THE INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON DISCHARGE FLUCTUATIONS IN SLOVENIAN RIVERS

Abstract

In recent decades, an increase in the number of extreme flood events as well as extreme drought events has been observed in Slovenia. This rise the need for a comprehensive analysis of trends in discharge data series. In the study, statistical trends in seasonal and annual mean, maximum, extreme and low discharge values were investigated using the Mann Kendall test. The results show a temporal and spatial variability of trends in discharge. In general, a decreasing trend in water quantities in the rivers was observed. However, results at some gauging stations indicate statistically significant increasing trends, especially for maximum and extreme discharges. Additional analyses show that the discharge trends depend on the location of the gauging station.