Catchment size is an important factor in mapping long-term flood behaviour

Authors

Jozsef Szilagyi, Budapest University of Technology and EconomicsFollow
Janos Jozsa, Budapest University of Technology and Economics
Eszter Dora Nagy, Budapest University of Technology and Economics
Tamas Kramer, Budapest University of Technology and Economics
Marta Farkas Spitzerne, Hungarian Hydrological Forecasting Service

Date of this Version

10-3-2019

Citation

COMMENT ON Blöschl, G. et al. Changing climate both increases and decreases European river floods. Nature, 573, 108-111, (2019); https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1495-6

Abstract

From an analysis of 3,738 river gauging stationsof catchments ranging from 5 to 100,000 km², Blöschl et al. constructed a map that depicts trends of annual maximum discharges across Europe for the 1960-2010 period. On that map Hungary, one of the most flood-prone countries in Europe, appears with nearly unanimously decreasing flood discharges which is in stark contrast with the reality of worsening floods on the Danube over the past 50-60 years in Hungary, costing €58 million in flood defence in 2013 alone, a year with record-breaking flood. The contradiction arises due to differences in scale for the drainage area between the Danube (i.e., over 100,000 km² in Hungary) and the ones employed for the preparation of the map.