Remains of a Roman bridge can still be seen. Koblenz (114,000) began as another strategic, Roman confluence fortress, built where the Mosel enters the left bank. Legend tells of a beautiful, blonde maiden, combing her hair, who lured mariners to their deaths with her siren songs. It was garrisoned by Blucher’s Prussian troops in pursuit of Napoleon in 1814.ĭownstream looms the Lorelei Rock, where strong currents wrecked many boats. Pfalzgrafenstein castle (1327), near Kaub, was built on an island in the Rhine and acted as a base for collecting tolls from river traffic. The city has become a trade centre for the local white wines and its most famous son is Johannes Gutenberg (d1468), the inventor of the movable type printing press, which facilitated the Renaissance and the Reformation (Gutenberg Bible). Mainzĥ0kms downstream stands Mainz (219,000), the capital of the Palatinate and a former Roman fortress, located at the confluence with the river Main, the Rhine’s longest tributary. In 1521 the Diet of the ancient town of Worms (83,000) declared Martin Luther a heretic in an attempt to suffocate Protestantism at birth. It was conquered in the reign of the Roman Emperor, Augustus, in 12BC and later became a core area of the Catholic Holy Roman Empire (800-1806). Now the Rhine enters the historic Palatinate region, renown for its vineyards. Industrial Mannheim (309,000) known as “the city of inventions” stands at this confluence. Mannheimįurther north a larger tributary from the east, the Neckar, swells the flow. Strasbourg (287,000), where the European Parliament (EU) sits, is found on a left bank tributary, the Ill, and can be seen 4kms away. The steep Col du Ballon has been climbed 20 times by the riders of the Tour de France.Įastwards lies the scenic Schwarzwald, popular with ramblers and climbers, and famous for its cuckoo clocks, schnapps and gateaux. It occupies the floor of the downfaulted Rhine Rift Valley, with the Vosges Mountains of Alsace (1428m) rising to the west. Next the river passes through the dog-leg of the Rhine Knee, turning north and becoming the international border between France and Germany. A bootstrap method is used to estimate the uncertainties related to the sample size (number of years simulated) in predicting changes in extreme flows.Switzerland’s third city boasts the prestigious Kunstmuseum, with paintings by Manet, Cezanne, Picasso and Dali. However, predictions of extreme flows differ significantly, with increases of 10% in flows with a return period of 100 years in the direct approach and approximately 30% in the delta approach. Both methods predict a similar response in the mean annual discharge, an increase of 30% in winter and a decrease of 40% in summer. Different methods are used to simulate discharges for the future climate: one is based on the direct model output of the future climate run (direct approach), while the other is based on perturbation of the present-day HadRM3H time series (delta approach). Simulation of present-day discharges is realistic provided that (1) the HadRM3H temperature and precipitation are corrected for biases, and (2) the potential evapotranspiration is derived from temperature only. The hydrological model (RhineFlow) is driven by meteorological data from a 90-years (ensemble of three 30-years) simulation with the HadRM3H regional climate model for both present-day and future climate (A2 emission scenario). Simulations with a hydrological model for the river Rhine for the present (1960–1989) and a projected future (2070–2099) climate are discussed.
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