TY  - JOUR
A1  - Nied, Manuela
A1  - Schröter, Kai
A1  - Lüdtke, Stefan
A1  - Nguyen, Viet Dung
A1  - Merz, Bruno
T1  - What are the hydro-meteorological controls on flood characteristics?
JF  - Journal of hydrology
N2  - Flood events can be expressed by a variety of characteristics such as flood magnitude and extent, event duration or incurred loss. Flood estimation and management may benefit from understanding how the different flood characteristics relate to the hydrological catchment conditions preceding the event and to the meteorological conditions throughout the event. In this study, we therefore propose a methodology to investigate the hydro-meteorological controls on different flood characteristics, based on the simulation of the complete flood risk chain from the flood triggering precipitation event, through runoff generation in the catchment, flood routing and possible inundation in the river system and floodplains to flood loss. Conditional cumulative distribution functions and regression tree analysis delineate the seasonal varying flood processes and indicate that the effect of the hydrological pre-conditions, i.e. soil moisture patterns, and of the meteorological conditions, i.e. weather patterns, depends on the considered flood characteristic. The methodology is exemplified for the Elbe catchment. In this catchment, the length of the build-up period, the event duration and the number of gauges undergoing at least a 10-year flood are governed by weather patterns. The affected length and the number of gauges undergoing at least a 2-year flood are however governed by soil moisture patterns. In case of flood severity and loss, the controlling factor is less pronounced. Severity is slightly governed by soil moisture patterns whereas loss is slightly governed by weather patterns. The study highlights that flood magnitude and extent arise from different flood generation processes and concludes that soil moisture patterns as well as weather patterns are not only beneficial to inform on possible flood occurrence but also on the involved flood processes and resulting flood characteristics.
KW  - Flood
KW  - Flood duration
KW  - Flood magnitude
KW  - Flood loss
KW  - Soil moisture patterns
KW  - Antecedent conditions
KW  - Weather patterns
KW  - Large basins
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2016.12.003
SN  - 0022-1694
SN  - 1879-2707
VL  - 545
SP  - 310
EP  - 326
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  -