Suchergebnisse

Die vorgestellte Arbeit ist eine vergleichende historisch-geographische Untersuchung über die Entwicklung von Hochwasserereignissen und Hochwasserschutz an insgesamt 15 nichtschiffbaren Nebenflüssen des Rheins im französischen Elsass und dem südwestlichen Teil des Landes Baden-Württemberg sowie für die Rheinstrecke zwischen Basel und Straßburg für den Zeitraum zwischen 1480 und 2007. Der Beginn des Hochwasserschutzes kennt kein Datum. Seit Menschen an Flüssen siedeln, versuchen sie ihre für schützenswert erachteten Güter gegen die Folgen von Hochwasserereignissen abzusichern. Bis weit in das 18 Jahrhundert hinein blieb der Hochwasserschutz an den nicht-schiffbaren Nebenflüssen ein Partikularinteresse all derjenigen, die etwas zu schützen hatten. Die unterschiedlichen Rechtstraditionen Frankreichs und Badens führten zu unterschiedlichen Hochwasserschutzkonzepten, die in ihren wesentlichen Grundzügen bis heute bestehen. In Frankreich war aufgrund der Rechtsverhältnisse ein staatlicher Zugriff auf die nichtschiffbaren Nebenflüsse nicht möglich und so entwickelte sich im Elsass Hochwasserschutz in einer Kette von Einzelmaßnahmen, die primär den gefährdeten Raum in den Blick nehmen musste. Im deutschen Teil des Untersuchungsgebietes griff man massiv in die Flusslandschaften ein und versah die Flüsse mit einem einheitlichen Profil und begleitenden Dämmen,wodurch der Blick für den gefährdeten Raum für Jahrzehnte in den Hintergrund geriet. Diese Entwicklung hat aktuell Auswirkungen bei der Umsetzung der Hochwasserrisikomanagementrichtlinie der Europäischen Union von 2007. Ein zweiter Teil der Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Klassifizierung und langzeitlichen Auswertungen der für das Untersuchungsgebiet ermittelten Hochwasserereignisse zwischen 1480 und 2007 und untersucht die Entwicklung der direkten meteorologischen Hochwasserursachen, ihre monatliche Verteilung und die Verteilung der Hochwasser im hydrologischen Jahr. Ein eigenständiges Kapitel geht für die Zeit um 1500 der Frage nach, ob es in der Wahrnehmung und Deutung von Naturkatastrophen nicht Unterschiede gegeben hat. Am Beispiel des extremen Hochwasserereignisses vom Juli 1480 und der kurze Zeit später europaweit geführten 'Sintflut-Debatte' wird untersucht, was die Menschen über die Entstehung von Hochwasser und Hochwasserschutz wussten. Dabei liegt der Fokus auf der Frage nach dem Unterschied von 'Deutung' und 'Deutungshoheit' von extremen Hochwasserereignissen und stellt gleichzeitig einen Beitrag zur Ereignisforschung extremer Hochwasserereignisse dar. ; This thesis presents a historical-geographic approach dealing with historical flood events and the development of flood protection of 15 non-navigable tributaries of the upper Rhine river. The study researches the French region of Alsace and the southwest part of the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg as well as the river Rhine between Basel and Strasbourg and covers the period between 1480 and 2007. There is no known date indicating the beginning of flood control. Since people settle alongside rivers, they try to protect their valuables against the effects of floods. Until the 18th century flood control was merely an interest of those owning property or living near rivers. The moment however, when flood events had been recognized as an impairment of national economy, public interest extended on flood control along the non-navigable tributaries. It turned out, that two different legal practices existed in Alsace and Baden. That led to the development of two different concepts of flood control which exist in her essential main features till this day. In France the government had no direct access to the non-navigable tributaries which compromised a planned approach. Due to this fact flood control in Alsace remained a patchwork of local actions. In Baden the government had the power to intervene massively and comprehensively. The fluvial topography of most non-navigable rivers had been severely altered and dams had been build leaving however a false sense of security. This historical development still impairs the taking effect of the directive on the assessment and management of flood risks of the European Union of 2007. The second part of the work deals with the classification and long-term evaluation of the flood events, which occurred between 1480 and 2007 in the research area. The occurring flood events are researched by identifying their meteorological causes, their monthly distribution and their distribution throughout the hydrological year. Special emphasis is put to the question how flood events had been recognized and interpreted by the people who endured the extreme flood events around the year ad. 1500. The flood from July, 1480 triggered an argument about the Deluge throughout Europe. The evaluation of those historical sources reveals a great deal of the knowledge about flood development of those times. Additionally the question how those flood events had been used as an instrument to exercise power is researched focussing on the difference between the concepts of 'interpretation' versus 'interpretational sovereignty'.

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the extent to which climate and climatic change can have a negative impact on societies by triggering migration, or even contribute to conflict. It summarizes results from the transdisciplinary project Climate of migration (funded 2010–2014), whose innovative title was created by Franz Mauelshagen and Uwe Lübken. The overall goal of this project was to analyze the relation between climatic and socioeconomic parameters and major migration waves from southwest Germany to North America during the 19th century. The article assesses the extent to which climatic conditions triggered these migration waves. The century investigated was in general characterized by the Little Ice Age with three distinct cooling periods, causing major glacier advances in the alpine regions and numerous climatic extremes such as major floods, droughts and severe winter. Societal changes were tremendous, marked by the warfare during the Napoleonic era (until 1815), the abolition of serfdom (1817), the bourgeois revolution (1847/48), economic freedom (1862), the beginning of industrialization accompanied by large-scale rural–urban migration resulting in urban poverty, and finally by the foundation of the German Empire in 1871. The presented study is based on quantitative data and a qualitative, information-based discourse analysis. It considers climatic conditions as well as socioeconomic and political issues, leading to the hypothesis of a chain of effects ranging from unfavorable climatic conditions to a decrease in crop yields to rising cereal prices and finally to emigration. These circumstances were investigated extensively for the peak emigration years identified with each migration wave. Furthermore, the long-term relations between emigration and the prevailing climatic conditions, crop yields and cereal prices were statistically evaluated with a sequence of linear models which were significant with explanatory power between 22 and 38 %.

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the extent to which climate and climatic change can have a negative impact on societies by triggering migration, or even contribute to conflict. It summarizes results from the transdisciplinary project Climate of migration (funded 2010–2014), whose innovative title was created by Franz Mauelshagen and Uwe Lübken. The overall goal of this project was to analyze the relation between climatic and socioeconomic parameters and major migration waves from southwest Germany to North America during the 19th century. The article assesses the extent to which climatic conditions triggered these migration waves. The century investigated was in general characterized by the Little Ice Age with three distinct cooling periods, causing major glacier advances in the alpine regions and numerous climatic extremes such as major floods, droughts and severe winter. Societal changes were tremendous, marked by the warfare during the Napoleonic era (until 1815), the abolition of serfdom (1817), the bourgeois revolution (1847/48), economic freedom (1862), the beginning of industrialization accompanied by large-scale rural–urban migration resulting in urban poverty, and finally by the foundation of the German Empire in 1871. The presented study is based on quantitative data and a qualitative, information-based discourse analysis. It considers climatic conditions as well as socioeconomic and political issues, leading to the hypothesis of a chain of effects ranging from unfavorable climatic conditions to a decrease in crop yields to rising cereal prices and finally to emigration. These circumstances were investigated extensively for the peak emigration years identified with each migration wave. Furthermore, the long-term relations between emigration and the prevailing climatic conditions, crop yields and cereal prices were statistically evaluated with a sequence of linear models which were significant with explanatory power between 22 and 38 %.

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the extent to which climate and climatic change can have a negative impact on societies by triggering migration, or even contribute to conflict. It summarizes results from the transdisciplinary project Climate of migration (funded 2010–2014), whose innovative title was created by Franz Mauelshagen and Uwe Lübken. The overall goal of this project was to analyze the relation between climatic and socioeconomic parameters and major migration waves from southwest Germany to North America during the 19th century. The article assesses the extent to which climatic conditions triggered these migration waves. The century investigated was in general characterized by the Little Ice Age with three distinct cooling periods, causing major glacier advances in the alpine regions and numerous climatic extremes such as major floods, droughts and severe winter. Societal changes were tremendous, marked by the warfare during the Napoleonic era (until 1815), the abolition of serfdom (1817), the bourgeois revolution (1847/48), economic freedom (1862), the beginning of industrialization accompanied by large-scale rural–urban migration resulting in urban poverty, and finally by the foundation of the German Empire in 1871. The presented study is based on quantitative data and a qualitative, information-based discourse analysis. It considers climatic conditions as well as socioeconomic and political issues, leading to the hypothesis of a chain of effects ranging from unfavorable climatic conditions to a decrease in crop yields to rising cereal prices and finally to emigration. These circumstances were investigated extensively for the peak emigration years identified with each migration wave. Furthermore, the long-term relations between emigration and the prevailing climatic conditions, crop yields and cereal prices were statistically evaluated with a sequence of linear models which were significant with explanatory power between 22 and 38 %.

Abstract. Flood marks are rarely utilized in hazard assessment, mainly because of a lack of data availability and accessibility and mistrust in their reliability. Challenging these common assumptions, we present an approach
for evaluation and practical utilization of flood marks by the example of
the Kinzig River, a Rhine tributary from the Black Forest with a history of
severe floods. We combined written documents describing flood marks with
field mapping at three study sites and collected information relating to 89 marks – about 50 % of them still preserved – which refer to ≥15 large floods between 1824 and 1991. The inclusion of a detailed historical-mark survey enabled an assessment of changes through time for each flood mark: they extend from small (±15 cm) imprecisions in mark heights to considerable uncertainties in position, height, and displayed date for some modified marks. Plausibility checks with further data nevertheless demonstrated good overall consistency. We then juxtaposed these marks with the current, modeled flood hazard maps. A wide agreement is apparent, in that the large majority of marks are situated at probable heights and within the modeled flooding area associated with extreme floods. For the few exceptions, we see plausible and historically sound reasons in changed local hydraulic conditions by flood protection walls, exceptional processes during a massive ice jam, and possibly also a local underestimation of hazard along Kinzig River tributaries. Overall, this study highlights (1) the broad availability of flood mark data, both on a larger spatial scale and with regard to already vanished marks, and (2) the significance of the marks, verified by further data, and also demonstrates (3) the possibility of a straightforward inclusion in hazard assessment. We thus encourage the systematic collection, maintenance, and integration of flood marks as responsible risk management, not least regarding their value in the wider context of risk awareness and memory.

Abstract. Despite the strong societal impact of natural hazards, their documentation remains incomplete, with only a few inventories exceeding the past two centuries. Surprisingly enough, this also applies to Europe, a densely populated territory, and to floods, which along with storms are the most common and damage-causing natural hazard in Europe. In addition, existing inventories have often been compiled by scientists and technicians and are used for risk management in a top-down manner, although the participation of all parties concerned has been recognized as a key factor for disaster reduction. To address this double paradox, the present article presents the regional flood risk observatory ORRION for the Alsatian region, north-eastern France, and its very rich data content. Stemming from two successive interdisciplinary and transnational French–German research projects, ORRION was designed as a participative online platform on which information is shared between individuals, stakeholders, engineers, and scientists. This original approach aims at maximizing knowledge capitalization and contributes to building a common knowledge base for flood risk. ORRION is organized by events including all river floods that have likely arisen from a single synoptic situation. For each event, it documents information sources, date of occurrence, causes, and consequences in terms of damage and affected river basins and municipalities. ORRION has contributed toward renewing our knowledge of flood hazard and risk in the target area. Notably, here, long chronicles of floods are derived for 13 rivers, the Rhine and most of its main Alsatian tributaries and for all Alsatian municipalities, most of them since the end of the 15th century but over more than one millennium for the Rhine. Their main characteristics according to various typologies (seasonality, causes, severity, etc.) are analysed. Major developments over the study period related to sources, land use, and/or climate change are identified. The advantages and limitations of the approach are discussed, and the potential to expand both data exploitation and build common flood risk knowledge is outlined.