Keywords
extreme phenomena
natural environment
natural disasters
Poland
How to Cite
Abstract
This paper presents a classification concept for extreme environmental events, particularly emphasising meteorological, hydrological and geomorphological phenomena. The scheme was originally developed during the Polish national research project Extreme Meteorological and Hydrological Events in Poland – Assessment and Forecasting of Their Impacts on the Human Environment (2004–2009). Over the past decade and a half, it has been verified against observed extreme events and the international literature. Although devised primarily for Poland, the typology applies to the wider Central-European region. Events are grouped according to their genetic origin. Capital letters denote the five principal categories identifying the immediate physical cause: M – meteorological, H – hydrological, G – geomorphological, O – oceanographical and X – other (including complex or poorly defined) environmental events. Within each category, types and subtypes are distinguished. The framework also allows the combination of two or more categories or types and can be further expanded or modified in the future.
Funding
The core typology was developed under the project ‘Extreme Meteorological and Hydrological Events in Poland – Assessment and Forecasting of Their Impacts on the Human Environment’ (2004– 2009) led by Prof. Jacek Jania. The authors thank Profs. Zbigniew Zwoliński, Roman Soja and Zdzisław Michalczyk for valuable comments, and we gratefully acknowledge the late Prof. Leszek Starkel and Dr. Eugeniusz Gil. We also appreciate Dr. Anita Bernatek-Jakiel’s assis- tance in selecting appropriate English terminol- ogy in the field of geomorphology. The research has been partially supported by a grant from the Faculty of Geography and Geology (grant No. U1U/W23/NO/03.57) under the Strategic Programme Excellence Initiative at Jagiellonian University.
References
Beniston M., 2007. Linking extreme climate events and economic impacts: Examples from the Swiss Alps. Energy Policy 35: 5384-5392. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2006.01.032
Beniston M., Stephenson D.B., Christensen O.B., Ferro C.A.T., Frei C., Goyette S., Halsnaes K., Holt T., Jylha K., Koffi B., Palutikof J.P., Scholl R., Semmler T., Woth K., 2007. Future extreme events in European climate: An exploration of regional climate model projections. Climatic Change 81: 71-95. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-006-9226-z
Bogdanowicz E., Stachý J., 1997. System obliczania maksymalnych opadów prawdopodobnych w Polsce. Część I. Gospodarka Wodna 9: 274-279; Część II. Gospodarka Wodna 10: 324-327.
Bogdanowicz E., Stachý J., 1998. Maksymalne opady deszczu w Polsce – charakterystyki projektowe. Materiały Badawcze IMGW, Seria: Hydrologia i Oceanologia 23. IMGW, Warszawa: 1-85.
Brönnimann S., Rajczak J., Fischer E.M., Raible Ch.C, Rohrer M., Schär Ch, 2018. Changing seasonality of moderate and extreme precipitation events in the Alps. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences 18(7): 2047-2056. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-2047-2018
Broska L.H., Poganietz W.R., Vögele S., 2020. Extreme events defined – A conceptual discussion applying a complex systems approach. Futures 115: 102490. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2019.102490
Camuffo D., Becherini F., della Valle A., 2020. Relationship between selected percentiles and return periods of extreme events. Acta Geophysica 68: 1201-1211. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11600-020-00452-x
Changnon S.A., Pielke R.A. Jr., Changnon D., Sylves R.T., Pulwarty R., 2000. Human factors explain the increased losses from weather and climate extremes. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 81(3): 437-442. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(2000)081<0437:HFETIL>2.3.CO;2
Christensen J.H., Christensen O.B., 2003. Climate modelling: Severe summertime flooding in Europe. Nature 421: 805-806. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/421805a
Delforge D., Wathelet V., Below R., Sofia C.L., Tonnelier M., Loenhout J.A.F., Speybroeck N., 2025. EM-DAT: The emergency events database. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 124. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2025.105509
EM-DAT. 2025. The international disaster database. Online: www.emdat.be (accessed 12 May 2025).
Fares A. (ed.), 2021. Climate change and extreme events. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 254.
Folland Ch., Miller C., Bader D., Crowe M., Jones P., Plummer N., Richman M., Parker D., Rogers J., Scholefield P., 1999. Workshop on indices and indicators for climate extremes, Asheville, NC, USA, 3-6 June 1997 – Breakout Group C: Temperature indices for climate extremes. Climatic Change 42(1): 31-43. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005447712757
Frei C., Davies H.C., Gurtz J., Schär C., 2002. Climate dynamics and extreme precipitation and flood events in Central Europe. Integrated Assessment 1: 281-300. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018983226334
Frich P., Alexander L.V., Della-Marta P., Gleason B., Haylock M., Klein Tank A.M.G., Peterson T., 2002. Observed coherent changes in climatic extremes during the second half of the twentieth century. Climate Research 19(3): 193-212. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/cr019193
Gumbel E.J., 1958. Statistics of extremes. Columbia University Press, New York. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7312/gumb92958
Heino R., Brázdil R., Førland E., Tuomenvirta H., Alexandersson H., Beniston M., Pfister C., Rebetez M., Rosenhagen G., Rösner S., Wibig J., 1999. Progress in the study of climate extremes in northern and central Europe. Climatic Change 42: 151-181. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005420400462
Horton E.B., Folland C.K., Parker D.E., 2001. The changing incidence of extremes in worldwide and Central England temperatures to the end of the twentieth century. Climatic Change 50: 267-295. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010603629772
Hoy A., Hänsel S., Maugeri M., 2020. An endless summer: 2018 heat episodes in Europe in the context of secular temperature variability and change. International Journal of Climatology 40(15): 6315-6336. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.6582
Integrated Research on Disaster Risk. 2014. Peril Classification and Hazard Glossary (IRDR DATA Publication No. 1. Integrated Research on Disaster Risk, Beijing. Online: https://council.science/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Peril-Classification-and-Hazard-Glossary-1.pdf (accessed on 5 May 2025).
IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change]. 2001. Climate change 2001: The scientific basis. In: Houghton J.T., Ding Y., Griggs D.J., Noguer M., van der Linden P.J., Dai X., Maskell K., Johnson C.A. (eds), Contribution of Working Group I to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York: 1-881.
IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change]. 2023. Climate Change 2021 – The Physical Science Basis: Working Group I Contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 1st Edn. Cambridge University Press.
Jania J., Zwoliński Z., 2011. Ekstremalne zdarzenia meteorologiczne, hydrologiczne i geomorfologiczne w Polsce. Landform Analysis 15: 51-64.
Jones P.D., Horton E.B., Folland C.K., Hulme M., Parker D.E., Basnett T.A., 1999. The use of indices to identify changes in climatic extremes. Climatic Change 42: 131-149. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005468316392
Karl T.R., Easterling D.R., 1999. Climate extremes: Selected review and future research directions. Climatic Change 42(1): 309-325. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005436904097
Klein Tank A., Zwiers F., Zhang X., 2009. Guidelines on analysis of extremes in a changing climate in support of informed decisions for adaptation. Technical Report WCDMP-No. 72, WMO-TD No. 1500, World Meteorological Organization.
Kouchak A.A., Chiang F., Huning L.S., Love Ch.A, Mallakpour I.M., Mazdiyasni O., Moftakhari H., Papalexiou S.M., Ragno E., Sadegh M., 2020. Climate extremes and compound hazards in a warming world. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 48: 519-548. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-earth-071719-055228
Kundzewicz Z.W., 2016. Extreme weather events and their consequences. Papers on Global Change 23: 59-69. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/igbp-2016-0005
Kyselý J., 2002. Probability estimates of extreme temperature events: Stochastic modelling approach vs. extreme value distributions. Studia Geophysica et Geodaetica 46(1): 93-112. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019841717369
Maciejewski M. (ed.), 2000. Ryzyko w gospodarce wodnej. Monografie Komitetu Gospodarki Wodnej PAN, 17. Oficyna Wydawnicza Politechniki Warszawskiej, Warszawa: 1-143.
Maciejewski M. (ed.), 2002. Współczesne Problemy Ekstremalnych Zagrożeń Środowiska. IV Ogólnopolska Szkoła, Jachranka, 28-30 października 2002. IMGW, Warszawa: 218.
Milly P.C.D., Wetherald R.T., Dunne K.A., Delworth T.L., 2002. Increasing risk of great floods in a changing climate. Nature 415: 514-517. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/415514a
Murnane R., Diaz H. (eds), 2008. Climate extremes and society. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 348.
Nicholls N., Murray W., 1999. Workshop on indices and indicators for climate extremes: Ashville, NC, USA, 3-6 June 1997 – Breakout Group B: Precipitation. Climatic Change 42(1): 23-29. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005495627778
Niedźwiedź T., 1999. Rainfall characteristics in southern Poland during the severe flooding event of July 1997. Studia Geomorphologica Carpatho-Balcanica 33: 5-25.
Niedźwiedź T., 2003. The extreme precipitation in Central Europe and its synoptic background. Papers on Global Change IGBP 10: 15-29.
Niedźwiedź T., Starkel L., 2021. Klimatyczne tło współczesnych procesów morfogenetycznych na obszarze Polski. In: Kostrzewski A., Krzemień K., Migoń P., Starkel L., Winowski M., Zwoliński Z. (eds), Współczesne przemiany rzeźby Polski, Wyd. II rozszerzone. Bogucki Wydawnictwo Naukowe, Poznań: 33-58. DOI: https://doi.org/10.12657/9788379863822-02
Przybylak R., Vizi Z., Araźny A., Maszewski R., Uscka-Kowalkowska J., 2007. Poland’s climate extremes index, 1951-2005. Geographia Polonica 80(2): 47-58.
Starkel L., 1999. Ulewy, powodzie i inne zdarzenia ekstremalne. Prace Komisji Zagrożeń Cywilizacyjnych PAU 2: 81-96.
Starkel L., 2002. Change in the frequency of extreme events as the indicator of climatic change in the Holocene (in fluvial systems). Quaternary International 91: 25-32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1040-6182(01)00099-4
Starkel L., 2003. Extreme meteorological events and their role in environmental changes, the economy and history. Papers on Global Change 10: 7-13.
Starkel L., 2006. Geomorphic hazards in the Polish Flysch Carpathians. Studia Geomorphologica Carpatho-Balcanica 11: 7-19.
Stephenson D.B., 2008. Definition, diagnosis, and origin of extreme weather and climate events. In: Diaz H.F., Murnane R.J. (eds), Climate extremes and society. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511535840.004
Tomczyk A.M., Bednorz E., 2016. Heat waves in Central Europe and their circulation conditions. International Journal of Climatology 36(2): 770-782. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.4381
Tomczyk A.M., Katragkou E., 2025. Occurrence of heatwaves in selected regions of Poland and Greece and the characteristics of their biometeorological conditions. Quaestiones Geographicae 44(1): 107-116. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14746/quageo-2025-0007
Ummenhofer C.C., Meehl G.A., 2017. Extreme weather and climate events with ecological relevance: A review. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences 372: 20160135. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2016.0135
Ustrnul Z., Wypych A., Henek E., Maciejewski M., Bochenek B., 2015. Climatologically based warning system against meteorological hazards and weather extremes: The example for Poland. Natural Hazards 77: 1711-1729. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-015-1673-2
Wibig J., 2021. Hot days and heat waves in Poland in the period 1951-2019 and the circulation factors favoring the most extreme of them. Atmosphere 12(3): 340. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12030340
Zwoliński Z., 2011. Globalne zmiany klimatu i ich implikacje dla rzeźby Polski. Landform Analysis 15: 5-15.
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Zbigniew Ustrnul, Tadeusz Niedźwiedź
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.