摘要 : Floods early this year in Queensland, Australia, received a great deal of attention in the media because they affected a land area the size of Germany and France combined. However, on a world scale this is not exceptional as in so... 展开 Floods early this year in Queensland, Australia, received a great deal of attention in the media because they affected a land area the size of Germany and France combined. However, on a world scale this is not exceptional as in some years the land area exposed to flooding is > 17 million km2, equal to twice the size of the USA. These dramatic floods occur in all continents of our planet and result in annual damage costs of > $80 billion (http://floodobservatory.colorado.edu/). 收起