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Global River Discharge and Floods in the Warmer Climate of the Last Interglacial
  • +14
  • Paolo Scussolini,
  • Dirk Eilander,
  • Edwin H. Sutanudjaja,
  • Hiroaki Ikeuchi,
  • Jannis M. Hoch,
  • Philip J. Ward,
  • Pepijn Bakker,
  • Otto-Bliesner Bette,
  • Chuncheng Guo,
  • Christian Stepanek,
  • Qiong Zhang,
  • Pascale Braconnot,
  • Maria Vittoria Guarino,
  • Sanne Muis,
  • Dai Yamazaki,
  • Ted I.E. Veldkamp,
  • Jeroen Aerts
Paolo Scussolini
Insitute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Dirk Eilander
Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
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Edwin H. Sutanudjaja
Utrecht University - Faculty of Geosciences
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Hiroaki Ikeuchi
The University of Tokyo
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Jannis M. Hoch
Utrecht University
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Philip J. Ward
Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
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Pepijn Bakker
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
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Otto-Bliesner Bette
National Center for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)
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Chuncheng Guo
NORCE Norwegian Research Centre, Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research
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Christian Stepanek
Alfred Wegener Institute
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Qiong Zhang
Stockholm University
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Pascale Braconnot
LSCE-IPSL
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Maria Vittoria Guarino
British Antarctic Survey
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Sanne Muis
Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
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Dai Yamazaki
University of Tokyo
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Ted I.E. Veldkamp
Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
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Jeroen Aerts
Vrije Universiteit
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Abstract

We investigate hydrology during a past climate slightly warmer than the present: the Last Interglacial (LIG). With daily output of pre-industrial and LIG simulations from eight new climate models we force hydrological model PCR-GLOBWB, and in turn hydrodynamic model CaMa-Flood. Compared to pre-industrial, annual mean LIG runoff, discharge, and 100-year flood volume are considerably larger in the Northern Hemisphere, by 14%, 25% and 82%, respectively. Anomalies are negative in the Southern Hemisphere. In some boreal regions, LIG runoff and discharge are lower despite higher precipitation, due the higher temperatures and evaporation. LIG discharge is much higher for the Niger, Congo, Nile, Ganges, Irrawaddy, Pearl, and lower for the Mississippi, Saint Lawrence, Amazon, ParanĂ¡, Orange, Zambesi, Danube, Ob. Discharge is seasonally postponed in tropical rivers affected by monsoon changes. Results agree with published proxies on the sign of discharge anomaly in 15 of 23 sites where comparison is possible.
28 Sep 2020Published in Geophysical Research Letters volume 47 issue 18. 10.1029/2020GL089375