Trends in flood seasonality of the River Ouse (Northern England) from archive and instrumental sources since AD 1600

Macdonald, Neil ORCID: 0000-0003-0350-7096 (2012) Trends in flood seasonality of the River Ouse (Northern England) from archive and instrumental sources since AD 1600 CLIMATIC CHANGE, 110 (3-4). pp. 901-923. ISSN 0165-0009, 1573-1480

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Abstract

The last decade has witnessed an increase in the application of historical records (historical and documentary) in developing a more complete understanding of high-magnitude flood frequency; but little consideration has been given to the additional information that documentary accounts contain, particularly relating to flood seasonality. This paper examines the methods and approaches available in long-term flood seasonality analysis and applies them to the River Ouse (Yorkshire) in Northern England since AD 1600. A detailed historical flood record is available for the City of York consisting of annual maxima flood levels since AD 1877, with documentary accounts prior to this. A detailed analysis of long-term flood seasonality requires confidence in the accuracy and completeness of flood records; as a result the augmented flood series are analysed using three strategies: firstly, considering all recorded floods since AD 1600; secondly, through detailed analysis of the more complete record since AD 1800; and finally, applying a threshold to focus on high-magnitude flood events since AD 1800. The results identify later winter flooding, particularly in the second half of the twentieth century, with a notable reduction in summer flood events at York during the twentieth century compared to previous centuries. Flood generating mechanisms vary little between the periods considered, with a general pattern of stability in the ratio of floods incorporating a snowmelt component. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	## TULIP Type: Articles/Papers (Journal) ##
Uncontrolled Keywords:	37 Earth Sciences, 3709 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience, 3701 Atmospheric Sciences
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	11 Apr 2016 13:43
Last Modified:	16 Jun 2026 04:01
DOI:	10.1007/s10584-011-0117-6
Related Websites:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3000221
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