: comparison of performances in various applications, Theor. Appl. Climatol., 135, 811–824, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-018-2404-x, 2019.
Fallot, J.-M., Hertig, J.-A., Receanu, R. G., and Zeimetz, F.:
Détermination des précipitations et des crues extrêmes en suisse
à l'aide de la méthode PMP-PMF, Bulletin de la Société
Géographique de Liège, 68, 77–96, https://doi.org/10.25518/0770-7576.4556, 2017.
Falter, D., Schröter, K., Dung, N. V., Vorogushyn, S., Kreibich, H.,
Hundecha, Y., Apel, H., and Merz, B.: Spatially coherent flood risk assessment based on long-term continuous simulation with a coupled model chain, J. Hydrol., 524, 182–193, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.02.021, 2015.
Farinotti, D., Usselmann, S., Huss, M., Bauder, A., and Funk, M.: Runoff
evolution in the Swiss Alps: projections for selected high-alpine catchments based on ENSEMBLES scenarios, Hydrol. Process., 26, 1909–1924,
https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.8276, 2012.
Federal Office for the Environment: Hydrological time series,
https://www.hydrodaten.admin.ch, last access: 30 June 2016.
Federal Office for the Environment: The 5 flood danger levels,
https://www.hydrodaten.admin.ch/en/the-5-flood-danger-levels.html, last
access: 22 June 2022.
Felder, G. and Weingartner, R.: An approach for the determination of
precipitation input for worst-case flood modelling, Hydrolog. Sci. J., 61,
2600–2609, https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2016.1151980, 2016.
Felder, G. and Weingartner, R.: Assessment of deterministic PMF modelling
approaches, Hydrolog. Sci. J., 62, 1591–1602, https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2017.1319065, 2017.
Felder, G., Paquet, E., Penot, D., Zischg, A., and Weingartner, R.: Consistency of Extreme Flood Estimation Approaches, J. Hydrol. Eng., 24,
4019018, https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)HE.1943-5584.0001797, 2019.
Fernandez, C. and Steel, M. F. J.: On Bayesian Modeling of Fat Tails and
Skewness, J. Am. Stat. Assoc., 93, 359–371, https://doi.org/10.2307/2669632, 1998.
Fischer, S.: A seasonal mixed-POT model to estimate high flood quantiles
from different event types and seasons, J. Appl. Stat., 45, 2831–2847, https://doi.org/10.1080/02664763.2018.1441385, 2018.
García Hernández, J., Foehn, A., Fluixá-Sanmartín, J., Roquier, B., Brauchli, T., Paredes Arquiola, J., and De Cesare, G. RS MINERVE –Technical manual, v2.25, CREALP, Sion, 156 pp., https://crealp.ch/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/rsminerve_technical_manual_v2.25.pdf (last access: 12 August 2022), 2020.
Girons Lopez, M., Wennerström, H., Nordén, L.-Å., and Seibert, J.: Location and Density of Rain Gauges for the Estimation of Spatial
Varying Precipitation, Geograf. Ann. A, 97, 167–179, https://doi.org/10.1111/geoa.12094, 2015.
Grimaldi, S., Petroselli, A., Arcangeletti, E., and Nardi, F.: Flood mapping
in ungauged basins using fully continuous hydrologic–hydraulic modeling, J.
Hydrol., 487, 39–47, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2013.02.023, 2013.
Gringorten, I. I.: A plotting rule for extreme probability paper, Global
Biogeochem. Cy., 68, 813–814, https://doi.org/10.1029/JZ068i003p00813, 1963.
Guillot, P. and Duband, D.: La méthode du gradex pour le calcul de la
probabilité des crues à partir des pluies, in: Floods and their
Computation: Proceedings of the Leningrad Symposium, August 1967, Vol. I,
edited by: International Association of Hydrological Sciences and World
Meteorological Organization, Gentbrugge, Paris, 560–569, https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000014318 (last access: 12 August 2022), 1969.
Gupta, H. V., Kling, H., Yilmaz, K. K., and Martínez, G. F.: Decomposition of the mean squared error and NSE performance criteria:
Implications for improving hydrological modelling, J. Hydrol., 377, 80–91,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.08.003, 2009.
Guse, B., Merz, B., Wietzke, L., Ullrich, S., Viglione, A., and Vorogushyn,
S.: The role of flood wave superposition in the severity of large floods,
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 1633–1648, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-1633-2020, 2020.
Gutknecht, D., Blöschl, G., Reszler, C., and Heindl, H.: Ein “Mehr-Standbeine”-Ansatz zur Ermittlung von Bemessungshochwässern
kleiner Auftretenswahrscheinlichkeit, Österr Wasser- und Abfallw., 58,
44–50, 2006.
Hall, J., Arheimer, B., Borga, M., Brázdil, R., Claps, P., Kiss, A.,
Kjeldsen, T. R., Kriaučiūnienė, 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.,
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.
Hegnauer, M., Beersma, J. J., van den Boogaard, H. F. P., Buishand, T. A.,
and Passchier, R. H.: Generator of Rainfall and Discharge Extremes (GRADE)
for the Rhine and Meuse basins: Final report of GRADE 2.0, Deltares and
KNMI, 84 pp., https://publications.deltares.nl/1209424_004_0018.pdf (last access: 12 August 2022), 2014.
Herschy, R. W.: The world's maximum observed floods, Flow Meas. Instrum., 13, 231–235, 2002.
Horton, P., Schaefli, B., and Kauzlaric, M.: Why do we have so many different hydrological models? A review based on the case of Switzerland, WIREs Water, 9, e1574, https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1574, 2022.
Hosking, J. R. M. and Wallis, J. R.: Some useful statistics in regional frequency analysis, Water Resour. Res., 29, 271–281, 1993.
Hosking, J. R. M. and Wallis, J. R.: Regional frequency analysis: An approach based on L-moments, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 224 pp.,
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511529443, 1997.
Hügli, A.: Aarewasser: 500 Jahre Hochwasserschutz zwischen Thun und Bern, ott Verlag, Bern, 175 pp., ISBN 978-3-7225-0083-6, 2007.
International Commission on Large Dams: Flood Evaluation and Dam Safety, in:
1st Edn., Bulletin (International Commission on Large Dams), 170, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 360 pp., ISBN 9781138492134, 2018.
Isotta, F. A., Frei, C., Weilguni, V., Perčec Tadić, M., Lassègues, P., Rudolf, B., Pavan, V., Cacciamani, C., Antolini, G.,
Ratto, S. M., Munari, M., Micheletti, S., Bonati, V., Lussana, C., Ronchi,
C., Panettieri, E., Marigo, G., and Vertačnik, G.: The climate of daily
precipitation in the Alps: development and analysis of a high-resolution
grid dataset from pan-Alpine rain-gauge data, Int. J. Climatol., 34, 1657–1675, https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.3794, 2014.
Kauzlaric, M., Keller, L., Pfäffli, M., Senoner, A., Staudinger, M., and
Viviroli, D.: Sensitivity and plausibility of hydrological simulations, in:
Extremhochwasser an der Aare: Detailbericht A Projekt EXAR,
Hydrometeorologische Grundlagen, edited by: Staudinger, M. and Viviroli, D.,
Univertisy of Zurich, Zurich, 22–95, https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-201388, 2020.
Kauzlaric, M., Nicolet, G., and Viviroli, D.: Entwicklung hydrometeorologischer Grundlagen, in: Grundlagen Extremhochwasser Aare:
Hauptbericht Projekt EXAR, Methodik und Resultate, edited by: Andres, N.,
Steeb, N., Badoux, A., and Hegg, C., University of Zurich, Birmensdorf, 29–37, https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-203528, 2021.
Kavetski, D., Kuczera, G., and Franks, S. W.: Bayesian analysis of input
uncertainty in hydrological modeling: 2. Application, Water Resour. Res.,
42, W03408, 2006.
Kienzler, P. M. and Scherrer, S.: Verzeichnis grosser Hochwasserabflüsse
in Schweizerischen Einzugsgebieten: Auswertung und graphische Aufbereitung,
Reinach, Bericht 17/229, https://www.bafu.admin.ch/dam/bafu/de/dokumente/hydrologie/geodaten/Scherrer-AG-def-Bericht_ASF_update_graphischeDarstellung_2018-03-09_original.pdf.download.pdf/Scherrer-AG-def-Bericht_ASF_update_graphischeDarstellung_2018-03-09_original.pdf (last access: 12 August 2022), 2018.
Kienzler, P. M., Andres, N., Näf-Huber, D., and Zappa, M.: Herleitung
extremer Niederschläge und Hochwasser im Einzugsgebiet des Sihlsees
für einen verbesserten Hochwasserschutz der Stadt Zürich, Hydrologie
und Wasserbewirtschaftung, 59, 48–58, 2015.
Kirchner, J. W.: Getting the right answers for the right reasons: Linking
measurements, analyses, and models to advance the science of hydrology,
Water Resour. Res., 42, W03S04, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005WR004362, 2006.
Klemeš, V.: Dilettantism in hydrology: Transition or destiny?, Water
Resour. Res., 22, 177S–188S, https://doi.org/10.1029/WR022i09Sp0177S, 1986.
Laio, F., Porporato, A., Ridolfi, L., and Rodriguez-Iturbe, I.: Plants in
water-controlled ecosystems: active role in hydrologic processes and
response to water stress, Adv. Water Resour., 24, 707–723,
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0309-1708(01)00005-7, 2001.
Lamb, R., Faulkner, D., Wass, P., and Cameron, D.: Have applications of
continuous rainfall-runoff simulation realised the vision for process-based
flood frequency analysis?, Hydrol. Process., 30, 2463–2481,
https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.10882, 2016.
Leander, R. and Buishand, T. A.: A daily weather generator based on a two-stage resampling algorithm, J. Hydrol., 374, 185–195,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.06.010, 2009.
Loucks, D. P. and van Beek, E. (Eds.): Water Resource Systems Planning and
Management, Springer International Publishing, Cham, ISBN 978-3-319-44232-7, 2017.
Maniak, U.: Hydrologie und Wasserwirtschaft: Eine Einführung für
Ingenieure, 5. bearbeitete und erweiterte Ausgabe, Springer, Berlin,
Heidelberg, New York, ISBN 978-3-540-20091-8, 2005.
Marchi, L., Borga, M., Preciso, E., and Gaume, E.: Characterisation of
selected extreme flash floods in Europe and implications for flood risk
management, J. Hydrol., 394, 118–133, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2010.07.017, 2010.
Ménégoz, M., Valla, E., Jourdain, N. C., Blanchet, J., Beaumet, J.,
Wilhelm, B., Gallée, H., Fettweis, X., Morin, S., and Anquetin, S.:
Contrasting seasonal changes in total and intense precipitation in the
European Alps from 1903 to 2010, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 5355–5377,
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-5355-2020, 2020.
Merz, R. and Blöschl, G.: A process typology of regional floods, Water
Resour. Res., 39, 1340, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002WR001952, 2003.
Merz, R. and Blöschl, G.: Flood frequency hydrology: 2. Combining data
evidence, Water Resour. Res., 44, W08433, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007WR006745, 2008.
MeteoSwiss: Meteorological time series, https://gate.meteoswiss.ch/idaweb, last access: 30 June 2016.
Mezghani, A. and Hingray, B.: A combined downscaling-disaggregation weather
generator for stochastic generation of multisite hourly weather variables
over complex terrain: Development and multi-scale validation for the Upper
Rhone River basin, J. Hydrol., 377, 245–260, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.08.033, 2009.
Micovic, Z., Schaefer, M. G., and Taylor, G. H.: Uncertainty analysis for
Probable Maximum Precipitation estimates, J. Hydrol., 521, 360–373,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.12.033, 2015.
Mulvany, T.: On the use of self-registering rain and flood gages in making
observations of the relation of rainfall and flood discharges in a given
catchment, Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng. Ireland, 4, 18–31, 1851.
Naghettini, M., Potter, K. W., and Illangasekare, T.: Estimating the upper
tail of flood-peak frequency distributions using hydrometeorological
information, Water Resour. Res., 32, 1729–1740, https://doi.org/10.1029/96WR00200, 1996.
Nash, J. E. and Sutcliffe, J. V.: River flow forecasting through conceptual
models: Part I – a discussion of principles, J. Hydrol., 10, 282–290,
https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1694(70)90255-6, 1970.
Naveau, P., Huser, R., Ribereau, P., and Hannart, A.: Modeling jointly low,
moderate, and heavy rainfall intensities without a threshold selection, Water Resour. Res., 52, 2753–2769, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015WR018552, 2016.
Neppel, L., Renard, B., Lang, M., Ayral, P.-A., Coeur, D., Gaume, E., Jacob,
N., Payrastre, O., Pobanz, K., and Vinet, F.: Flood frequency analysis using
historical data: accounting for random and systematic errors, Hydrolog. Sci.
J., 55, 192–208, https://doi.org/10.1080/02626660903546092, 2010.
O'Connor, J. E., Atwater, B. F., Cohn, T. A., Cronin, T. M., Keith, M. K.,
Smith, C. G., and Mason, R. R.: Assessing Inundation Hazards to Nuclear
Powerplant Sites Using Geologically Extended Histories of Riverine Floods,
Tsunamis, and Storm Surges, Prepared for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5207, USGS, Reston, VA, USA, 76 pp., https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20145207, 2014.
Okoli, K., Mazzoleni, M., Breinl, K., and Di Baldassarre, G.: A systematic
comparison of statistical and hydrological methods for design flood estimation, Hydrol. Res., 50, 1665–1678, https://doi.org/10.2166/nh.2019.188, 2019.
Papastathopoulos, I. and Tawn, J. A.: Extended generalised Pareto models for
tail estimation, J. Stat. Plan. Infer., 143, 131–143, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jspi.2012.07.001, 2013.
Paquet, E., Garavaglia, F., Garçon, R., and Gailhard, J.: The SCHADEX
method: A semi-continuous rainfall-runoff simulation for extreme flood
estimation, J. Hydrol., 495, 23–37, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2013.04.045, 2013.
Pathiraja, S., Westra, S., and Sharma, A.: Why continuous simulation? The
role of antecedent moisture in design flood estimation, Water Resour. Res.,
48, W06534, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011WR010997, 2012.
Pfäffli, M., Baer, P., Sutter, A., Irniger, A., and Hunziker, R.:
Extremhochwasser an der Aare: Detailbericht E Projekt EXAR, Hydraulische
Modellierungen, ARGE GEOTEST-HZP-IUB, Zollikofen, Aarau, Bern, https://www.wsl.ch/de/projekte/exar-1.html (last access: 12 August 2022), 2020.
Poli, P., Hersbach, H., Dee, D. P., Berrisford, P., Simmons, A. J., Vitart,
F., Laloyaux, P., Tan, D. G. H., Peubey, C., Thépaut, J.-N., Trémolet, Y., Hólm, E. V., Bonavita, M., Isaksen, L., and Fisher,
M.: ERA-20C: An Atmospheric Reanalysis of the Twentieth Century, J. Climate,
29, 4083–4097, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0556.1, 2016.
Pool, S., Vis, M., and Seibert, J.: Evaluating model performance: towards a
non-parametric variant of the Kling-Gupta efficiency, Hydrolog. Sci. J., 63,
1941–1953, https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2018.1552002, 2018.
Porporato, A., Daly, E., and Rodriguez-Iturbe, I.: Soil water balance and
ecosystem response to climate change, Am. Nat. 164, 625–632, 2004.
Primault, B.: Du calcul de l'évapotranspiration, Arch. Met. Geoph.
Biokl. B., 12, 124–150, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02317957, 1962.
Primault, B.: Extension de la validité de la formule suisse de calcul de
l'évapotranspiration, Arbeitsberichte der SMA, SMA, Vol. 103, https://www.meteoschweiz.admin.ch/content/dam/meteoswiss/fr/Ungebundene-Seiten/Publikationen/Fachberichte/doc/arbeitsbericht103.pdf (last access: 12 August 2022), 1981.
Raynaud, D., Hingray, B., Zin, I., Anquetin, S., Debionne, S., and Vautard,
R.: Atmospheric analogues for physically consistent scenarios of surface
weather in Europe and Maghreb, Int. J. Climatol., 37, 2160–2176,
https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.4844, 2017.
Raynaud, D., Hingray, B., Evin, G., Favre, A.-C., and Chardon, J.:
Assessment of meteorological extremes using a synoptic weather generator and
a downscaling model based on analogues, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24,
4339–4352, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-4339-2020, 2020.
Redmond, K. T., Enzel, Y., House, P. K., and Biondi, F.: Climate Variability
and Flood Frequency at Decadal to Millennial Time Scales, in: Ancient
floods, modern hazards: Principles and applications of paleoflood hydrology,
edited by: House, P. K., American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, 21–45,
https://doi.org/10.1029/WS005p0021, 2010.
Rogger, M., Kohl, B., Pirkl, H., Viglione, A., Komma, J., Kirnbauer, R., Merz, R., and Blöschl, G.: Runoff models and flood frequency statistics
for design flood estimation in Austria – Do they tell a consistent story?,
J. Hydrol., 456-457, 30–43, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2012.05.068, 2012.
Ruelland, D.: Should altitudinal gradients of temperature and precipitation
inputs be inferred from key parameters in snow-hydrological models?, Hydrol.
Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 2609–2632, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-2609-2020, 2020.
Salas, J. D., Gavilán, G., Salas, F. R., Julien, P. R., and Abdullah, J.: Uncertainty of the PMP and PMF, in: Handbook of Engineering Hydrology, edited by: Eslamian, S., CRC Press, 575–603, https://doi.org/10.1201/b16683, 2014.
Salinas, J. L., Kiss, A., Viglione, A., Viertl, R., and Blöschl, G.: A
fuzzy Bayesian approach to flood frequency estimation with imprecise historical information, Water Resour. Res., 52, 6730–6750,
https://doi.org/10.1002/2016WR019177, 2016.
Schaefli, B., Talamba, D. B., and Musy, A.: Quantifying hydrological modeling errors through a mixture of normal distributions, J. Hydrol., 332, 303–315, 2007.
Schmocker-Fackel, P. and Naef, F.: Changes in flood frequencies in Switzerland since 1500, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 14, 1581–1594,
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-14-1581-2010, 2010a.
Schmocker-Fackel, P. and Naef, F.: More frequent flooding? Changes in flood
frequency in Switzerland since 1850, J. Hydrol., 381, 1–8,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.09.022, 2010b.
Schnitter, N.: Die Geschichte des Wasserbaus in der Schweiz, Olynthus,
Oberbözberg, 242 pp., ISBN 9783907175156, 1992.
Seibert, J.: Estimation of parameter uncertainty in the HBV model, Nord. Hydrol., 28, 247–262, 1997.
Seibert, J.: Multi-criteria calibration of a conceptual runoff model using a
genetic algorithm, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 4, 215–224, 2000.
Seibert, J.: Multi-criteria calibration of a conceptual runoff model using a genetic algorithm, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 4, 215–224, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-4-215-2000, 2000.
Seibert, J. and Bergström, S.: A retrospective on hydrological catchment
modelling based on half a century with the HBV model, Hydrol. Earth Syst.
Sci., 26, 1371–1388, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1371-2022, 2022.
Seibert, J. and Vis, M. J. P.: Teaching hydrological modeling with a
user-friendly catchment-runoff-model software package, Hydrol. Earth Syst.
Sci., 16, 3315–3325, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-16-3315-2012, 2012.
Seibert, J., Vis, M. J. P., Kohn, I., Weiler, M., and Stahl, K.: Technical
note: Representing glacier geometry changes in a semi-distributed
hydrological model, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 2211–2224,
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-2211-2018, 2018.
Sikorska, A. E. and Renard, B.: Calibrating a hydrological model in stage
space to account for rating curve uncertainties: General framework and key
challenges, Adv. Water Resour., 105, 51–66, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2017.04.011, 2017.
Sikorska, A. E., Viviroli, D., and Seibert, J.: Flood-type classification in
mountainous catchments using crisp and fuzzy decision trees, Water Resour.
Res., 51, 7959–7976, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015WR017326, 2015.
Sikorska-Senoner, A. E.: Clustering model responses in the frequency space
for improved simulation-based flood risk studies: The role of a cluster
number, J. Flood Risk Manage., 15, e12772, https://doi.org/10.1111/jfr3.12772, 2022.
Sikorska-Senoner, A. E. and Seibert, J.: Flood-type trend analysis for alpine catchments, Hydrolog. Sci. J., 1–19, https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2020.1749761, 2020.
Sikorska-Senoner, A. E., Schaefli, B., and Seibert, J.: Downsizing parameter
ensembles for simulations of rare floods, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 20,
3521–3549, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-3521-2020, 2020.
Staudinger, M. and Viviroli, D. (Eds.): Extremhochwasser an der Aare:
Detailbericht A Projekt EXAR. Hydrometeorologische Grundlagen, University of Zurich, Zurich, https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-201388, 2020.
Staudinger, M., Furrer, R., and Viviroli, D.: Hochwasserereignisse aus
kontinuierlicher Langzeitsimulation zur Überprüfung der Sicherheit der Stauanlagen: Projektschlussbericht im Auftrag des Bundesamts für
Energie (BFE), Geographisches Institut der Universität Zürich, Zurich, https://pubdb.bfe.admin.ch/de/publication/download/10451 (last access: 12 August 2022), 2021.
swisstopo: DHM25: Das digitale Höhenmodell der Schweiz, Wabern, https://www.swisstopo.admin.ch/content/swisstopo-internet/de/geodata/height/dhm25/_jcr_content/contentPar/tabs_copy/items/dokumente/tabPar/downloadlist/downloadItems/868_1464696772548.download/dhm25infode.pdf (last access: 12 August 2022), 2005.
Ternynck, C., Ben Alaya, M. A., Chebana, F., Dabo-Niang, S., and Ouarda, T.
B. M. J.: Streamflow Hydrograph Classification Using Functional Data Analysis, J. Hydrometeorl., 17, 327–344, https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-14-0200.1, 2016.
Thiessen, A. H.: Precipitation Averages for Large Areas, Mon. Weather Rev., 39, 1082–1084, 1911.
Vetsch, D., Siviglia, A., Caponi, F., Ehrbar, D., Gerke, E., Kammerer, S.,
Koch, A., Peter, S., Vanzo, D., Vonwiller, L., Facchini, M., Gerber, M.,
Volz, C., Farshi, D., Mueller, R., Rousselot, P., Veprek, R., and Faeh, R.:
System Manuals of BASEMENT, Version 2.8, Laboratory of Hydraulics,
Glaciology and Hydrology (VAW), ETH Zurich, Zurich, http://people.ee.ethz.ch/~basement/baseweb/download/documentation/previous/v2-8/BMdoc_Tutorials_v2-8.pdf (last access: 12 August 2022), 2018.
Vischer, D. L.: Das höchstmögliche Hochwasser und der empirische
Grenzabfluss, Schweizer Ingenieur und Architekt, 98, 981–984,
https://doi.org/10.5169/seals-74218, 1980.
Vischer, D. L.: Die Geschichte des Hochwasserschutzes in der Schweiz: Von
den Anfängen bis ins 19. Jahrhundert, Berichte des BWG, Serie Wasser, 5,
BWG – Bundesamt für Wasser und Geologie, Biel, 208 pp., https://www.bafu.admin.ch/dam/bafu/de/dokumente/wasser/uw-umwelt-wissen/die_geschichte_deshochwasserschutzesinderschweizvondenanfaengenb.pdf.download.pdf/die_geschichte_deshochwasserschutzesinderschweizvondenanfaengenb.pdf (last access: 12 August 2022), 2003.
Viviroli, D. and Whealton, C.: Correction of inconsistency in AP2
hydrological model runs, in: Extremhochwasser an der Aare: Detailbericht A
Projekt EXAR, Hydrometeorologische Grundlagen, edited by: Staudinger, M. and
Viviroli, D., University of Zurich, Zurich, 96–104, https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-201388, 2020.
Viviroli, D., Zappa, M., Gurtz, J., and Weingartner, R.: An introduction to
the hydrological modelling system PREVAH and its pre- and post-processing-tools, Environ. Model. Softw., 24, 1209–1222,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2009.04.001, 2009a.
Viviroli, D., Mittelbach, H., Gurtz, J., and Weingartner, R.: Continuous
simulation for flood estimation in ungauged mesoscale catchments of Switzerland – Part II: Parameter regionalisation and flood estimation
results, J. Hydrol., 377, 208–225, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.08.022, 2009b.
Vrugt, J. A., Gupta, H. V., Bouten, W., and Sorooshian, S.: A Shuffled Complex Evolution Metropolis algorithm for optimization and uncertainty
assessment of hydrologic model parameters, Water Resour. Res., 39, 1201,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2002WR001642, 2003.
Weingartner, R. and Aschwanden, H.: Discharge Regime – the Basis for the
Estimation of Average Flows, Hydrological Atlas of Switzerland, Plate 5.2,
FOEN – Federal Office for the Environment, Bern, ISBN 3952026204, 1992.
Westerberg, I. K.: Discharge uncertainty (rating curve), in: Extremhochwasser an der Aare: Detailbericht A Projekt EXAR. Hydrometeorologische Grundlagen, edited by: Staudinger, M. and Viviroli, D., University of Zurich, Zurich,
105–118, https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-201388, 2020.
Westerberg, I. K., Sikorska-Senoner, A. E., Viviroli, D., Vis, M., and
Seibert, J.: Hydrological model calibration with uncertain discharge data,
Hydrolog. Sci. J., https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2020.1735638, in press, 2020.
Wetter, O.: Rekonstruktion vorinstrumenteller Scheitelwasserstände der
Aare – einschliesslich ihrer wichtigsten Zubringer Saane, Emme, Reuss und
Limmat inklusive einer Meteoumfeldanalyse für die extremsten Hochwasser:
Non-public pilot study for the EXAR project commissioned by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), Bern, 148 pp., https://www.wetter-risk.ch/referenzen/auftragsstudien/ (last access: 29 August 2022), 2015.
Wetter, O.: The potential of historical hydrology in Switzerland, Hydrol.
Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 5781–5803, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-5781-2017, 2017.
Wilks, D. S.: Multisite generalization of a daily stochastic precipitation
generation model, J. Hydrol., 210, 178–191, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-1694(98)00186-3, 1998.
Wilks, D. S. and Wilby, R. L.: The weather generation game: a review of
stochastic weather models, Prog. Phys. Geogr., 23, 329–357,
https://doi.org/10.1177/030913339902300302, 1999.
Winter, B., Schneeberger, K., Dung, N. V., Huttenlau, M., Achleitner, S.,
Stötter, J., Merz, B., and Vorogushyn, S.: A continuous modelling
approach for design flood estimation on sub-daily time scale, Hydrolog. Sci.
J., 64, 539–554, https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2019.1593419, 2019.
World Meteorological Organization: Guide to Hydrological Practice: Data
acquisition and processing, analysis, forecasting and other applications,
Fifth edition, WMO Publ., 168, WMO, Geneva, 1994.
World Meteorological Organization: Manual on Estimation of Probable Maximum
Precipitation (PMP), WMO Publ. 1045, WMO, 291 pp., ISBN 978-92-63-11045-9, 2009.
Zhang, Y. and Singh, V. P.: Quantifying Uncertainty of Probable Maximum Flood, J. Hydrol. Eng., 26, 04021041, https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)HE.1943-5584.0002142, 2021.
Zischg, A. P., Felder, G., Weingartner, R., Quinn, N., Coxon, G., Neal, J.,
Freer, J., and Bates, P.: Effects of variability in probable maximum
precipitation patterns on flood losses, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22,
2759–2773, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-2759-2018, 2018.
Zorzetto, E., Botter, G., and Marani, M.: On the emergence of rainfall
extremes from ordinary events, Geophys. Res. Lett., 43, 8076–8082,
https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069445, 2016.
Executive editor
This paper is very relevant for science but also society: the paper presents an approach for estimating rare to very rare floods at multiple sites in a large river basin. Compared to statistical approaches based on streamflow observations, the Continuous Simulation (CS) approach has substantial advantages in that it explicitly considers important processes of flood generation such as soil moisture, snow accumulation and snowmelt, and in addition can implement lake regulation, dam operation as well as lake and floodplain retention
This paper is very relevant for science but also society: the paper presents an approach for...
Short summary
Estimating the magnitude of rare to very rare floods is a challenging task due to a lack of sufficiently long observations. The challenge is even greater in large river basins, where precipitation patterns and amounts differ considerably between individual events and floods from different parts of the basin coincide. We show that a hydrometeorological model chain can provide plausible estimates in this setting and can thus inform flood risk and safety assessments for critical infrastructure.
Estimating the magnitude of rare to very rare floods is a challenging task due to a lack of...
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint