Articles | Volume 25, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-257-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-257-2021
Research article
 | 
18 Jan 2021
Research article |  | 18 Jan 2021

Ubiquitous increases in flood magnitude in the Columbia River basin under climate change

Laura E. Queen, Philip W. Mote, David E. Rupp, Oriana Chegwidden, and Bart Nijssen

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Cited articles

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Chegwidden, O. S., Nijssen, B., Rupp, D. E., Arnold, J. R., Clark, M. P., Hamman, J. J., Kao, S., Mao, Y., Mizukami, N., Mote, P., Pan, M., Pytlak, E., and Xiao, M.: How Do Modeling Decisions Affect the Spread Among Hydrologic Climate Change Projections? Exploring a Large Ensemble of Simulations Across a Diversity of Hydroclimates, Earths Future, 7, 623–637, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018EF001047, 2019. 
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Using a large ensemble of simulated flows throughout the northwestern USA, we compare daily flood statistics in the past (1950–1999) and future (2050–1999) periods and find that nearly all locations will experience an increase in flood magnitudes. The flood season expands significantly in many currently snow-dominant rivers, moving from only spring to both winter and spring. These results, properly extended, may help inform flood risk management and negotiations of the Columbia River Treaty.
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