Analysis of changes in long-term mean annual discharge in Slovakia

As the climate change and the research surrounding it intensifies, the assessment of the hydrological regime for the decision making processes also gains significance, as the design values are directly used for example for floods and droughts management.

In this contribution we have analysed changes in the long-term mean annual discharges at 113 water gauging stations with long term observations in the period 1961-2020 over different time periods. To identify potential changes in the hydrological regime, the analysis was focused on the comparison of the 10, 20, 30, 40, 50-year long moving averages of the long-term mean annual discharges in the period 1961-2020 in comparison with the 1961-2000 reference period currently used in Slovakia for calculation of design values.

The results point out that the new reference period to be used for calculating design values in Slovakia should include the time period after the year 2000, but to determine its precise length, more detailed analysis, especially in the area of the low flows, is needed.

Acknowledgement: This work was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the Contract no. APVV-20-0374.