| 1. |
- Frolova, Natalia L., et al.
(author)
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Runoff fluctuations in the Selenga River Basin
- 2017
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In: Regional Environmental Change. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1436-3798 .- 1436-378X. ; 17:7, s. 1965-1976
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Selenga River has historically provided 50% of the total freshwater water input to the Lake Baikal, transporting substances and pollutants that can considerably impact the unique lake ecosystem. In the context of on-going regional to global change, we here aim at identifying and understanding mechanisms behind spatial and temporal variability and trends in the flow of the Selenga River and its tributaries, based on hydrological and meteorological station data (since the 1930s), remote sensing, and statistical analyses. Results show that the flow of the Selenga River exhibits cycles with phases of high flows lasting 12 to 17 years and phases of low flows that historically lasted for about 7 years. However, despite an asynchronous behavior between right-bank tributaries and left-bank tributaries, the flow of the Selenga River near its delta at Lake Baikal has now been low (30% below the 1934-1975 average) for as long as 20 years, due to reduced input from precipitation, particularly during the summer season. Observed decreases in annual maximum hourly flows and decreases in annual minimum 30-day flows are consistent with increasing activation of the groundwater system due to thawing permafrost, and higher winter temperatures that support increased winter flows by preventing rivers to freeze from top to bottom. These recent and relatively large changes have implications for regional water planning and management, including the planned large-scale hydropower expansion in the upper part of the Selenga River Basin.
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| 2. |
- Kreibich, Heidi, et al.
(author)
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Panta Rhei benchmark dataset : Socio-hydrological data of paired events of floods and droughts
- 2023
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In: Earth System Science Data. - : Copernicus Publications. - 1866-3508 .- 1866-3516. ; 15:5, s. 2009-2023
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- As the adverse impacts of hydrological extremes increase in many regions of the world, a better understanding of the drivers of changes in risk and impacts is essential for effective flood and drought risk management and climate adaptation. However, there is currently a lack of comprehensive, empirical data about the processes, interactions, and feedbacks in complex human-water systems leading to flood and drought impacts. Here we present a benchmark dataset containing socio-hydrological data of paired events, i.e. two floods or two droughts that occurred in the same area. The 45 paired events occurred in 42 different study areas and cover a wide range of socio-economic and hydro-climatic conditions. The dataset is unique in covering both floods and droughts, in the number of cases assessed and in the quantity of socio-hydrological data. The benchmark dataset comprises (1) detailed review-style reports about the events and key processes between the two events of a pair; (2) the key data table containing variables that assess the indicators which characterize management shortcomings, hazard, exposure, vulnerability, and impacts of all events; and (3) a table of the indicators of change that indicate the differences between the first and second event of a pair. The advantages of the dataset are that it enables comparative analyses across all the paired events based on the indicators of change and allows for detailed context- and location-specific assessments based on the extensive data and reports of the individual study areas. The dataset can be used by the scientific community for exploratory data analyses, e.g. focused on causal links between risk management; changes in hazard, exposure and vulnerability; and flood or drought impacts. The data can also be used for the development, calibration, and validation of socio-hydrological models. The dataset is available to the public through the GFZ Data Services (Kreibich et al., 2023, 10.5880/GFZ.4.4.2023.001).
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| 3. |
- Kreibich, Heidi, et al.
(author)
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The challenge of unprecedented floods and droughts in risk management
- 2022
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In: Nature. - : Springer Nature. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 608:7921, s. 80-86
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Risk management has reduced vulnerability to floods and droughts globally, yet their impacts are still increasing. An improved understanding of the causes of changing impacts is therefore needed, but has been hampered by a lack of empirical data4,5. On the basis of a global dataset of 45 pairs of events that occurred within the same area, we show that risk management generally reduces the impacts of floods and droughts but faces difficulties in reducing the impacts of unprecedented events of a magnitude not previously experienced. If the second event was much more hazardous than the first, its impact was almost always higher. This is because management was not designed to deal with such extreme events: for example, they exceeded the design levels of levees and reservoirs. In two success stories, the impact of the second, more hazardous, event was lower, as a result of improved risk management governance and high investment in integrated management. The observed difficulty of managing unprecedented events is alarming, given that more extreme hydrological events are projected owing to climate change.
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