HANZE

Historical Analysis of Natural Hazards in Europe

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Floods with impact data
1870-2020

The most comprehensive European flood impact dataset

Floods without impact data
1950-2020

Supplementary catalogue of other major European floods.

Modelled potential floods
1950-2020

Reconstructed hydrological extremes and their connection to impacts.

HANZE

Historical Analysis of Natural Hazards in Europe

Understanding and quantifying the influence of climate change on past extreme weather impacts is vital for adaptation and mitigation of natural hazards. However, the rapid evolution of the social and economic circumstances in which the extreme events occur requires quantifying the evolution of exposure and vulnerability to natural hazards. HANZE (Historical Analysis of Natural HaZards in Europe) database aims at a multifactor decomposition of historical impacts of natural hazards.

The database includes a multi-source, well-curated historical flood impact dataset for Europe (1870-2020) and high-resolution reconstructions of hydrological extremes, catchment alterations, exposure, flood protection levels and vulnerability since 1950. For more than 1700 major European floods, impact attribution considering six major drivers is performed, including attribution to climate change. See the attribution results in the database entries for individual floods, such as the 1997 floods in Poland.

About

FloodDrivers

The database was expanded and updated under DFG-funded project “Decomposition of flood losses by environmental and economic drivers” (FloodDrivers) at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
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HANZE-Events

Location and impact data on more than 2500 flood events in Europe from 1870 to 2020, based on compilation, cross-checking and homogenization of more than 800 data sources.
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Model reanalysis

Extensive modelling chain reconstructs almost 15,000 hydrological extremes and their possible impacts in Europe between 1950 and 2020, linked to historical observations.
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HANZE-Exposure

Population, land use, GDP and fixed asset value estimates for Europe at 100 m resolution from 1870 to 2020.
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Impact attribution

Attribution of more than 1700 historical floods to six climatic and human drivers shows high spatial variability in Europe and highlights the role of exposure and adaptation in regulating the magnitude of impacts.
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More to come

More HANZE-related publications are expected during 2024/25. Further development of HANZE is planned in the framework of the Horizon Europe impact attribution project COMPASS.
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Latest News

New HANZE preprint

A new preprint describing the HANZE flood impact attribution approach and results (view) is now online on Research Square (view). The publication, currently under review in a scientific journal, shows how changes in hazard, exposure and vulnerability contributed to losses caused by flood events in Europe between 1950 and 2020.

New HANZE publication

A new paper describing the HANZE reported flood catalogue (view) is now online in Earth System Science Data (view). The publication contains exhaustive analysis of the data and the complete methodology of creating the dataset.

Interview with HANZE author in Czech media

In an interview with the author of HANZE database, published by the independent news portal Deník Referendum (in Czech only), the drivers of flood losses and adaptation options are discussed in context of recent flood events.

HANZE flood impact catalogue in Zeit Online article

In connection to the devastating Central European floods, the HANZE database helped to make sense of the trends in European flood impacts since 1950 in an article published by Zeit Online (in German only)

New HANZE attribution data

Results of attribution of more than 1700 historical floods to six climatic and human driven is now available on the webpage (view) and also for download from Zenodo (view). A related publication has been submitted to a scientific journal and will become available in due course

New HANZE publication

A new paper describing the HANZE modelled flood catalogue (view) is now online. As a measure of importance, it has been selected as a highlight paper (https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3983-2024) by editors of Hydrology and Earth System Sciences.

Contact Us

For inquiries regarding the HANZE database and FloodDrivers project please use the contact form.

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