Abstract
Abstract. This paper addresses the identification and evaluation of extreme flood events in the transitional area between western and central Europe in the period 1951–2013. Floods are evaluated in terms of three variants on an extremity index that combines discharge values with the spatial extent of flooding. The indices differ in the threshold of the considered maximum discharges; the flood extent is expressed by a length of affected river network. This study demonstrates that using the index with a higher flood discharge limit changes the floods' rankings significantly. It also highlights the high severity events. In general, we detected an increase in the proportion of warm half-year floods when using a higher discharge limit. Nevertheless, cold half-year floods still predominate in the lists because they generally affect large areas. This study demonstrates the increasing representation of warm half-year floods from the northwest to the southeast.
Highlights
Hydrological events, especially floods, are serious natural hazards in western and central Europe (Kundzewicz et al, 2005; Munich Re, 2015)
As we mainly focus on extensive floods affecting more river basins at the same time, three lists of 30 major floods are created according to values of the index variants (Table 1)
This paper addresses the evaluation of major flood events in the transitional area between western and central Europe in the period 1951–2013
Summary
Hydrological events, especially floods, are serious natural hazards in western and central Europe (Kundzewicz et al, 2005; Munich Re, 2015). Uhlemann et al (2010) call these floods trans-basin They are usually triggered by persistent heavy rainfall and/or snowmelt. Differences in the causes of river floods can be detected between the western and central parts of Europe. This is largely due to cyclones moving along the Vb pathway described by van Bebber (1891). These cyclones move from the Adriatic in a northeasterly direction (e.g., Nissen et al, 2014), and the “overturning” moisture flux brings warm and moist air into the central part of Europe (Müller and Kašpar, 2010). It is not possible to delineate the borders of western and central Europe precisely with respect to differences in their flood events because of a broad transitional zone where both types of flooding occur
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