Abstract
Abstract. The growing concern about the possible effects of climate change on flood frequency regime is leading Authorities to review previously proposed reference procedures for design-flood estimation, such as national flood frequency models. Our study focuses on Triveneto, a broad geographical region in North-eastern Italy. A reference procedure for design flood estimation in Triveneto is available from the Italian NCR research project "VA.PI.", which considered Triveneto as a single homogeneous region and developed a regional model using annual maximum series (AMS) of peak discharges that were collected up to the 1980s by the former Italian Hydrometeorological Service. We consider a very detailed AMS database that we recently compiled for 76 catchments located in Triveneto. All 76 study catchments are characterized in terms of several geomorphologic and climatic descriptors. The objective of our study is threefold: (1) to inspect climatic and scale controls on flood frequency regime; (2) to verify the possible presence of changes in flood frequency regime by looking at changes in time of regional L-moments of annual maximum floods; (3) to develop an updated reference procedure for design flood estimation in Triveneto by using a focused-pooling approach (i.e. Region of Influence, RoI). Our study leads to the following conclusions: (1) climatic and scale controls on flood frequency regime in Triveneto are similar to the controls that were recently found in Europe; (2) a single year characterized by extreme floods can have a remarkable influence on regional flood frequency models and analyses for detecting possible changes in flood frequency regime; (3) no significant change was detected in the flood frequency regime, yet an update of the existing reference procedure for design flood estimation is highly recommended and we propose the RoI approach for properly representing climate and scale controls on flood frequency in Triveneto, which cannot be regarded as a single homogeneous region.
Highlights
One of the most common tasks in hydrology is to produce an accurate estimation of the design flood at ungauged or sparsely gauged river cross-sections
The objective of our study is threefold: (1) to check whether climatic and scale controls on flood frequency regime in Triveneto are similar to the controls that were recently found in Europe; (2) to verify the possible presence of changes in flood frequency regime by looking at changes in time of regional L-moments of annual maximum floods; (3) to develop an updated reference procedure for design flood estimation in Triveneto by using a focusedpooling approach (i.e. Region of Influence, RoI; see Burn, 1990)
The first main aim of our study is to check whether climatic and scale controls on flood frequency regime in Triveneto are similar to the controls that were recently found in Europe by Salinas et al (2014)
Summary
One of the most common tasks in hydrology is to produce an accurate estimation of the design flood at ungauged or sparsely gauged river cross-sections (see e.g. Salinas et al, 2014, and references therein). Salinas et al, 2014, and references therein) This task is often addressed by means of regional flood frequency analysis by collecting flood data from gauged basins which are supposed to be hydrologically similar to the target (ungauged or sparsely gauged) basin (see Hosking and Wallis, 1993). The objective of our study is threefold: (1) to check whether climatic and scale controls on flood frequency regime in Triveneto are similar to the controls that were recently found in Europe; (2) to verify the possible presence of changes in flood frequency regime by looking at changes in time of regional L-moments of annual maximum floods (see Hosking and Wallis, 1993, for an introduction to Lmoments); (3) to develop an updated reference procedure for design flood estimation in Triveneto by using a focusedpooling approach (i.e. Region of Influence, RoI; see Burn, 1990)
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