Editing IPCC:AR6/SR15/Chapter-3 (section)

==== Runoff changes in twenty-one of the world’s major river basins at 1.5°C (blue) and 2°C (orange) of global warming, simulated by the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES) ecosystem–hydrology model under the ensemble of six climate projections. ====

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Boxes show the 25th and 75th percentile changes, whiskers show the range, circles show the four projections that do not define the ends of the range, and crosses show the ensemble means. Numbers in square brackets show the ensemble-mean flow in the baseline (millimetres of rain equivalent) (Source: Betts et al., 2018) <sup>[[#fn:r212|212]]</sup> .

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Recent analyses of projections in river flooding and extreme runoff and flows are available for different global warming levels. At the global scale, Alfieri et al. (2017) <sup>[[#fn:r213|213]]</sup> assessed the frequency and magnitude of river floods and their impacts under 1.5°C, 2°C and 4°C global warming scenarios. They found that flood events with an occurrence interval longer than the return period of present-day flood protections are projected to increase in all continents under all considered warming levels, leading to a widespread increment in the flood hazard. Döll et al. (2018) <sup>[[#fn:r214|214]]</sup> found that high flows are projected to increase significantly on 11% and 21% of the global land area at 1.5°C and 2°C, respectively. Significantly increased high flows are expected to occur in South and Southeast Asia and Central Africa at 1.5°C, with this effect intensifying and including parts of South America at 2°C.

Regarding the continental scale, Donnelly et al. (2017) <sup>[[#fn:r215|215]]</sup> and Thober et al. (2018) <sup>[[#fn:r216|216]]</sup> explored climate change impacts on European high flows and/or floods under 1.5°C, 2°C and 3°C of global warming. Thober et al. (2018) <sup>[[#fn:r217|217]]</sup> identified the Mediterranean region as a hotspot of change, with significant decreases in high flows of −11% and –13% at 1.5°C and 2°C, respectively, mainly resulting from reduced precipitation (Box 3.2). In northern regions, high flows are projected to rise by 1% and 5% at 1.5°C and 2°C, respectively, owing to increasing precipitation, although floods could decrease by 6% in both scenarios because of less snowmelt. Donnelly et al. (2017) <sup>[[#fn:r218|218]]</sup> found that high runoff levels could rise in intensity, robustness and spatial extent over large parts of continental Europe with an increasing warming level. At 2°C, flood magnitudes are expected to increase significantly in Europe south of 60°N, except for some regions (Bulgaria, Poland and southern Spain); in contrast, they are projected to decrease at higher latitudes (e.g., in most of Finland, northwestern Russia and northern Sweden), with the exception of southern Sweden and some coastal areas in Norway where flood magnitudes may increase (Roudier et al., 2016) <sup>[[#fn:r219|219]]</sup> . At the basin scale, Mohammed et al. (2017) <sup>[[#fn:r220|220]]</sup> found that floods are projected to be more frequent and flood magnitudes greater at 2°C than at 1.5°C in the Brahmaputra River in Bangladesh. In coastal regions, increases in heavy precipitation associated with tropical cyclones (Section 3.3.6) combined with increased sea levels (Section 3.3.9) may lead to increased flooding (Section 3.4.5).

In summary, there is ''medium confidence'' that global warming of 2°C above the pre-industrial period would lead to an expansion of the area with significant increases in runoff, as well as the area affected by flood hazard, compared to conditions at 1.5°C of global warming. A global warming of 1.5°C would also lead to an expansion of the global land area with significant increases in runoff ( ''medium confidence'' ) and to an increase in flood hazard in some regions ( ''medium confidence'' ) compared to present-day conditions.

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