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Climate Change and the European Water Dimension - Agri ...

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<strong>Climate</strong> <strong>Change</strong><br />

<strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

<strong>European</strong> <strong>Water</strong> <strong>Dimension</strong><br />

Chapter V.A. <strong>Climate</strong> <strong>Change</strong> <strong>and</strong> Extreme<br />

Events - Floods<br />

Key Points<br />

• The main driver of floods <strong>and</strong> droughts is extreme<br />

precipitation linked to regional soil moisture <strong>and</strong><br />

atmospheric temperature.<br />

• <strong>Change</strong>s in extreme climate are likely to have a greater<br />

impact on society than changes in mean climate.<br />

• Flood magnitude <strong>and</strong> frequency are likely (a 66-90%<br />

probability) to increase in most regions of Europe.<br />

• Expected climate change will intensify <strong>the</strong> hydrological<br />

cycle causing dislocations <strong>and</strong> high costs in agriculture<br />

<strong>and</strong> urban areas.<br />

• The <strong>European</strong> summer climate will affect <strong>the</strong> incidence of<br />

heatwaves <strong>and</strong> droughts in <strong>the</strong> future.<br />

• Today's climate models are not yet adequate at predicting<br />

extreme climate events in local areas such as flooding in a<br />

given river basin, but climate change analysis on water<br />

resources needs to be done at <strong>the</strong> river basin scale.<br />

• With a rising likelihood of extreme wea<strong>the</strong>r conditions <strong>and</strong><br />

resulting floods <strong>and</strong> droughts, <strong>the</strong> areas prone to <strong>the</strong>se<br />

risks should be carefully mapped.<br />

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