Geographia Polonica (2001) vol. 74, iss. 2
Extreme rainfalls and river floods in Europe during the last millenium
Geographia Polonica (2001) vol. 74, iss. 2, pp. 69-79 | 
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Abstract
Information on extreme rains and floods during the last millennium is gathered on the >asis of various records stretching back from modern direct instrumental records to historicil written sources, and also including proxy data based on sediments, organic remains and relef features. Among these extremes it is possible to distinguish heavy downpours, continues rains, rainy seasons, rapid snowmelts and combinations of all of them. On this basis it is in tern possible to describe phases with higher and lower frequencies of extreme rains aid floods in Europe during the last millennium in a regionally-differentiated manner. The phise of the Little Ice Age is well expressed throughout Europe, although its particular events vere never simultaneous. In the final discussion the author connect the causes of these variabiities in space and time with fluctuations in solar radiation and volcanic activity.
Keywords: extreme rains, floods, Europe, last millennium
[starkel@zg.pan.krakow.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Św. Jana 22, 31-018 Kraków, Poland