This paper is the outcome of a community initiative to identify major unsolved scientific problems in hydrology motivated by a need for stronger harmonisation of research efforts. The procedure involved a public consultation through online media, followed by two workshops through which a large number of potential science questions were collated, prioritised, and synthesised. In spite of the diversity of the participants (230 scientists in total), the process revealed much about community priorities and the state of our science: a preference for continuity in research questions rather than radical departures or redirections from past and current work. Questions remain focused on the process-based understanding of hydrological variability and causality at all space and time scales. Increased attention to environmental change drives a new emphasis on understanding how change propagates across interfaces within the hydrological system and across disciplinary boundaries. In particular, the expansion of the human footprint raises a new set of questions related to human interactions with nature and water cycle feedbacks in the context of complex water management problems. We hope that this reflection and synthesis of the 23 unsolved problems in hydrology will help guide research efforts for some years to come. ARTICLE HISTORY

Editor D. KoutsoyiannisCitation Bezak, N., Brilly, M., and Šraj, M., 2014. Comparison between the peaks-over-threshold method and the annual maximum method for flood frequency analysis. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 59 (5), 959-977.Abstract Flood frequency analysis can be made by using two types of flood peak series, i.e. the annual maximum (AM) and peaks-over-threshold (POT) series. This study presents a comparison of the results of both methods for data from the Litija 1 gauging station on the Sava River in Slovenia. Six commonly used distribution functions and three different parameter estimation techniques were considered in the AM analyses. The results showed a better performance for the method of L-moments (ML) when compared with the conventional moments and maximum likelihood estimation. The combination of the ML and the log-Pearson type 3 distribution gave the best results of all the considered AM cases. The POT method gave better results than the AM method. The binomial distribution did not offer any noticeable improvement over the Poisson distribution for modelling the annual number of exceedences above the threshold.

Abstract.A multidisciplinary and integrated approach to the flood mitigation decision making process should provide the best response of society in a flood hazard situation including preparation works and post hazard mitigation. In Slovenia, there is a great lack of data on social aspects and public response to flood mitigation measures and information management. In this paper, two studies of flood perception in the Slovenian town Celje are represented. During its history, Celje was often exposed to floods, the most recent serious floods being in 1990 and in 1998, with a hundred and fifty return period and more than ten year return period, respectively. Two surveys were conducted in 1997 and 2003, with 157 participants from different areas of the town in the first, and 208 in the second study, aiming at finding the general attitude toward the floods. The surveys revealed that floods present a serious threat in the eyes of the inhabitants, and that the perception of threat depends, to a certain degree, on the place of residence. The surveys also highlighted, among the other measures, solidarity and the importance of insurance against floods.

As an alternative to the commonly used univariate flood frequency analysis, copula frequency analysis can be used. In this study, 58 flood events at the Litija gauging station on the Sava River in Slovenia were analysed, selected based on annual maximum discharge values. Corresponding hydrograph volumes and durations were considered. Different bivariate copulas from three families were applied and compared using different statistical, graphical and upper tail dependence tests. The parameters of the copulas were estimated using the method of moments with the inversion of Kendall's tau. The Gumbel–Hougaard copula was selected as the most appropriate for the pair of peak discharge and hydrograph volume (Q‐V). The same copula was also selected for the pair hydrograph volume and duration (V‐D), and the Student‐t copula was selected for the pair of peak discharge and hydrograph duration (Q‐D). The differences among most of the applied copulas were not significant. Different primary, secondary and conditional return periods were calculated and compared, and some relationships among them were obtained. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Keywords: Rainfall interception Throughfall Stemflow Leaf area index Gash model WindMeasurements of precipitation above the canopy, throughfall and stemflow were made on the south and north-facing slopes of a deciduous forest on the experimental watershed of the Dragonja river in SW Slovenia. The Dragonja watershed was chosen for the experimental watershed, being of interest because of intensive natural reforestation in the last decades that caused a decrease in minimum and maximum flows. At the same time no noticeable precipitation and temperature changes were observed. Two forest plots were selected. One is located on the north-facing slope (1419 m2) and the other on the south-facing slope (615 m2). Analyses and modelling were made for a one-year period from October 2000 to September 2001. The leaf area index (LAI) was estimated by three methods, one direct and two indirect ones. The obtained values of LAI with the direct method were 6.6 and 6.9 for the south and north slopes, respectively. Measurements and regression analyses gave the mean annual throughfall value (± standard error) on the south plot 67.1 (± 9.6) % of gross precipitation, and 71.5 (± 11.6) % on the north plot. The average stemflow values were 4.5 (± 0.8) % of gross precipitation in the south plot and 2.9 (± 0.6) % in the north plot. The average annual interception losses amount to 28.4 (± 4.1) and 25.4 (± 4.0) % for the south and north slopes, respectively. In the study a significant influence of the south-east wind was proven. With regression analyses and the classification decision tree model it was established that at the events with more than 7 mm of precipitation and south-east wind with a speed higher than 4 m/s an unusually low amount of throughfall occurred and thus high interception losses. The analytical Gash model of rainfall interception (Gash, 1979;Gash et al., 1995) was successfully applied. The results of the modelling corresponded well to the observed values and were within the limits of the standard error of the observed values.AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST METEOROLOGY 148 (2008) 121-134 __________________________________________________________________________________________ 2 extremely low discharge increased by 30 % and the frequency of high waters decreased by 60 % (Globevnik, 2001). The most significant decrease has been identified in the mean monthly minimum discharge, estimated at 4.4 % per year with regard to the average monthly minimum discharge. There is a trend of reducing water runoff from the watershed. The runoff coefficients in an average year decreased by 10 %, in a wet year by 10-15 %, and in a dry year by 20-30 %, respectively (Globevnik, 2001). Owing to a smaller degree of changes of meteorological components (precipitation, temperature, solar radiation, and potential evapotranspiration), as opposed to the trends related to runoff (Globevnik, 2001), it can be assumed that the reduction in runoff in the Dragonja watershed can be attributed to a great change in land use in a very short period. Interception loss is ...

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Influence of the pattern of effective rainfall on modeled hydrograph was investigated in the study. The modelling was performed with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hydrograph package HEC-HMS 3.2 and calibrated and validated on measured hydrographs of Glinscica watershed. Six different models of rainfall loss were applied and their effect on modeled hydrograph was evaluated. Peak discharge, time of peak discharge and runoff volume were compared. The best results with the lowest RMSE in the study was obtained with the SCS curve number loss method. Also synthetic hyetographs of different probability and duration were used. Three positions of the maximum rainfall intensity at 25, 50 and 75 % of the rainfall duration were applied. The results showed essential differences in simulated time to peak and also differences in peak discharge. The differences in time to peak increases considerably with the increasing of the rainfall duration. Finally, the results of constant intensity distribution of rainfall of different durations were compared with those obtained with typical rainfall distribution with the position of the maximum intensity at 50 %. Results showed considerable differences in peak discharge and time to peak by longer durations of the rainfall. Práca obsahuje výsledky výskumu vplyvu efektívnych zrážok na modelovaný hydrograf. Odtok bol modelovaný pomocou nástroja U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hydrograph package HEC-HMS 3.2, potom kalibrovaný a verifikovaný na meraných hydrografoch povodia Glinscica.Vplyv zrážok na modelovaný hydrograf bol vypočítaný pre šesť rôznych modelov priebehu zrážok. Porovnali sme maximálne prietoky, časy ich trvania a odtečené množstvá. Najlepšie výsledky s najnižším RMSE sme získali s SCS modelom odtoku. Použili sme tiež syntetické hyetografy rozdielnej pravdepodobnosti a trvania. Použili sa tri polohy maximálnych intenzít zrážok; pre 25, 50 a 75 % ich trvania. Výsledky ukázali zásadný rozdiel v simulovaných časoch maximálneho prietoku a tiež rozdiely v maximálnych prietokoch. Rozdiely v časoch dosiahnutia maximálnych odtokov sa výrazne zvyšovali s časom trvania zrážky. Nakoniec sme porovnali výsledky výpočtov s konštantnými intenzitami rozdelenia s rôznym trvaním zrážky s tými, ktoré boli vypočítané s použitím typických rozdelení, s polohou maximálnej intenzity zrážok pri 50 % ich trvania. Výsledky ukazujú významné rozdiely v maximálnych prietokoch a v časoch ich dosiahnutia v závislosti od trvania zrážky. KĽÚČOVÉ SLOVÁ: model odtoku, časová závislosť rozdelenia intenzít zrážok, čas maximálnej intenzity zrážky, závislosť zrážka-odtok, syntetický hyetograf, HEC-HMS.