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I saw a report on the Schelde river. The total amount of water transported per year is not changing. But the difference in volume varies much more than it use

I saw a report on the Schelde river. The total amount of water transported per year is not changing. But the difference in volume varies much more than it used to. We have longer periods with lower water heights, and more extreme heights on peak days. This means a few things: Salinity of the sea perpetrates deeper on land. The risk of drinkable water buffers getting depleted grows. The risk for flooding rises.

blueflow 2y ago
Central Europe is in recovery from widespread deforestation. The regrowing forests act as a increasing buffer, weakening floods, overshadowing the effects of climate change.
- dredmorbius 2y ago
  And yet the increased flood event trend is despite forest recovery.
  - blueflow 2y ago
    I'm still not convinced the flood event trend is actually increasing. And i should be if I'm living in the Elbe valley.
    - dredmorbius 2y ago
      "Current European flood-rich period exceptional compared with past 500 years" (2020) We show that the past three decades were among the most flood-rich periods in Europe in the past 500 years, and that this period differs from other flood-rich periods in terms of its extent, air temperatures and flood seasonality. We identified nine flood-rich periods and associated regions. Among the periods richest in floods are 1560–1580 (western and central Europe), 1760–1800 (most of Europe), 1840–1870 (western and southern Europe) and 1990–2016 (western and central Europe). In most parts of Europe, previous flood-rich periods occurred during cooler-than-usual phases, but the current flood-rich period has been much warmer. Flood seasonality is also more pronounced in the recent period. For example, during previous flood and interflood periods, 41 per cent and 42 per cent of central European floods occurred in summer, respectively, compared with 55 per cent of floods in the recent period. The exceptional nature of the present-day flood-rich period calls for process-based tools for flood-risk assessment that capture the physical mechanisms involved, and management strategies that can incorporate the recent changes in risk. <https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2478-3 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2478-3>

blueflow 2y ago

Central Europe is in recovery from widespread deforestation. The regrowing forests act as a increasing buffer, weakening floods, overshadowing the effects of climate change.

dredmorbius 2y ago
And yet the increased flood event trend is despite forest recovery.
- blueflow 2y ago
  I'm still not convinced the flood event trend is actually increasing. And i should be if I'm living in the Elbe valley.
  - dredmorbius 2y ago
    "Current European flood-rich period exceptional compared with past 500 years" (2020) We show that the past three decades were among the most flood-rich periods in Europe in the past 500 years, and that this period differs from other flood-rich periods in terms of its extent, air temperatures and flood seasonality. We identified nine flood-rich periods and associated regions. Among the periods richest in floods are 1560–1580 (western and central Europe), 1760–1800 (most of Europe), 1840–1870 (western and southern Europe) and 1990–2016 (western and central Europe). In most parts of Europe, previous flood-rich periods occurred during cooler-than-usual phases, but the current flood-rich period has been much warmer. Flood seasonality is also more pronounced in the recent period. For example, during previous flood and interflood periods, 41 per cent and 42 per cent of central European floods occurred in summer, respectively, compared with 55 per cent of floods in the recent period. The exceptional nature of the present-day flood-rich period calls for process-based tools for flood-risk assessment that capture the physical mechanisms involved, and management strategies that can incorporate the recent changes in risk. <https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2478-3 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2478-3>