Universität zu Köln

Benito, Gerardo ORCID: 0000-0003-0724-1790, Sanchez-Moya, Yolanda ORCID: 0000-0002-1966-3838, Medialdea, Alicia ORCID: 0000-0001-5895-0736, Barriendos, Mariano, Calle, Mikel ORCID: 0000-0003-1590-6772, Rico, Mayte, Sopena, Alfonso and Machado, Maria J. (2020). Extreme Floods in Small Mediterranean Catchments: Long-Term Response to Climate Variability and Change. Water, 12 (4). BASEL: MDPI. ISSN 2073-4441

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Abstract

Climate change implies changes in the frequency and magnitude of flood events. The influence of climate variability on flooding was evaluated by an analysis of sedimentary (palaeofloods) and documentary archives. A 500-year palaeoflood record at Montilea River (657 km(2) in catchment area), eastern Spain, revealed up to 31 palaeofloods with a range of discharges of 20-950 m(3) s(-1), and with at least five floods exceeding 740-950 m(3) s(-1). This information contrasts with the available gauged flood registers (since year 1971) with an annual maximum daily discharge of 129 m(3) s(-1). Our palaeoflood dataset indicates flood cluster episodes at (1) 1570-1620, (2) 1775-1795, (3) 1850-1890, and (4) 1920-1969. Flood rich periods 1 and 3 corresponded to cooler than usual (about 0.3 degrees C and 0.2 degrees C) climate oscillations, whereas 2 and 4 were characterised by higher inter-annual climatic variability (floods and droughts). This high inter-annual rainfall variability increased over the last 150 years, leading to a reduction of annual maximum flow. Flood quantiles (>50 years) calculated from palaeoflood+gauged data showed 30%-40% higher peak discharges than those using only instrumental records, whereas when increasing the catchment area (1500 km(2)) the discharge estimation variance decreased to-15%. The results reflect the higher sensitivity of small catchments to changes on flood magnitude and frequency due to climate variability whereas a larger catchment buffers the response due to the limited extent of convective storms. Our findings show that extended flood records provide robust knowledge about hazardous flooding that can assist in the prioritization of low-regret actions for flood-risk adaptation to climate change.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Benito, Gerardo UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0003-0724-1790 UNSPECIFIED Sanchez-Moya, Yolanda UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0002-1966-3838 UNSPECIFIED Medialdea, Alicia UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0001-5895-0736 UNSPECIFIED Barriendos, Mariano UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Calle, Mikel UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0003-1590-6772 UNSPECIFIED Rico, Mayte UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Sopena, Alfonso UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Machado, Maria J. UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-338101
DOI:	10.3390/w12041008
Journal or Publication Title:	Water
Volume:	12
Number:	4
Date:	2020
Publisher:	MDPI
Place of Publication:	BASEL
ISSN:	2073-4441
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language FREQUENCY-ANALYSIS; PALEOFLOOD HYDROLOGY; DOCUMENTARY SOURCES; SINGLE GRAINS; NE SPAIN; RIVER; LUMINESCENCE; EVENTS; RECORD; QUARTZ Multiple languages Water Resources Multiple languages
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/33810