@article{BuergerReusserKneis2009,
  author    = {B{\"u}rger, Gerd and Reusser, Dominik and Kneis, David},
  title     = {Early flood warnings from empirical (expanded) downscaling of the full ECMWF Ensemble Prediction System},
  issn      = {0043-1397},
  doi       = {10.1029/2009wr007779},
  year      = {2009},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{BronstertNiehoffBuerger2002,
  author    = {Bronstert, Axel and Niehoff, Daniel and B{\"u}rger, Gerd},
  title     = {Effects of climate and land-use change on storm runoff generation : present knowledge and modelling capabilities},
  year      = {2002},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{BoessenkoolBuergerHeistermann2017,
  author    = {B{\"o}ssenkool, Berry and B{\"u}rger, Gerd and Heistermann, Maik},
  title     = {Effects of sample size on estimation of rainfall extremes at high temperatures},
  series = {Natural hazards and earth system sciences},
  volume    = {17},
  journal   = {Natural hazards and earth system sciences},
  publisher = {Copernicus},
  address   = {G{\"o}ttingen},
  issn      = {1561-8633},
  doi       = {10.5194/nhess-17-1623-2017},
  pages     = {1623 -- 1629},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {High precipitation quantiles tend to rise with temperature, following the so-called Clausius-Clapeyron (CC) scaling. It is often reported that the CC-scaling relation breaks down and even reverts for very high temperatures. In our study, we investigate this reversal using observational climate data from 142 stations across Germany. One of the suggested meteorological explanations for the breakdown is limited moisture supply. Here we argue that, instead, it could simply originate from undersampling. As rainfall frequency generally decreases with higher temperatures, rainfall intensities as dictated by CC scaling are less likely to be recorded than for moderate temperatures. Empirical quantiles are conventionally estimated from order statistics via various forms of plotting position formulas. They have in common that their largest representable return period is given by the sample size. In small samples, high quantiles are underestimated accordingly. The small-sample effect is weaker, or disappears completely, when using parametric quantile estimates from a generalized Pareto distribution (GPD) fitted with L moments. For those, we obtain quantiles of rainfall intensities that continue to rise with temperature.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{MenzelBronstertBuergeretal.2000,
  author    = {Menzel, Lucas and Bronstert, Axel and B{\"u}rger, Gerd and Krysanova, Valentina},
  title     = {Environmental change scenarios and flood responses in the Elbe catchment (Germany)},
  year      = {2000},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{HundechaSunyerLawrenceetal.2016,
  author    = {Hundecha, Yeshewatesfa and Sunyer, Maria A. and Lawrence, Deborah and Madsen, Henrik and Willems, Patrick and B{\"u}rger, Gerd and Kriauciuniene, Jurate and Loukas, Athanasios and Martinkova, Marta and Osuch, Marzena and Vasiliades, Lampros and von Christierson, Birgitte and Vormoor, Klaus Josef and Yuecel, Ismail},
  title     = {Inter-comparison of statistical downscaling methods for projection of extreme flow indices across Europe},
  series = {Journal of hydrology},
  volume    = {541},
  journal   = {Journal of hydrology},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {Amsterdam},
  issn      = {0022-1694},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.jhydrol.2016.08.033},
  pages     = {1273 -- 1286},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {The effect of methods of statistical downscaling of daily precipitation on changes in extreme flow indices under a plausible future climate change scenario was investigated in 11 catchments selected from 9 countries in different parts of Europe. The catchments vary from 67 to 6171 km(2) in size and cover different climate zones. 15 regional climate model outputs and 8 different statistical downscaling methods, which are broadly categorized as change factor and bias correction based methods, were used for the comparative analyses. Different hydrological models were implemented in different catchments to simulate daily runoff. A set of flood indices were derived from daily flows and their changes have been evaluated by comparing their values derived from simulations corresponding to the current and future climate. Most of the implemented downscaling methods project an increase in the extreme flow indices in most of the catchments. The catchments where the extremes are expected to increase have a rainfall dominated flood regime. In these catchments, the downscaling methods also project an increase in the extreme precipitation in the seasons when the extreme flows occur. In catchments where the flooding is mainly caused by spring/summer snowmelt, the downscaling methods project a decrease in the extreme flows in three of the four catchments considered. A major portion of the variability in the projected changes in the extreme flow indices is attributable to the variability of the climate model ensemble, although the statistical downscaling methods contribute 35-60\% of the total variance. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{SunyerHundechaLawrenceetal.2015,
  author    = {Sunyer, M. A. and Hundecha, Y. and Lawrence, D. and Madsen, H. and Willems, Patrick and Martinkova, M. and Vormoor, Klaus Josef and B{\"u}rger, Gerd and Hanel, M. and Kriauciuniene, J. and Loukas, A. and Osuch, M. and Yucel, I.},
  title     = {Inter-comparison of statistical downscaling methods for projection of extreme precipitation in Europe},
  series = {Hydrology and earth system sciences : HESS},
  volume    = {19},
  journal   = {Hydrology and earth system sciences : HESS},
  number    = {4},
  publisher = {Copernicus},
  address   = {G{\"o}ttingen},
  issn      = {1027-5606},
  doi       = {10.5194/hess-19-1827-2015},
  pages     = {1827 -- 1847},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {Information on extreme precipitation for future climate is needed to assess the changes in the frequency and intensity of flooding. The primary source of information in climate change impact studies is climate model projections. However, due to the coarse resolution and biases of these models, they cannot be directly used in hydrological models. Hence, statistical downscaling is necessary to address climate change impacts at the catchment scale. This study compares eight statistical downscaling methods (SDMs) often used in climate change impact studies. Four methods are based on change factors (CFs), three are bias correction (BC) methods, and one is a perfect prognosis method. The eight methods are used to downscale precipitation output from 15 regional climate models (RCMs) from the ENSEMBLES project for 11 catchments in Europe. The overall results point to an increase in extreme precipitation in most catchments in both winter and summer. For individual catchments, the downscaled time series tend to agree on the direction of the change but differ in the magnitude. Differences between the SDMs vary between the catchments and depend on the season analysed. Similarly, general conclusions cannot be drawn regarding the differences between CFs and BC methods. The performance of the BC methods during the control period also depends on the catchment, but in most cases they represent an improvement compared to RCM outputs. Analysis of the variance in the ensemble of RCMs and SDMs indicates that at least 30\% and up to approximately half of the total variance is derived from the SDMs. This study illustrates the large variability in the expected changes in extreme precipitation and highlights the need for considering an ensemble of both SDMs and climate models. Recommendations are provided for the selection of the most suitable SDMs to include in the analysis.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{Buerger2021,
  author    = {B{\"u}rger, Gerd},
  title     = {Intraseasonal oscillation indices from complex EOFs},
  series = {Journal of climate},
  volume    = {34},
  journal   = {Journal of climate},
  number    = {1},
  publisher = {American Meteorological Soc.},
  address   = {Boston},
  issn      = {0894-8755},
  doi       = {10.1175/JCLI-D-20-0427.1},
  pages     = {107 -- 122},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {Indices of oscillatory behavior are conveniently obtained by projecting the fields in question into a phase space of a few (mostly just two) dimensions; empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) or other, more dynamical, modes are typically used for the projection. If sufficiently coherent and in quadrature, the projected variables simply describe a rotating vector in the phase space, which then serves as the basis for predictions. Using the boreal summer intraseasonal oscillation (BSISO) as a test case, an alternative procedure is introduced: it augments the original fields with their Hilbert transform (HT) to form a complex series and projects it onto its (single) dominant EOF. The real and imaginary parts of the corresponding complex pattern and index are compared with those of the original (real) EOF. The new index explains slightly less variance of the physical fields than the original, but it is much more coherent, partly from its use of future information by the HT. Because the latter is in the way of real-time monitoring, the index can only be used in cases with predicted physical fields, for which it promises to be superior. By developing a causal approximation of the HT, a real-time variant of the index is obtained whose coherency is comparable to the noncausal version, but with smaller explained variance of the physical fields. In test cases the new index compares well to other indices of BSISO. The potential for using both indices as an alternative is discussed.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{RottlerFranckeBuergeretal.2020,
  author    = {Rottler, Erwin and Francke, Till and B{\"u}rger, Gerd and Bronstert, Axel},
  title     = {Long-term changes in central European river discharge for 1869-2016},
  series = {Hydrology and Earth System Sciences},
  volume    = {24},
  journal   = {Hydrology and Earth System Sciences},
  number    = {4},
  publisher = {Copernicus},
  address   = {G{\"o}ttingen},
  issn      = {1027-5606},
  doi       = {10.5194/hess-24-1721-2020},
  pages     = {1721 -- 1740},
  year      = {2020},
  abstract  = {Recent climatic changes have the potential to severely alter river runoff, particularly in snow-dominated river basins. Effects of changing snow covers superimpose with changes in precipitation and anthropogenic modifications of the watershed and river network. In the attempt to identify and disentangle long-term effects of different mechanisms, we employ a set of analytical tools to extract long-term changes in river runoff at high resolution. We combine quantile sampling with moving average trend statistics and empirical mode decomposition and apply these tools to discharge data recorded along rivers with nival, pluvial and mixed flow regimes as well as temperature and precipitation data covering the time frame 1869-2016. With a focus on central Europe, we analyse the long-term impact of snow cover and precipitation changes along with their interaction with reservoir constructions. Our results show that runoff seasonality of snow-dominated rivers decreases. Runoff increases in winter and spring, while discharge decreases in summer and at the beginning of autumn. We attribute this redistribution of annual flow mainly to reservoir constructions in the Alpine ridge. During the course of the last century, large fractions of the Alpine rivers were dammed to produce hydropower. In recent decades, runoff changes induced by reservoir constructions seem to overlap with changes in snow cover. We suggest that Alpine signals propagate downstream and affect runoff far outside the Alpine area in river segments with mixed flow regimes. Furthermore, our results hint at more (intense) rain-fall in recent decades. Detected increases in high discharge can be traced back to corresponding changes in precipitation.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{MtilatilaBronstertBuergeretal.2020,
  author    = {Mtilatila, Lucy Mphatso Ng'ombe and Bronstert, Axel and B{\"u}rger, Gerd and Vormoor, Klaus Josef},
  title     = {Meteorological and hydrological drought assessment in Lake Malawi and Shire River basins (1970-2013)},
  series = {Hydrological sciences journal = Journal des sciences hydrologiques},
  volume    = {65},
  journal   = {Hydrological sciences journal = Journal des sciences hydrologiques},
  number    = {16},
  publisher = {Routledge, Taylor \& Francis Group},
  address   = {Abingdon},
  issn      = {0262-6667},
  doi       = {10.1080/02626667.2020.1837384},
  pages     = {2750 -- 2764},
  year      = {2020},
  abstract  = {The study assesses the variability and trends of both meteorological and hydrological droughts from 1970 to 2013 in Lake Malawi and Shire River basins using the standardized precipitation index (SPI) and standardized precipitation and evaporation index (SPEI) for meteorological droughts and the lake level change index (LLCI) for hydrological droughts. Trends and slopes in droughts and drought drivers are estimated using Mann-Kendall test and Sen's slope, respectively. Results suggest that meteorological droughts are increasing due to a decrease in precipitation which is exacerbated by an increase in temperature (potential evapotranspiration). The hydrological system of Lake Malawi seems to have a >24-month memory towards meteorological conditions, since the 36-month SPEI can predict hydrological droughts 10 months in advance. The study has found the critical lake level that would trigger hydrological drought to be 474.1 m a.s.l. The increase in drought is a concern as this will have serious impacts on water resources and hydropower supply in Malawi.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{RottlerBronstertBuergeretal.2021,
  author    = {Rottler, Erwin and Bronstert, Axel and B{\"u}rger, Gerd and Rakovec, Oldrich},
  title     = {Projected changes in Rhine River flood seasonality under global warming},
  series = {Hydrology and earth system sciences : HESS / European Geosciences Union},
  volume    = {25},
  journal   = {Hydrology and earth system sciences : HESS / European Geosciences Union},
  number    = {5},
  publisher = {Copernicus Publications},
  address   = {G{\"o}ttingen},
  issn      = {1607-7938},
  doi       = {10.5194/hess-25-2353-2021},
  pages     = {2353 -- 2371},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {Climatic change alters the frequency and intensity of natural hazards. In order to assess potential future changes in flood seasonality in the Rhine River Basin, we analyse changes in streamflow, snowmelt, precipitation, and evapotranspiration at 1.5, 2.0 and 3.0 ◦C global warming levels. The mesoscale Hydrological Model (mHM) forced with an ensemble of climate projection scenarios (five general circulation models under three representative concentration pathways) is used to simulate the present and future climate conditions of both, pluvial and nival hydrological regimes. Our results indicate that the interplay between changes in snowmelt- and rainfall-driven runoff is crucial to understand changes in streamflow maxima in the Rhine River. Climate projections suggest that future changes in flood characteristics in the entire Rhine River are controlled by both, more intense precipitation events and diminishing snow packs. The nature of this interplay defines the type of change in runoff peaks. On the sub-basin level (the Moselle River), more intense rainfall during winter is mostly counterbalanced by reduced snowmelt contribution to the streamflow. In the High Rhine (gauge at Basel), the strongest increases in streamflow maxima show up during winter, when strong increases in liquid precipitation intensity encounter almost unchanged snowmelt-driven runoff. The analysis of snowmelt events suggests that at no point in time during the snowmelt season, a warming climate results in an increase in the risk of snowmelt-driven flooding. We do not find indications of a transient merging of pluvial and nival floods due to climate warming.},
  language  = {en}
}