Stability of high and low flow periods on European rivers

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine regional differences in the flow regime of European rivers. The stability of a flow regime is defined as the regularity of high and low flow periods during a year (Corbus and Stanescu, 2004). The first, second, and third maximum and minimum values of the mean monthly flows during the year served as regime characteristics, i.e. descriptors of the regime phases. A series of monthly discharges recorded during the years 1951–1990 at 510 stations on 369 European rivers were analysed. The coefficient of stability used in the analysis enables an extension of classical hydrological regime analysis. The proposed approach allows not only to establish the term of high and low flow periods of the river, but it also shows the regularity (stability) of their occurrence.