This book focuses on climate change and hydrological extremes, i.e. droughts and floods, which are globally important natural hazards with associated costly impacts on society and the environment. Floods and droughts result from the superposition of different processes at various space and time scales: physical processes in the atmosphere, catchments, the river systems, and anthropogenic activities. However, the characteristics of hydrological extremes have been altered due to climate change and variability, such that approaches for their detection, attribution, and the frequency of occurrence need to be revisited as they are no longer stationary processes. For more accurate estimation of hydrological extremes under nonstationary and uncertain conditions, there is a need for holistic assessments. Time–frequency analysis, hydrological modeling, physical-cause analysis, multivariate statistical analysis, and uncertainty analysis are powerful tools for detecting, attributing, and making frequency analysis of nonstationary hydrological extremes in a changing climate. Both nonstationarity and uncertainty of frequency analysis of extreme hydrological events should be integrated to reveal the possible operational alternatives to the assumption of stationarity in hydrological extremes frequency analysis. In Focus – a book series that showcases the latest accomplishments in water research. Each book focuses on a specialist area with papers from top experts in the field. It aims to be a vehicle for in-depth understanding and inspire further conversations in the sector.

Hydrological extremes have become a major concern because of their devastating consequences and their increased risk as a result of climate change and the growing concentration of people and infrastructure in high-risk zones. The analysis of hydrological extremes is challenging due to their rarity and small sample size, and the interconnections between different types of extremes and becomes further complicated by the untrustworthy representation of meso-scale processes involved in extreme events by coarse spatial and temporal scale models as well as biased or missing observations due to technical difficulties during extreme conditions. The complexity of analyzing hydrological extremes calls for robust statistical methods for the treatment of such events. This Special Issue is motivated by the need to apply and develop innovative stochastic and statistical approaches to analyze hydrological extremes under current and future climate conditions. The papers of this Special Issue focus on six topics associated with hydrological extremes: Historical changes in hydrological extremes; Projected changes in hydrological extremes; Downscaling of hydrological extremes; Early warning and forecasting systems for drought and flood; Interconnections of hydrological extremes; Applicability of satellite data for hydrological studies.

Climate theory dictates that core elements of the climate system, including precipitation, evapotranspiration, and reservoirs of atmospheric and soil moisture, should change as the climate warms, both in their means and extremes. A major challenge that faces the climate and hydrologic science communities is understanding the nature of these ongoing changes in climate and hydrology and the apparent anomalies that exist in reconciling their extreme manifestations. The National Research Council (NRC) Committee on Hydrologic Science (COHS) held a workshop on January 5-6, 2010, that examined how climate warming translates into hydrologic extremes like floods and droughts. The workshop brought together three groups of experts. The first two groups consisted of atmospheric scientists and hydrologists focused on the scientific underpinnings and empirical evidence linking climate variability to hydrologic extremes. The third group consisted of water managers and decision-makers charged with the design and operation of water systems that in the future must be made resilient in light of a changing climate and an environment of hydrologic extremes. Global Change and Extreme Hydrology summarizes the proceedings of this workshop. This report presents an overview of the current state of the science in terms of climate change and extreme hydrologic events. It examines the "conventional wisdom" that climate change will "accelerate" the hydrologic cycle, fuel more evaporation, and generate more precipitation, based on an increased capacity of a warmer atmosphere to hold more water vapor. The report also includes descriptions of the changes in frequency and severity of extremes, the ability (or inability) to model these changes, and the problem of communicating the best science to water resources practitioners in useful forums.

Hydrological extremes have become a major concern because of their devastating consequences and their increased risk as a result of climate change and the growing concentration of people and infrastructure in high-risk zones. The analysis of hydrological extremes is challenging due to their rarity and small sample size, and the interconnections between different types of extremes and becomes further complicated by the untrustworthy representation of meso-scale processes involved in extreme events by coarse spatial and temporal scale models as well as biased or missing observations due to technical difficulties during extreme conditions. The complexity of analyzing hydrological extremes calls for robust statistical methods for the treatment of such events. This Special Issue is motivated by the need to apply and develop innovative stochastic and statistical approaches to analyze hydrological extremes under current and future climate conditions. The papers of this Special Issue focus on six topics associated with hydrological extremes: Historical changes in hydrological extremes; Projected changes in hydrological extremes; Downscaling of hydrological extremes; Early warning and forecasting systems for drought and flood; Interconnections of hydrological extremes; Applicability of satellite data for hydrological studies.

As climate has warmed over recent years, a new pattern of more frequent and more intense weather events has unfolded across the globe. Climate models simulate such changes in extreme events, and some of the reasons for the changes are well understood. Warming increases the likelihood of extremely hot days and nights, favors increased atmospheric moisture that may result in more frequent heavy rainfall and snowfall, and leads to evaporation that can exacerbate droughts. Even with evidence of these broad trends, scientists cautioned in the past that individual weather events couldn't be attributed to climate change. Now, with advances in understanding the climate science behind extreme events and the science of extreme event attribution, such blanket statements may not be accurate. The relatively young science of extreme event attribution seeks to tease out the influence of human-cause climate change from other factors, such as natural sources of variability like El Niño, as contributors to individual extreme events. Event attribution can answer questions about how much climate change influenced the probability or intensity of a specific type of weather event. As event attribution capabilities improve, they could help inform choices about assessing and managing risk, and in guiding climate adaptation strategies. This report examines the current state of science of extreme weather attribution, and identifies ways to move the science forward to improve attribution capabilities.

Measurement, analysis and modeling of extreme precipitation events linked to floods is vital in understanding changing climate impacts and variability. This book provides methods for assessment of the trends in these events and their impacts. It also provides a basis to develop procedures and guidelines for climate-adaptive hydrologic engineering. Academic researchers in the fields of hydrology, climate change, meteorology, environmental policy and risk assessment, and professionals and policy-makers working in hazard mitigation, water resources engineering and climate adaptation will find this an invaluable resource. This volume is the first in a collection of four books on flood disaster management theory and practice within the context of anthropogenic climate change. The others are: Floods in a Changing Climate: Hydrological Modeling by P. P. Mujumdar and D. Nagesh Kumar, Floods in a Changing Climate: Inundation Modeling by Giuliano Di Baldassarre and Floods in a Changing Climate: Risk Management by Slodoban Simonović.