Rain and floods occur on different time scales - hours or days. Now, for the first time, it is possible to explain how climate change affects phenomena on both time scales.
Climate change may lead to more precipitation and more intense floods. A new study shows that to understand the details of this relationship, it is important to distinguish between different types of rainfall and flood events - namely, between short-term events that occur on a time scale of hours, and longer-term events that last several days. In each case, climate change has a different impact.
An Austrian research team has now shown for the first time that short-term precipitation and flood events on the scale of a few hours are particularly affected by the temperature increase caused by climate change. For events on a longer time scale, the relationship is more complicated. This finding was made using detailed data collected in Austria over more than a century – but it can also be applied to other regions of the world. It also allows conclusions to be drawn about which regions will experience changes in the probability of flooding, and how they will be affected. The results have now been published in the journal Nature.
Read more at Vienna University of Technology
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