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HISTORICAL FLOODS OF THE LOWER DANUBE BASIN RIVERS DURING THE LAST MILLENNIUM
Abstract
Most rivers in the temperate zone experience flooding due to snowmelt or heavy rainstorms. The lower Danube rivers has caused significant economic damages and in some cases even loss of human life. Understanding the relationship between the occurrence rate of Danube rivers flood events and climate change is crucial for flood risk management in Romania. Here we present a multiproxy and observational data set of floods from the lower Danube Basin Rivers over the last millennium. The results highlight that the lower Danube River floods can be divided into two periods: a period with low flood frequency between 1012 - 1490 AD and a period with high frequency of flooding in the years 1501 - 2014 AD. Floods of the Danube River occurred in the spring-summer period, but there are also some exceptions, such as when these events arise either in August-September or December-January. The number of floods increased considerably in the XX century (> 25 events/century) due to climate changes, which determined changes in precipitation regime and meteorological elements. In the last 50 years, the catastrophic floods of Romanian rivers were produced in 1970, 1972, 1975, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1991, 1996, 1998, 2005, 2008, 2010 and 2014. In conclusion, our floods reconstruction significantly contributes to the hydrometeorological events of the Central Eastern Europe database and can be used to improve flood risk management.
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References18
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