Panta Rhei benchmark dataset: socio-hydrological data of paired events of floods and droughts

As the adverse impacts of hydrological extremes increase in many regions of the world, a better understanding of the drivers of changes in risk and impacts is essential for effective flood and drought risk management and climate adaptation. However, there is currently a lack of comprehensive, empirical data about the processes, interactions, and feedbacks in complex human–water systems leading to flood and drought impacts. Here we present a benchmark dataset containing socio-hydrological data of paired events, i.e. two floods or two droughts that occurred in the same area. The 45 paired events occurred in 42 different study areas and cover a wide range of socio-economic and hydro-climatic conditions. The dataset is unique in covering both floods and droughts, in the number of cases assessed and in the quantity of socio-hydrological data. The benchmark dataset comprises (1) detailed review-style reports about the events and key processes between the two events of a pair; (2) the key data table containing variables that assess the indicators which characterize management shortcomings, hazard, exposure, vulnerability, and impacts of all events; and (3) a table of the indicators of change that indicate the differences between the first and second event of a pair. The advantages of the dataset are that it enables comparative analyses across all the paired events based on the indicators of change and allows for detailed context- and location-specific assessments based on the extensive data and reports of the individual study areas. The dataset can be used by the scientific community for exploratory data analyses, e.g. focused on causal links between risk management; changes in hazard, exposure and vulnerability; and flood or drought impacts. The data can also be used for the development, calibration, and validation of sociohydrological models. The dataset is available to the public through the GFZ Data Services (Kreibich et al., 2023, https://doi.org/10.5880/GFZ.4.4.2023.001)

The challenge of unprecedented floods and droughts in risk management

Risk management has reduced vulnerability to floods and droughts globally1,2, yet their impacts are still increasing3. An improved understanding of the causes of changing impacts is therefore needed, but has been hampered by a lack of empirical data4,5. On the basis of a global dataset of 45 pairs of events that occurred within the same area, we show that risk management generally reduces the impacts of floods and droughts but faces difficulties in reducing the impacts of unprecedented events of a magnitude not previously experienced. If the second event was much more hazardous than the first, its impact was almost always higher. This is because management was not designed to deal with such extreme events: for example, they exceeded the design levels of levees and reservoirs. In two success stories, the impact of the second, more hazardous, event was lower, as a result of improved risk management governance and high investment in integrated management. The observed difficulty of managing unprecedented events is alarming, given that more extreme hydrological events are projected owing to climate change3

Exome sequencing identifies a de novo SCN2A mutation in a patient with intractable seizures, severe intellectual disability, optic atrophy, muscular hypotonia, and brain abnormalities

Item does not contain fulltextEpilepsy is a phenotypically and genetically highly heterogeneous disorder with >200 genes linked to inherited forms of the disease. To identify the underlying genetic cause in a patient with intractable seizures, optic atrophy, severe intellectual disability (ID), brain abnormalities, and muscular hypotonia, we performed exome sequencing in a 5-year-old girl and her unaffected parents. In the patient, we detected a novel, de novo missense mutation in the SCN2A (c.5645G>T; p.R1882L) gene encoding the alphaII -subunit of the voltage-gated sodium channel Nav 1.2. A literature review revealed 33 different SCN2A mutations in 14 families with benign forms of epilepsy and in 21 cases with severe phenotypes. Although almost all benign mutations were inherited, the majority of severe mutations occurred de novo. Of interest, de novo SCN2A mutations have also been reported in five patients without seizures but with ID (n = 3) and/or autism (n = 3). In the present study, we successfully used exome sequencing to detect a de novo mutation in a genetically heterogeneous disorder with epilepsy and ID. Using this approach, we expand the phenotypic spectrum of SCN2A mutations. Our own and literature data indicate that SCN2A-linked severe phenotypes are more likely to be caused by de novo mutations. A PowerPoint slide summarizing this article is available for download in the Supporting Information section here

Efficiency of the Summer Monsoon in Generating Streamflow Within a Snow‐Dominated Headwater Basin of the Colorado River

The North American Monsoon occurs July–September in the central Rocky Mountains bringing significant rainfall to Colorado River headwater basins. This rain may buffer streamflow deficiencies caused by reductions in snow accumulation. Using a data-modeling framework, we explore the importance of monsoon rain in streamflow generation over historical conditions in an alpine basin. Annually, monsoon rain contributes 18 ± 7% water inputs and generates 10 ± 6% streamflow. The bulk of rain supports evapotranspiration in lower subalpine forests. However, rains have the potential to produce appreciable streamflow at higher elevations where soil moisture storage, forest cover, and aridity are low and rebound late season streamflow 64 ± 13% from simulated reductions in spring snowpack as a function of monsoon strength. Interannual variability in monsoon efficiency to generate streamflow declines with low snowpack and high aridity, implying the ability of monsoons to replenish streamflow in a warmer future with less snow accumulation will diminish