No abstract

The large-scale stationary trough system that dominated Central Europe in 2012, 2013 and 2014 led to high precipitation sums in Salzburg, Tyrol and Bavaria. In the Pinzgau and Pongau regions of Salzburg, some meteorological stations registered in June 2013 the highest precipitation sums ever recorded. In the framework of event documentation and analysis, these events were analyzed in accordance with current best practice standards and state of the art technology. The positive trend towards ever denser networks of measurement stations enables an improved quantitative capturing of precipitation and discharge data, which in turn provides an increasingly comprehensive database which can be used as input for precipitation-discharge models. With the aid of this extensive database, the measured precipitation-discharge relationships for alpine (torrent) catchment areas were recalculated, using the methodology commonly employed (HEC-HMS with the SCS method), with the ultimate aim of gaining useful insights for improved measurement practice. For this study, four catchments with available water gauges and precipitation data were selected. The calculated discharge return periods ranged from HQ2 to HQ50-100. For the Schmittenbach, an already existing model could be used; for the Urslau, an event analysis from 2002 and for the Strobler Weissenbach an event analysis from 2014 provided the required input data. The load diagram of the investigated events was derived from a combination of weather radar analyses (the spatial distribution of precipitation) and precipitation values measured at individual stations (determination of precipitation intensities).

No abstract

<p>Recent years have repeatedly witnessed natural disasters throughout Austria, e.g. the catastrophic debris flows of 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017 and 2019 which caused enormous damage and losses in some areas. The impacts of climate change on these events is rather unclear in many cases, it must be assumed that the intensity and frequency of extreme events and natural hazards is likely to increase in future.</p><p>Management of bedload/debris flow processes to ensure the protective function is a major challenge. Observing the historical development shows the constant change of design types and constructions in the course of time. Hand in hand with technical progress, lessons learned from events in the light of climate change as well as a higher process understanding the constructions were constantly improved. Other reasons for the development of fitted systems with an integrative catchment-view down to the receiving stream are the high and still rising maintenance and clearance costs. On the basis of these findings and results, recommendations were derived to improve the function fulfilment of the technical protection measures. Furthermore, integrative concepts focus on the adaptation of the alpine forests to climate change. Under the principle, “fit for the future” the recommendations are summarized and presented in this contribution.</p>

No abstract