Articles | Volume 28, issue 16
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3755-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3755-2024
Research article
 | Highlight paper
 | 
20 Aug 2024
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 20 Aug 2024

An increase in the spatial extent of European floods over the last 70 years

Beijing Fang, Emanuele Bevacqua, Oldrich Rakovec, and Jakob Zscheischler

Related authors

EARLS: A runoff reconstruction dataset for Europe
Daniel Klotz, Peter Miersch, Thiago V. M. do Nascimento, Fabrizio Fenicia, Martin Gauch, and Jakob Zscheischler
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-450,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-450, 2025
Preprint under review for ESSD
Short summary
Improved representation of soil moisture processes through incorporation of cosmic-ray neutron count measurements in a large-scale hydrologic model
Eshrat Fatima, Rohini Kumar, Sabine Attinger, Maren Kaluza, Oldrich Rakovec, Corinna Rebmann, Rafael Rosolem, Sascha E. Oswald, Luis Samaniego, Steffen Zacharias, and Martin Schrön
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 5419–5441, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5419-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5419-2024, 2024
Short summary
Unveiling the Impact of Potential Evapotranspiration Method Selection on Trends in Hydrological Cycle Components Across Europe
Vishal Thakur, Yannis Markonis, Rohini Kumar, Johanna Ruth Thomson, Mijael Rodrigo Vargas Godoy, Martin Hanel, and Oldrich Rakovec
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-341,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-341, 2024
Preprint under review for HESS
Short summary
Review article: The growth in compound weather events research in the decade since SREX
Lou Brett, Christopher J. White, Daniela I.V. Domeisen, Bart van den Hurk, Philip Ward, and Jakob Zscheischler
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2024-182,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2024-182, 2024
Preprint under review for NHESS
Short summary
Technical Note: The divide and measure nonconformity – how metrics can mislead when we evaluate on different data partitions
Daniel Klotz, Martin Gauch, Frederik Kratzert, Grey Nearing, and Jakob Zscheischler
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 3665–3673, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3665-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3665-2024, 2024
Short summary

Related subject area

Subject: Hydrometeorology | Techniques and Approaches: Modelling approaches
High-resolution land surface modelling over Africa: the role of uncertain soil properties in combination with forcing temporal resolution
Bamidele Oloruntoba, Stefan Kollet, Carsten Montzka, Harry Vereecken, and Harrie-Jan Hendricks Franssen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 1659–1683, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1659-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1659-2025, 2025
Short summary
Investigating the global and regional response of drought to idealized deforestation using multiple global climate models
Yan Li, Bo Huang, Chunping Tan, Xia Zhang, Francesco Cherubini, and Henning W. Rust
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 1637–1658, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1637-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1637-2025, 2025
Short summary
Distribution, trends, and drivers of flash droughts in the United Kingdom
Iván Noguera, Jamie Hannaford, and Maliko Tanguy
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 1295–1317, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1295-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1295-2025, 2025
Short summary
Are dependencies of extreme rainfall on humidity more reliable in convection-permitting climate models?
Geert Lenderink, Nikolina Ban, Erwan Brisson, Ségolène Berthou, Virginia Edith Cortés-Hernández, Elizabeth Kendon, Hayley J. Fowler, and Hylke de Vries
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 1201–1220, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1201-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1201-2025, 2025
Short summary
Leveraging a radar-based disdrometer network to develop a probabilistic precipitation phase model in eastern Canada
Alexis Bédard-Therrien, François Anctil, Julie M. Thériault, Olivier Chalifour, Fanny Payette, Alexandre Vidal, and Daniel F. Nadeau
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 1135–1158, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1135-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1135-2025, 2025
Short summary

Cited articles

Alfieri, L., Burek, P., Dutra, E., Krzeminski, B., Muraro, D., Thielen, J., and Pappenberger, F.: GloFAS – global ensemble streamflow forecasting and flood early warning, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 1161–1175, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-1161-2013, 2013. a
Archer, C. L. and Caldeira, K.: Historical trends in the jet streams, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L08803, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008GL033614, 2008. a
Berghuijs, W. R., Allen, S. T., Harrigan, S., and Kirchner, J. W.: Growing spatial scales of synchronous river flooding in Europe, Geophys. Res. Lett., 46, 1423–1428, 2019a. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h
Berghuijs, W. R., Harrigan, S., Molnar, P., Slater, L. J., and Kirchner, J. W.: The relative importance of different flood-generating mechanisms across Europe, Water Resour. Res., 55, 4582–4593, 2019b. a
Bertola, M., Viglione, A., Vorogushyn, S., Lun, D., Merz, B., and Blöschl, G.: Do small and large floods have the same drivers of change? A regional attribution analysis in Europe, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 1347–1364, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-1347-2021, 2021. a
Download
Executive editor
The topic is of interest to a wide audience. The authors have developed a new approach to assess changes in the spatial extent of flooding.
Short summary
We use grid-based runoff from a hydrological model to identify large spatiotemporally connected flood events in Europe, assess extent trends over the last 70 years, and attribute the trends to different drivers. Our findings reveal a general increase in flood extent, with regional variations driven by diverse factors. The study not only enables a thorough examination of flood events across multiple basins but also highlights the potential challenges arising from changing flood extents.
Share