Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1080/02626667.2014.951361
Title (Primary) Dependence between flood peaks and volumes: a case study on climate and hydrological controls
Author Gaál, L.; Szolgay, J.; Kohnová, S.; Hlavčová, K.; Parajka, J.; Viglione, A.; Merz, R.; Blöschl, G.
Source Titel Hydrological Sciences Journal-Journal des Sciences Hydrologiques
Year 2015
Department CATHYD
Volume 60
Issue 6
Page From 968
Page To 984
Language englisch
Keywords flood peak, flood volume, consistency, correlation, flood types, hydrological processes, regional analysis, comparative hydrology, Austria
UFZ wide themes RU2;
Abstract The aim of this paper is to understand the causal factors controlling the relationship between flood peaks and volumes in a regional context. A case study is performed based on 330 catchments in Austria ranging from 6 to 500 km2 in size. Maximum annual flood discharges are compared with the associated flood volumes and the consistency of the peak-volume relationship is quantified by the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. The results indicate that climate related factors are more important than catchment related factors in controlling the consistency. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients typically range from about 0.2 in the high alpine catchments to about 0.8 in the lowlands. The weak dependence in the high alpine catchments is due to the mix of flood types, including long duration snow melt, synoptic floods and flash floods. In the lowlands, the flood durations vary less in a given catchment which is related to the filtering of the distribution of all storms by the catchment response time to produce the distribution of flood producing storms.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=15828
Gaál, L., Szolgay, J., Kohnová, S., Hlavčová, K., Parajka, J., Viglione, A., Merz, R., Blöschl, G. (2015):
Dependence between flood peaks and volumes: a case study on climate and hydrological controls
Hydrol. Sci. J.-J. Sci. Hydrol. 60 (6), 968 - 984 10.1080/02626667.2014.951361