100 years of Belgian rainfall: are there trends?
In 1999 the digitisation of old rainfall records of measurements at Uccle (Belgium) was completed, which resulted in a unique rainfall series of 100 years (period 1898-1997). This is an ideal opportunity to search for trends in the rainfall over the last century. Large variations in rainfall probability over the century have been observed. For small aggregation levels there is a small decrease in extreme rainfall events over the century. For large aggregation levels there is a more explicit increase in extreme rainfall. Because the rainfall on seasonal aggregation level is only slightly increased, the increase in extreme rainfall events for aggregation levels between a few days and a few months can only occur due to larger clustering. However, the final conclusion is that no significant trend can be observed. A pure random variation of the rainfall can cause equally large variations. This does not exclude a possible trend in flooding frequency, due to the strong increase in urbanisation over the last century.
Vaes
G
G
Hydraulics Laboratory, University of Leuven, Heverlee, Belgium. guido.vaes@bwk.kuleuven.ac.be
Willems
P
P
Berlamont
J
J
D001530:Belgium; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000266:history; D049673:History, 20th Century; D011891:Rain; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012621:Seasons