Climate sensitivities of mean and extreme flows across Europe

Climate change is expected to modify hydrological processes, but its impacts on streamflow remain poorly understood across large geographic regions. Using streamflow and climate data from ~6,000 European catchments, we quantify the responses of streamflow means and extremes to changes in precipitation and potential evapotranspiration at annual and seasonal timescales. We find that annual mean, minimum, and maximum flows generally positively scale with mean annual precipitation, but with overall different responses. For most catchments, changes in streamflow are percentage-wise larger than those of precipitation, indicating an amplification of climate impacts on hydrology. The sensitivities of annual minimum flows are generally dampened compared to precipitation changes. We also discuss how streamflow responds to potential evapotranspiration and explore the role of catchment characteristics on these climate sensitivities of streamflow. This research helps to understand hydrological responses to climate change, which can improve water management and flood-risk mitigation across Europe.