Characteristics of extreme precipitation in the Vosges Mountains region (north‐eastern France)

Abstract

In this research, different characteristics (duration, affected area, extremity, and synoptic conditions) related to extreme precipitation events (EPEs), and the trends in frequency of EPEs in the Vosges Mountains (VG) region (north‐eastern France) have been analysed and the events were evaluated on regional scale using the Weather Extremity Index. The index combines three aspects of an EPE – rarity, spatial extent, and duration – and it enables a quantitative comparison of these aspects in a data set of EPEs. In this study, 54 EPEs (which occurred during 1960–2013) were selected using daily precipitation totals from meteorological stations. Although possible maximum duration of an EPE was set to 10 days, all detected EPEs lasted 1–5 days. The prevailing short EPEs (1–2 days) affected smaller areas as compared to long EPEs (3–5 days). Instead of the winter maximum of mean precipitation in the VG, the autumn EPEs prevailed in the data set (40% of all EPEs including the four strongest EPEs). Using the manual and the automated catalogues (Grosswetterlagen and SynopVisGWL, respectively), majority of the 54 EPEs was found associated with the west cyclonic weather type; however, none of the five maximum events was produced by this weather type. The two strongest EPEs were related to the stationary cold front rather than to the expected strong zonal circulation. The EPEs were mostly related to strong southwest airflow and flux of specific humidity. No significant trend was found in frequency of EPEs during the 54 years. Our results highlight new insights into the extreme precipitation in VG region. We believe that the ranking of EPEs according to their extremity in the VG region provides useful information for local decision making authorities, engineers, and risk managers.

Modeling multivariate landscape affordances and functional ecosystem connectivity in landscape archeology

“…However, a mere interpolation of modern climate anomalies to prehistoric climate conditions is not possible without discussing the amount of extreme weather events that contribute to the total precipitation values of the reconstructed data ranges (Li et al, 2018;Omurova et al, 2018). Modern global climate change and heat transport phenomena cause a significant shift in local moisture balances and the formation of strong thunderstorms with high precipitation ratios in short time (Minářová et al, 2017a;Minářová et al, 2017b). That leads to extensive flooding phenomena and strong erosion processes due to locally overstrained storage capacities of the soils, broad bare areas without vegetation coverage in spring, and a fine-grained soil texture with a weak structural stability associated with silty material (Heitz et al, 2009;Heitz et al, 2013;Martin et al, 2010;te Linde et al, 2011).…”

“…1). The particular location leads to dry conditions and low annual mean precipitation values (Minářová et al 2017a(Minářová et al , 2018. The Alsace is characterized by steep slopes and forested mountainous zones over 1000 m a.s.l., extensive foothills that mostly consist of high-quality vineyards, and the floodplains of the river Rhine and the various tributaries.…”

Tracing Real-Time Transnational Hydrologic Sensitivity and Crop Irrigation in the Upper Rhine Area over the Exceptional Drought Episode 2018–2020 Using Open Source Sentinel-2 Data

“…The research area covers a cross-border section of the URA in south-western Germany (parts of the state Baden-Württemberg (afterwards referred to as BaWue) and eastern France (parts of the Region Grand Est, formerly Region Alsace, Départment Haut-Rhin (68) and Départment Bas-Rhin (67)), stretching from north of Mulhouse to the north of Colmar and the west of Freiburg (Figure 1). The URA is characterized by mild winters, long phenological phases, and the particular topographic location of the Upper Rhine Graben fault between the Vosges mountain range and the Black Forest, which supports decreased precipitation patterns and a high drought and flooding vulnerability in the lowlands of the river Rhine floodplain, which is mostly built of porous aquifer [24,34,[61][62][63][64][65]. The alluvial lowlands are formed by Pleistocene and Holocene fluvial terraces that emerged from large-scale avulsion events of the primarily anastomosing channel system [66][67][68].…”

Modelling Bias and Environmental Preferences in Archaeological Spatial Analysis

“…The URA is characterized by broad agricultural cropland including vineyards, orchards, and increasingly monoculture maize cultivation. The particular topographic situation between the Vosges mountain range and the Black Forest supports low precipitation rates and a high drought and flooding vulnerability of the low-lying floodplain of the river Rhine, which is built of porous aquifer, sandy Quaternary gravel, and clayey and silty interspersed alluvial deposits (aVerBeCK et al, 2019;CarBiener and sChnitzler, 1990;erfurt et al, 2020;KemPf, 2018KemPf, , 2019aKemPf, , 2019bMinářová et al, 2017b;Minářová et al, 2017a;Preusser, 2008;Preusser et al, 2016;rentzel et al, 2009;sChmitt et al, 2007;storK and menzel, 2016). Large parts of the slightly elevated Mesozoic outcrops, the alluvial river terraces, and the foothill area are loess-covered, which led to the development of fertile soils.…”