Impacts of anthropogenic effects on river ice regime: Examples from Eastern Central Europe

Anthropogenic effects on rivers, including engineering regulation, hydropower usage, and water pollution, not only change bed morphology and/or water quality but also affect the river ice regime. The length of the ice-affected season and the relative frequency of ice appearance might alter due to anthropogenic activities. Moreover, anthropogenically induced changes may vastly exceed climatic effects. When the prevailing non-natural impact co-varies with the trend of the expected climate trigger (e.g. winter air temperature), conclusions can be biased if the anthropogenic effects were not scrutinized in depth. This paper presents examples when changes in some characteristic feature of the river ice regime are related to human activities. These simple tests could be applied for other rivers, where similar anthropogenic impacts may be suspected to affect the river ice regime. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.