After analyzing hundreds of thousands of records, it has been concluded that floods in Europe occur 2 months earlier than 50 years ago. Northeast Europe and the Atlantic area are affected by this. And in contrast, the areas of the North Sea and large areas of the Mediterranean Sea floods occur a month and a half later. Although this disparity is "normal" due to the type of immediate causes in each region, the weather is playing a major role. The study involved 50 scientists who studied the records of almost 4.262 hydrometric stations.
One of the key points that have been analyzed has been the flow of river water. Taking into account the highest point they have reached, and starting from the year 1960. An annual flood has been observed in the rivers since then. The total of 200.000 records were recorded on the map, making the great mismatch of the last 50 years very visual and evident.
The conclusions that have been drawn from the study
Professor Gunter Blöschl, lead author of the study, from the Vienna University of Technology, Austria, assures in these words: "The overall result is that, indeed, climate change has affected the time of floods, but it has done it differently in different regions of Europe."
Among the most obvious changes, it can be noted that among the coldest regions of the continent, such as the north and east, the flooding of the rivers occurred in spring and summer with the melting of the snow. In the south, for example, flows grew more in winter, which is when it rains the most. The increase in temperatures has caused the thaw to occur earlier. So the increase in flow in the northeast of Europe has come so far. Each region, depending on the wetlands, if they belong to the Atlantic slope, and others different factors, cause it to have been modified notably and in a singular way in each region.
The biggest changes recorded
They have been detected in Western Europe, along the North Atlantic coast. From Portugal to England, more than 50% of the stations showed an advance of at least 15 days in the floods. Of these, 36% showed changes of more than 36 days, in these 50 years analyzed.
An irrefutable set of evidence that is not only altering the climate, but also affecting the ecosystem itself, which is so directly dependent on the climate. And with this, agricultural regions and energy generation are also affected.
Economic losses as a consequence of the imbalance of flows and floods
The authors of the study argue that in some areas drastic changes have already occurred that affect the sectors that depend on it. Globally, it is estimated that the amount of losses in the agricultural and power generation sectors amount to $ 104.000 billion a year. The main factor that affects the most people around the world is flooding. Due to economic growth and climate change, losses are also expected to continue to increase going forward.
The environmental and economic impact of the floods would translate into the fact that, in societies and ecosystems that were already adapted to occur at a certain time, they do so in another. What may come sooner or later may reduce agricultural production by affecting certain crops. They can also affect the least amount of water available for irrigated agriculture and erode the soil. These changes can also alter the production of hydraulic energy or the supply of drinking water for the population of the regions.
The general increase in temperatures is evoking that the climate as it was known, little by little has to be revised. Natural phenomena are no longer occurring in the time frames in which they used to occur, and natural disasters are becoming more frequent and extreme.