Snow cover evolution and its impact on flooding in the Ourthe River catchment (southeast of Belgium) over the period 1958­-2014 using the MAR model ; Evolution de l'enneigement et des conditions propices aux inondations dans le bassin versant de l'Ourthe (sud-est de la Belgique) modélisés par le modèle climatique regional MAR au cours de la période 1958-2014

The Ourthe River (southeast of Belgium) is one of the main tributaries of the Meuse River with a catchment area of 3500 km². About 50 % of the floods which occur in the Ourthe River catchment are due to rainfall events associated with the melting of the snow which covers the Ardennes in winter. In this study, hydroclimatic conditions favourable to flooding were reconstructed over the period 1958-2014 using the regional climate model MAR (« Modèle Atmosphérique Régional ») forced by the ERA-interim reanalysis and by the NCEP1 reanalysis. As validation, the MAR results were compared to weather s... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Wyard, Coraline
Dokumenttyp: conference paper not in proceedings
Erscheinungsdatum: 2015
Schlagwörter: Snow / Flooding / Modelisation / Belgium / Ourthe / Belgique / Neige / Inondation / Modélisation / Physical / chemical / mathematical & earth Sciences / Earth sciences & physical geography / Physique / chimie / mathématiques & sciences de la terre / Sciences de la terre & géographie physique
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-26942561
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
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Link(s) : https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/189437

The Ourthe River (southeast of Belgium) is one of the main tributaries of the Meuse River with a catchment area of 3500 km². About 50 % of the floods which occur in the Ourthe River catchment are due to rainfall events associated with the melting of the snow which covers the Ardennes in winter. In this study, hydroclimatic conditions favourable to flooding were reconstructed over the period 1958-2014 using the regional climate model MAR (« Modèle Atmosphérique Régional ») forced by the ERA-interim reanalysis and by the NCEP1 reanalysis. As validation, the MAR results were compared to weather station-based data. A trends analysis was then performed in order to study the evolution of conditions favourable to flooding in the Ourthe River catchment. When the MAR model is forced by the NCEP1 reanalysis, results show a significant decrease in hydroclimatic conditions favourable to flooding because of a decrease in snow accumulation as well as a decrease in the frequency of extreme precipitation events in winter. When MAR is forced by the ERA-interim reanalysis, non-significant trends are found, which could be explained by an underestimation of the precipitation amount computed by the ERA-40 reanalysis before 1979. Further studies are needed to explain the decreasing trends in snow accumulation and extreme precipitation events. Moreover, an hydrological model could also be forced by the MAR outputs in order to improve flood detection.