Rivers in the sky, flooding on the ground
The role of the large scale atmospheric circulation and atmospheric rivers (ARs) in producing extreme flooding and heavy rainfall events in the lower part of Rhine River catchment area is examined in this study. Analysis of the largest 10 floods in the lower Rhine, between 1817–2015, indicate that a...
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:hessd84853 2023-05-15T16:29:45+02:00 Rivers in the sky, flooding on the ground Ionita, Monica Nagavciuc, Viorica Guan, Bin 2020-04-14 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2020-149 https://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci-discuss.net/hess-2020-149/ eng eng doi:10.5194/hess-2020-149 https://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci-discuss.net/hess-2020-149/ eISSN: 1607-7938 Text 2020 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2020-149 2020-04-27T14:42:04Z The role of the large scale atmospheric circulation and atmospheric rivers (ARs) in producing extreme flooding and heavy rainfall events in the lower part of Rhine River catchment area is examined in this study. Analysis of the largest 10 floods in the lower Rhine, between 1817–2015, indicate that all these extreme flood peaks have been preceded up to 7 days in advance by intense moisture transport from the tropical North Atlantic basin, in the form of narrow bands, also know as atmospheric rivers. The influence of ARs on the Rhine River flood events is done via the prevailing large-scale atmospheric circulation. 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 towards Europe and a stable high pressure center over the northern part of Africa and southern part of Europe. The days preceding the flood peaks, lower (upper) level convergence (divergence) is observed over the analyzed region, which is an indication of strong vertical motions and heavy rainfall. The results presented in this study offer new insights regarding the importance of tropical moisture transport as driver of extreme flooding in the lower part of Rhine River catchment area and we show for the first time that ARs are an useful tool for the identification of potential damaging floods inland Europe. Text Greenland North Atlantic Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Greenland |
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Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
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ftcopernicus |
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English |
description |
The role of the large scale atmospheric circulation and atmospheric rivers (ARs) in producing extreme flooding and heavy rainfall events in the lower part of Rhine River catchment area is examined in this study. Analysis of the largest 10 floods in the lower Rhine, between 1817–2015, indicate that all these extreme flood peaks have been preceded up to 7 days in advance by intense moisture transport from the tropical North Atlantic basin, in the form of narrow bands, also know as atmospheric rivers. The influence of ARs on the Rhine River flood events is done via the prevailing large-scale atmospheric circulation. 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 towards Europe and a stable high pressure center over the northern part of Africa and southern part of Europe. The days preceding the flood peaks, lower (upper) level convergence (divergence) is observed over the analyzed region, which is an indication of strong vertical motions and heavy rainfall. The results presented in this study offer new insights regarding the importance of tropical moisture transport as driver of extreme flooding in the lower part of Rhine River catchment area and we show for the first time that ARs are an useful tool for the identification of potential damaging floods 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 |
author_facet |
Ionita, Monica Nagavciuc, Viorica Guan, Bin |
author_sort |
Ionita, Monica |
title |
Rivers in the sky, flooding on the ground |
title_short |
Rivers in the sky, flooding on the ground |
title_full |
Rivers in the sky, flooding on the ground |
title_fullStr |
Rivers in the sky, flooding on the ground |
title_full_unstemmed |
Rivers in the sky, flooding on the ground |
title_sort |
rivers in the sky, flooding on the ground |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2020-149 https://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci-discuss.net/hess-2020-149/ |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Greenland North Atlantic |
op_source |
eISSN: 1607-7938 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/hess-2020-149 https://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci-discuss.net/hess-2020-149/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2020-149 |
_version_ |
1766019460974510080 |