Journal article
Winter floods in Britain are connected to atmospheric rivers
Geophysical Research Letters, Vol.38(23), p.n/a
12/2011
DOI: 10.1029/2011GL049783
Abstract
Damage from flooding in the winter and fall seasons has been widespread in the United Kingdom (UK) and Western Europe over recent decades. Here we show that winter flood events in the UK are connected to Atmospheric Rivers (ARs), narrow ribbons along which a large flux of moisture is transported from the subtropics to the mid‐latitudes. Combining river flow records with rainfall measurements, satellite data and model simulations, we demonstrate that ARs occur simultaneously with the 10 largest winter flood events since 1970 in a range of British river basins, suggesting that ARs are persistently critical in explaining extreme winter flooding in the UK. Understanding the physical processes that determine the persistence of AR events will be of importance in assessing the risk of future flooding over north‐western Europe and other mid‐latitude regions.
Key Points
Linked a damaging UK flooding event with AR occurrence
Linked persistent ARs with the top 10 floods in a range of UK basins
Shown the atmospheric circulation that leads to AR occurrence in western Europe
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Winter floods in Britain are connected to atmospheric rivers
- Creators
- David A LaversRichard P AllanEric F WoodGabriele VillariniDavid J BrayshawAndrew J Wade
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Geophysical Research Letters, Vol.38(23), p.n/a
- DOI
- 10.1029/2011GL049783
- ISSN
- 0094-8276
- eISSN
- 1944-8007
- Number of pages
- 8
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 12/2011
- Academic Unit
- Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Record Identifier
- 9983992070802771
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