Floods in Siberia: geographical and statistical analysis for the period of climate change

Abstract

In Siberia, floods are one of the most dangerous natural disasters. The danger of floods varies under climatic and anthropogenic changes, as well as socio-economic development. Our aim was to study the current position of problems associated with flood hazard. A key to understanding the flood situation is geographical and statistical analysis of the floods for the period of climate change (1985–2019). Such analyses address the following aspects: study of flood genesis and recurrence, the severity of the impact for floods of different genesis; analysis of runoff maxima as the principal cause of floods; analysis of the spatial distribution of settlements vulnerable to flooding; analysis of ice jams and ice dams as a specific natural factor causing floods in Siberia; assessment of the degree of danger, and identification of areas with different integral flood danger. In Siberia, more than 1400 settlements are flooded at regular intervals. Most of them are concentrated in the southern, most developed territories in the Ob, Tom and Yeniseiy basins. In Siberia, rainfall, mixed (from snow melting with rainfall) and icedam floods are the most dangerous. They have the highest recurrence and severity of impact. The greatest flood risk is in the most populated and economically developed southern regions within the Ob, Lena and Yenisey rivers and Lake Baikal basins. Territories with the highest risk of floods were determined. For the Baikal region, one of the most developed territories of Siberia, the flood hazard was determined for all administrative districts. Flood hazard maps for Siberian regions can be the basis for developing flood adaptation strategies.