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Winter floods in Britain are connected to atmospheric rivers
Author(s) -
Lavers David A.,
Allan Richard P.,
Wood Eric F.,
Villarini Gabriele,
Brayshaw David J.,
Wade Andrew J.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2011gl049783
Subject(s) - environmental science , climatology , flood myth , geology , hydrology (agriculture) , meteorology , atmospheric sciences , physical geography , geography , archaeology , geotechnical engineering
Damage from flooding in the winter and fall seasons has been widespread in the United Kingdom (UK) and Western Europe over recent decades. Here we show that winter flood events in the UK are connected to Atmospheric Rivers (ARs), narrow ribbons along which a large flux of moisture is transported from the subtropics to the mid‐latitudes. Combining river flow records with rainfall measurements, satellite data and model simulations, we demonstrate that ARs occur simultaneously with the 10 largest winter flood events since 1970 in a range of British river basins, suggesting that ARs are persistently critical in explaining extreme winter flooding in the UK. Understanding the physical processes that determine the persistence of AR events will be of importance in assessing the risk of future flooding over north‐western Europe and other mid‐latitude regions.