More Intense and Longer Torrential Rain and Flood Events During the Recent Past Decade in Eurasia

Abstract

AbstractGlobal and regional flood risk is increasing, especially in Eurasia, threatening public security and socioeconomic development. However, the duration, intensity and spatial extent of floods in the past few decades have not been robustly explored, largely because previous identification methods ignored the dual nature of floods in space and time. Here we presented a first comprehensive diagnosis of flood events in Eurasia by developing a novel three‐dimensional Image‐CONnectivity based FLOOD identification (ICON‐FLOOD) approach. By the ICON‐FLOOD approach, we revealed a four‐phase quasi‐interdecadal pattern and significant intensification of flood events in the last 12 years of the study period (1979–2012), contrary to the declining trend derived from two well‐known global data sets. Further analysis indicated that the flood characteristics had switched from “large impacted area but short duration, low intensity” to “high intensity, long duration but small impacted area.” Exploring the spatiotemporal evolution of flood events by ICON‐FLOOD will provide a basis for flood risk management and flood adaptation strategy development.