ABSTRACT
This Chapter analyses the time patterns of flood magnitudes in Austria. The interplay of climate input and catchment processes is the main control of flood generation in Austria and is reflected in the seasonality of the floods. To assess the long-term patterns of flood magnitudes in Austria long records of maximum annual flood discharges as well as maximum seasonal flood discharges were analysed. Based on a visual inspection of the flood time series one can single out individual events that have been important in the trends. There are three main factors that may contribute to changes in river floods in Austria: climate variability, land-use changes and river works such as the removal of flood plains. Estimating floods of a given exceedence probability has been dominated by methodological statistical issues, solely based on the flood record at the site of interest. Managing flood risks is a multifaceted task including a range of structural and non-structural measures.
