Rivers in the sky, flooding on the ground: the role of atmospheric rivers in inland flooding in central Europe
The role of large-scale atmospheric circulation and atmospheric rivers (ARs) in producing extreme flooding and heavy rainfall events in the lower part of the Rhine catchment area is examined in this study. Analysis of the largest 10 floods in the lower Rhine, between 1817 and 2015, shows that all th...
Published in: | Hydrology and Earth System Sciences |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2020
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-5125-2020 https://hess.copernicus.org/articles/24/5125/2020/ |
id |
ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:hess84853 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:hess84853 2023-05-15T16:29:56+02:00 Rivers in the sky, flooding on the ground: the role of atmospheric rivers in inland flooding in central Europe Ionita, Monica Nagavciuc, Viorica Guan, Bin 2020-11-05 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-5125-2020 https://hess.copernicus.org/articles/24/5125/2020/ eng eng doi:10.5194/hess-24-5125-2020 https://hess.copernicus.org/articles/24/5125/2020/ eISSN: 1607-7938 Text 2020 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-5125-2020 2020-11-09T17:22:13Z The role of large-scale atmospheric circulation and atmospheric rivers (ARs) in producing extreme flooding and heavy rainfall events in the lower part of the Rhine catchment area is examined in this study. Analysis of the largest 10 floods in the lower Rhine, between 1817 and 2015, shows that all these extreme flood peaks have been preceded up to 7 d in advance by intense moisture transport from the tropical North Atlantic basin in the form of narrow bands also known as atmospheric rivers. Most of the ARs associated with these flood events are embedded in the trailing fronts of the extratropical cyclones. The typical large-scale atmospheric circulation leading to heavy rainfall and flooding in the lower Rhine is characterized by a low pressure center south of Greenland, which migrates toward Europe, and a stable high pressure center over the northern part of Africa and the southern part of Europe and projects on the positive phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation. On the days preceding the flood peaks, lower (upper) level convergence (divergence) is observed over the analyzed region, which indicates strong vertical motions and heavy rainfall. Vertically integrated water vapor transport (IVT) exceeds 600 kg m −1 s −1 for the largest floods, marking these as very strong ARs. The results presented in this study offer new insights regarding the importance of moisture transport as a driver of extreme flooding in the lower part of the Rhine catchment area, and we show, for the first time, that ARs are a useful tool for the identification of potentially damaging floods in inland Europe. Text Greenland North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Greenland Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 24 11 5125 5147 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
op_collection_id |
ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
The role of large-scale atmospheric circulation and atmospheric rivers (ARs) in producing extreme flooding and heavy rainfall events in the lower part of the Rhine catchment area is examined in this study. Analysis of the largest 10 floods in the lower Rhine, between 1817 and 2015, shows that all these extreme flood peaks have been preceded up to 7 d in advance by intense moisture transport from the tropical North Atlantic basin in the form of narrow bands also known as atmospheric rivers. Most of the ARs associated with these flood events are embedded in the trailing fronts of the extratropical cyclones. The typical large-scale atmospheric circulation leading to heavy rainfall and flooding in the lower Rhine is characterized by a low pressure center south of Greenland, which migrates toward Europe, and a stable high pressure center over the northern part of Africa and the southern part of Europe and projects on the positive phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation. On the days preceding the flood peaks, lower (upper) level convergence (divergence) is observed over the analyzed region, which indicates strong vertical motions and heavy rainfall. Vertically integrated water vapor transport (IVT) exceeds 600 kg m −1 s −1 for the largest floods, marking these as very strong ARs. The results presented in this study offer new insights regarding the importance of moisture transport as a driver of extreme flooding in the lower part of the Rhine catchment area, and we show, for the first time, that ARs are a useful tool for the identification of potentially damaging floods in inland Europe. |
format |
Text |
author |
Ionita, Monica Nagavciuc, Viorica Guan, Bin |
spellingShingle |
Ionita, Monica Nagavciuc, Viorica Guan, Bin Rivers in the sky, flooding on the ground: the role of atmospheric rivers in inland flooding in central Europe |
author_facet |
Ionita, Monica Nagavciuc, Viorica Guan, Bin |
author_sort |
Ionita, Monica |
title |
Rivers in the sky, flooding on the ground: the role of atmospheric rivers in inland flooding in central Europe |
title_short |
Rivers in the sky, flooding on the ground: the role of atmospheric rivers in inland flooding in central Europe |
title_full |
Rivers in the sky, flooding on the ground: the role of atmospheric rivers in inland flooding in central Europe |
title_fullStr |
Rivers in the sky, flooding on the ground: the role of atmospheric rivers in inland flooding in central Europe |
title_full_unstemmed |
Rivers in the sky, flooding on the ground: the role of atmospheric rivers in inland flooding in central Europe |
title_sort |
rivers in the sky, flooding on the ground: the role of atmospheric rivers in inland flooding in central europe |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-5125-2020 https://hess.copernicus.org/articles/24/5125/2020/ |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
genre_facet |
Greenland North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
op_source |
eISSN: 1607-7938 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/hess-24-5125-2020 https://hess.copernicus.org/articles/24/5125/2020/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-5125-2020 |
container_title |
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences |
container_volume |
24 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
5125 |
op_container_end_page |
5147 |
_version_ |
1766019636627767296 |