Deciphering human influence on annual maximum flood extent at the global level

Abstract Human actions are increasingly altering most river basins worldwide, resulting in changes hydrological processes and extreme events. Yet, global patterns of between seasonal surface water urbanization remain largely unknown. Here we perform a worldwide analysis 106 large uncover trends annual maximum flood extent artificial impervious area, as proxy urbanization, over the past three decades. We explore their relationships with hydroclimatic variability, expressed rainfall snowmelt, find that variability alone cannot explain 75% analyzed major worldwide. Considering urban area together can 57% basins. Our study emphasizes importance understanding impacts human presence on dynamics.