Holocene flood frequency as reconstructed by lake sediments from multiple archives: A record influenced by solar forcing and atmospheric circulation patterns

Abstract

The frequency of large-scale heavy precipitation events in mountain ranges is expected to undergo substantial changes with current climate change. Hence, knowledge about the past natural variability of floods caused by heavy precipitation constitutes important input for climate projections and natural hazard analyses. We present a comprehensive Holocene (10,000 years) reconstruction of the flood frequency in the Central European Alps combining 15 lacustrine sediment records. These records provide an extensive catalog of flood deposits, which were generated by flood-induced underflows delivering terrestrial material to the lake floors. The multi-archive approach allows suppressing local weather patterns, such as thunderstorms, from the obtained climate signal.