Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2022-404
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2022-404
20 Dec 2022
 | 20 Dec 2022
Status: this discussion paper is a preprint. It has been under review for the journal Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS). The manuscript was not accepted for further review after discussion.

Beyond precipitation: diversity of drivers of high river flows in European near-natural catchments

Manal Lam'barki, Wantong Li, Sungmin O, Chunhui Zhan, and Rene Orth

Abstract. High streamflow in rivers can lead to flooding, which may have severe impacts on economy, society and ecosystems. Therefore it is imperative to understand their underlying physical mechanisms. Previous research has illustrated the relevance of several hydrological drivers, such as precipitation, snowmelt and soil moisture. However, the relative importance of these drivers compared with each other is unclear. Moreover, the role of vegetation-related drivers is not well studied. In this study, we focus on high river flows and consider a comprehensive set of potential drivers and analyze their relative importance. This is done with streamflow observations from over 250 near-natural catchments located across Europe during 1984–2007, which are matched with driver data from various observation-based sources. Not surprisingly, we find that precipitation is the most relevant driver of high river flows in most catchments. In addition, and more interestingly, we show that next to precipitation a diversity of other drivers is relevant for high flows, including shallow soil moisture, deep soil moisture, snowmelt, evapotranspiration and leaf area index. These non-precipitation drivers tend to be even more relevant for more extreme high flows. The relative importance of most considered drivers is similar across daily, weekly and monthly time scales. The spatial patterns of the relevance of precipitation, snowmelt and soil moisture for supporting high river flows are controlled by vegetation types and terrain characteristics, while climate and basin area are less important. By analyzing a comprehensive selection of drivers of high river flow in a powerful framework which accounts for co-linearities between drivers, this study advances the understanding of flood generation processes and informs respective model development.

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Manal Lam'barki, Wantong Li, Sungmin O, Chunhui Zhan, and Rene Orth

Status: closed

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on hess-2022-404', Anonymous Referee #1, 10 Jan 2023
  • RC2: 'Comment on hess-2022-404', Anonymous Referee #2, 01 Feb 2023

Status: closed

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on hess-2022-404', Anonymous Referee #1, 10 Jan 2023
  • RC2: 'Comment on hess-2022-404', Anonymous Referee #2, 01 Feb 2023
Manal Lam'barki, Wantong Li, Sungmin O, Chunhui Zhan, and Rene Orth
Manal Lam'barki, Wantong Li, Sungmin O, Chunhui Zhan, and Rene Orth

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Short summary
We investigate the main drivers of high river flows in near-natural European catchments. While there are a lot of previous research in this area, the understanding of the relative relevance of high flow drivers other than precipitation is understudied. We find that the secondary drivers of high river flows are very diverse and become more relevant for more extreme events. This illustrates the necessity of flood management by considering a multitude of drivers in the context of climate change.