Ice‐jam flood risk assessment and mapping

In northern regions, river ice‐ jam flooding can be more severe than open‐water flooding causing property and infrastructure damages, loss of human life and adverse impacts on aquatic ecosystems. Very little has been performed to assess the risk induced by ice‐related floods because most risk assessments are limited to open‐water floods. The specific objective of this study is to incorporate ice‐jam numerical modelling tools (e.g. RIVICE, Monte‐Carlo simulation) into flood hazard and risk assessment along the Peace River at the Town of Peace River (TPR) in Alberta, Canada. Adequate historical data for different ice‐jam and open‐water flooding events were available for this study site and were useful in developing ice‐affected stage‐frequency curves. These curves were then applied to calibrate a numerical hydraulic model, which simulated different ice jams and flood scenarios along the Peace River at the TPR. A Monte‐Carlo analysis was then carried out to acquire an ensemble of water level profiles to determine the 1 : 100‐year and 1 : 200‐year annual exceedance probability flood stages for the TPR. These flood stages were then used to map flood hazard and vulnerability of the TPR. Finally, the flood risk for a 200‐year return period was calculated to be an average of $32/m²/a ($/m²/a corresponds to a unit of annual expected damages or risk). Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

鄱阳湖区洪涝灾害规律分析

根据1950-2002年的鄱阳湖洪水与洪水灾害损失资料,建立年最高洪水位与洪灾损失的相关模型;运用概率统计的理论与方法,研究了鄱阳湖区洪涝灾害与灾害损失的统计规律,将鄱阳湖洪水、鄱阳湖区洪涝灾害的受灾面积划分为6个等级.揭示鄱阳湖区洪水主要集中于10年一遇(3级)以下;一般洪水为2-5年一遇,在统计资料内,共发生过24次,造成的损失只占到历年总损失量的约l/3;5年一遇以上的洪水虽然只发生过7次,但是其损失却占历年洪灾总损失的约2/3.采取综合治理措施.降低鄱阳湖洪水位,并进一步提高鄱阳湖区圩堤防洪能力是减轻鄱阳湖区洪涝灾害损失的有效途经.     

Flood-type trend analysis for alpine catchments

ABSTRACT

In many places, magnitudes and frequencies of floods are expected to increase due to climate change. To understand these changes better, trend analyses of historical data are helpful. However, traditional trend analyses do not address issues related to shifts in the relative contributions of rainfall versus snowmelt floods, or in the frequency of a particular flood type. We present a novel approach for quantifying such trends in time series of floods using a fuzzy decision tree for event classification and applied it to maximal annual and seasonal floods in 27 alpine catchments for the period 1980–2014. Trends in flood types were studied with Sen’s slope and double mass curves. Our results reveal a decreasing number of rain-on-snow and an increasing number of short rainfall events in all catchments, with flash floods increasing in smaller catchments. Overall, the results demonstrate the value of incorporating a fuzzy flood-type classification into flood trend analyses.     

Characteristics of floods on the territory of Russia with regard to their natural and socioeconomic parameters

Parameters of 123 floods on the territory of the Russian Federation are analyzed, including the dates of young floods, numbers (frequency), duration, genetic type of floods, inundated land areas, total area of regions affected by flood, coordinates of their centers, number of population in these regions, total number of affected people, number of evacuated and killed people, number of buildings in inundation zone, and monetary damage. It is shown that material and human damages caused by rainfall floods and snowmelt floods in rivers are several orders of magnitude greater than the damages caused by the most common spring floods. Collation maps of main flood parameters have been prepared and analyzed; the areas of floods of main genetic types have been revealed and mapped and graphs of seasonal and long-term variability of flood parameters has been calculated.     

Flood hazard mapping using synthesis hydraulic and geomorphic properties at watershed scale

The occurrence of natural phenomena such as floods has caused serious consequences for human societies. The simulation of flood hazard maps and its depth in a river is one of the most complex processes in hydrology. In fact both geomorphological and hydraulic procedures for deriving the flood hazard maps and depth are imperfect at watershed scale. In this study, a combination of both procedures, using a probabilistic approach is used. Flood inundation maps for 2-, 10-, 25-,50- and 100-return period floods using flood routine within HEC-RAS in combination of Arc-GIS and topographic wetness index (TWI) map were produced. TWI threshold was identified using a maximum likelihood method in order to produce flood prone areas and calibrated over the reach of Zirab City. The correlation between TWI threshold and the flood depth was carried out and simple linear regression developed for various return periods. The resulting regression model is used in order to create flood hazard maps with various return periods at watershed scale.     

Timescale-based flood typing to estimate temporal changes in flood frequencies

ABSTRACT

The flood peak is the dominating characteristic in nearly all flood-statistical analyses. Contrary to the general assumptions of design flood estimation, the peak is not closely related to other flood characteristics. Differentiation of floods into types provides a more realistic view. Often different parts of the probability distribution function of annual flood peaks are dominated by different flood types, which raises the question how shifts in flood regimes would modify the statistics of annual maxima. To answer this, a distinction into five flood types is proposed; then, temporal changes in flood-type frequencies are investigated. We show that the frequency of floods caused by heavy rain has increased significantly in recent years. A statistical model is developed that simulates peaks for each event type by type-specific peak–volume relationships. In a simulation study, we show how changes in frequency of flood event type lead to changes in the quantiles of annual maximum series.     

Wadi flow in the Arabian Gulf states

Real data on wadi flood flows from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain and Qatar were used to develop methodologies for the prediction of annual maximum flows and average monthly flows in the Arabian Gulf states. For the prediction of annual maximum floods, three methods have been investigated. In the first method, regional curves were developed and used together with the mean annual flood flow, estimated from the characteristics of the drainage basin, to estimate flood flows at a location in the basin. The second method fits data to various probability distribution functions, with a developed methodology introduced to account for floods generated by more than one system of climate, and the best fitted function was used for flood estimates. In the third method, only floods over a threshold, which depends on characteristics of the drainage basin, were considered and modelled. For the prediction of average monthly flows, stochastic simulation approaches of flood frequency analysis were used. Each of the prediction methods was verified by being applied in 40 different drainage basins. Based on the results obtained, recommendations were made on the best method to be applied (at present) by design engineers in the Arabian Gulf states. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stochastic analysis of flood series

A stochastic model based on the renewal process was developed and used to analyse the characteristics of floods: the volume exceedence, the duration of the flood and the maximum annual flow. The model contains a method for determination of total annual volume exceedence and total annual duration of floods, as well as a method for calculation of maximum annual exceedence, maximum flood duration and maximum flow. The subset of the flood occurrence number in a given time interval is common for all analysed phenomena (volume exceedence, flood duration, maximum flow). The subset of given exceedences is common for total annual volume exceedence, as well as for maximum annual volume exceedence. The same holds for durations of individual floods. The model was then applied to analyse the floods on the Drina River at the Paunci hydrological station and on the Danube River at the Bezdan station.     

全球变暖导致洪水风险增加——长江洪水前景分析

近期在很多地方洪水越来越频繁且破坏性更大.20世纪90年代以来全球大洪水造成社会经济财产巨大损失,30次大洪水每次总损失额均超过10×10⁸美元.1990-1998年的9a时间的大洪水爆发的次数比1950-1985年期间Ma大洪水次数还要多.近年来中国大陆也遭受了若干重大洪水灾害(包括1996和1998年两次大的财产损失).与气候变率和变化相关的洪水灾害和易爆发程度的显著增加,这是当前最紧迫的问题.随着气温升高大气中持水量也增加,因此大规模强度的降水的可能性也增大.己观测到高而集中的大降水事件而且这种趋势在未来气候变暖条件下可能增加,大降水事件的增加是洪灾增加的必然条件.当然也有一些其它的非气象因素加剧洪灾的发生,比如土地利用变化(森林砍伐、城市化)导致土壤持水能力下降,径流系数增加;此外,人类占据了洪泛区,可能导致洪水损失增大.另外物质财富在洪泛区的积聚也导致了洪灾损失增加.毫无疑问,由于人类活动和气候的共同作用,未来洪水风险在很多地方可能增加.洪水易爆发程度被认为是暴露系数和调节能力的函数,而且在许多地方所有这些变量都可能增加.而随着暴露系数比人类调节能力增加快,因此洪水易爆发程度增大.然而,要完全从径流变化中区分气候因素导致的强烈自然变率还是直接的人为环境变化是很困难的.由于使用不同的假定情景和不同的气候模型,得到的未来环境的预测结果差异也很大.IPCC第三次评估报告中广泛讨论了气候变化与洪水之间的关系.IPCC第三次评估报告警告说,在东亚季风区非常湿润的季风季节出现的可能性非常大,进而会导致相应地区洪水风险增加.本文总结了迄今为此可收集到的有关长江洪水的资料.利用一些案例来分析研究未来假定情景下气候对水文的影响,并对东亚地区的模拟结果进行了讨论.     

A new era of flood control strategies from the perspective of managing the 2020 Yangtze River flood

Flood control of the Yangtze River is an important part of China’s national water security.In July 2020,due to continuous heavy rainfall,the water levels along the middle-lower reaches of the Yangtze River and major lakes constantly exceeded the warning levels,in which Taihu Lake exceeded its highest safety water level and some stations of Poyang Lake reached their highest water levels in its history.In August 2020,another huge flood occurred in the Minjiang River and the Jialing River in the upper Yangtze River,and some areas of Chongqing Municipality and other cities along the rivers were inundated,resulting in great pressure on flood control and high disaster losses.The 2020 Yangtze River flood has received extensive media coverage and raised concerns on the roles of the Three Gorges Dam and other large reservoirs in flood control.Here we analyze the changes in the pattern of the Yangtze River flood control by comparing the strategies to tackle the three heavy floods occurring in 1954,1998,and 2020.We propose that the overall strategy of the Yangtze River flood control in the new era should adhere to the principle of"Integration of storage and drainage over the entire Yangtze River Basin,with draining floods downstream as the first priority"by using both engineering and non-engineering measures.On the basis of embankments,the engineering measures should use the Three Gorges Dam and other large reservoirs as the major regulatory means,promote the construction of key flood detention areas,keep the floodways clear,and maintain the ecosystem services of wetlands and shoals.In terms of non-engineering measures,we should strengthen adaptive flood risk management under climate change,standardize the use of lands in flood detention areas,give space to floods,and promote the implementation of flood risk maps and flood insurance policies.The ultimate goal of this new flood control system is to enhance the adaptability to frequent floods and increase the resilience to extreme flood disasters.     

When does spatial resolution become spurious in probabilistic flood inundation predictions?

Advances in remote sensing have enabled hydraulic models to run at fine scale resolutions, producing precise flood inundation predictions. However, running models at finer resolutions increase their computational expense, reducing the feasibility of running the multiple model realizations required to undertake uncertainty analysis. Furthermore, it is possible that precision gained by running fine scale models is smoothed out when treating models probabilistically. The aim of this paper is to determine the level of spatial complexity that is required when making probabilistic flood inundation predictions. The Imera basin, Sicily is used as a case study to assess how changing the spatial resolution of the hydraulic model LISFLOOD‐FP impacts on the skill of conditional probabilistic flood inundation maps given model parameter and boundary condition uncertainties. We find that model performance deteriorates at resolutions coarser than 50 m. This is predominantly caused by changes in flow pathways at coarser resolutions which lead to non‐stationarity in the optimum model parameters at different spatial resolutions. However, although it is still possible to produce probabilistic flood maps that contain a coherent outline of the flood extent at coarser resolutions, the reliability of these maps deteriorates at resolutions coarser than 100 m. Additionally, although the rejection of non‐behavioural models reduces the uncertainty in probabilistic flood maps the reliability of these maps is also reduced. Models with resolutions finer than 50 m offer little gain in performance yet are more than an order of magnitude computationally expensive which can become infeasible when undertaking probabilistic analysis. Furthermore, we show that using deterministic, high‐resolution flood maps can lead to a spurious precision that would be misleading and not representative of the overall uncertainties that are inherent in making inundation predictions. Copyright © 2015 The Authors Hydrological Processes Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Seasonality and magnitude of floods in Switzerland under future climate change

The flood seasonality of catchments in Switzerland is likely to change under climate change because of anticipated alterations of precipitation as well as snow accumulation and melt. Information on this change is crucial for flood protection policies, for example, or regional flood frequency analysis. We analysed projected changes in mean annual and maximum floods of a 22‐year period for 189 catchments in Switzerland and two scenario periods in the 21st century based on an ensemble of climate scenarios. The flood seasonality was analysed with directional statistics that allow assessing both changes in the mean date a flood occurs as well as changes in the strength of the seasonality. We found that the simulated change in flood seasonality is a function of the change in flow regime type. If snow accumulation and melt is important in a catchment during the control period, then the anticipated change in flood seasonality is most pronounced. Decreasing summer precipitation in the scenarios additionally affects the flood seasonality (mean date of flood occurrence) and leads to a decreasing strength of seasonality, that is a higher temporal variability in most cases. The magnitudes of mean annual floods and more clearly of maximum floods (in a 22‐year period) are expected to increase in the future because of changes in flood‐generating processes and scaled extreme precipitation. Southern alpine catchments show a different signal, though: the simulated mean annual floods decrease in the far future, that is at the end of the 21st century. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

River flood seasonality in the Northeast United States: Characterization and trends

The New England and Mid‐Atlantic regions of the Northeast United States have experienced climate‐induced increases in both the magnitude and frequency of floods. However, a detailed understanding of flood seasonality across these regions, and how flood seasonality may have changed over the instrumental record, has not been established. The annual timing of river floods reflects the flood‐generating mechanisms operating in a basin, and many aquatic and riparian organisms are adapted to flood seasonality, as are human uses of river channels and flood plains. Changes in flood seasonality may indicate changes in flood‐generating mechanisms, and their interactions, with important implications for habitats, flood plain infrastructure, and human communities. I applied a probabilistic method for identifying flood seasons at a monthly resolution for 90 Northeast U.S. watersheds with natural, or near‐natural, flood‐generating conditions. Historical trends in flood seasonality were also investigated. Analyses were based on peaks‐over‐threshold flood records that have, on average, 85 years of data and three peaks per year—thus providing more information about flood seasonality than annual maximums. The results show rich detail about annual flood timing across the region with each site having a unique pattern of monthly flood occurrence. However, a much smaller number of dominant seasonal patterns emerged when contiguous flood‐rich months were classified into commonly recognized seasons (e.g., Mar–May, spring). The dominant seasonal patterns identified by manual classification were corroborated by unsupervised classification methods (i.e., cluster analyses). Trend analyses indicated that the annual timing of flood‐rich seasons has generally not shifted over the period of record, but 65 sites with data from 1941 to 2013 revealed increased numbers of June–October floods—a trend driving previously documented increases in Northeast U.S. flood counts per year. These months have been historically flood‐poor at the sites examined, so warm‐season flood potential has increased with possible implications for aquatic and riparian organisms.     

A new seasonal design flood method based on bivariate joint distribution of flood magnitude and date of occurrence

Abstract

Seasonal design floods which consider information on seasonal variation are very important for reservoir operation and management. The seasonal design flood method currently used in China is based on seasonal maximum (SM) samples and assumes that the seasonal design frequency is equal to the annual design frequency. Since the return period associated with annual maximum floods is taken as the standard in China, the current seasonal design flood cannot satisfy flood prevention standards. A new seasonal design flood method, which considers dates of flood occurrence and magnitudes of the peaks (runoff), was proposed and established based on copula function. The mixed von Mises distribution was selected as marginal distribution of flood occurrence dates. The Pearson Type III and exponential distributions were selected as the marginal distribution of flood magnitude for annual maximum flood series and peak-over-threshold samples, respectively. The proposed method was applied at the Geheyan Reservoir, China, and then compared with the currently used seasonal design flood methods. The case study results show that the proposed method can satisfy the flood prevention standard, and provide more information about the flood occurrence probabilities in each sub-season. The results of economic analysis show that the proposed design flood method can enhance the floodwater utilization rate and give economic benefits without lowering the annual flood protection standard.

Citation Chen, L., Guo, S. L., Yan, B. W., Liu, P. & Fang, B. (2010) A new seasonal design flood method based on bivariate joint distribution of flood magnitude and date of occurrence. Hydrol. Sci. J. 55(8), 1264–1280.     

欧洲洪水影响评价技术在长江流域的运用及其若干修正

本文回顾了欧洲洪水影响评价技术.突出的问题是怎样处理洪灾及如何使洪灾损失降到最低.很明显在长江流域开展洪水风险和潜在的损失评价非常有意义.而现有的欧洲洪水影响评价技术难以在长江流域直接运用.我们对其进行了若干修正,并引入了基于GIS/RS的综合水文水动力和最小损失评价模型,该模型己经较好地运用于长江流域洪水影响评价的研究项目.     

中强地震活动区地震年平均发生率确定方法的比较

Two kinds of methods for determining seismic parameters are presented,that is,the potential seismic source zoning method and grid-spatially smoothing method. The Gaussian smoothing method and the modified Gaussian smoothing method are described in detail, and a comprehensive analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of these methods is made. Then,we take central China as the study region,and use the Gaussian smoothing method and potential seismic source zoning method to build seismic models to calculate the mean annual seismic rate. Seismic hazard is calculated using the probabilistic seismic hazard analysis method to construct the ground motion acceleration zoning maps. The differences between the maps and these models are discussed and the causes are investigated. The results show that the spatial smoothing method is suitable for estimating the seismic hazard over the moderate and low seismicity regions or the hazard caused by background seismicity; while the potential seismic source zoning method is suitable for estimating the seismic hazard in well-defined seismotectonics. Combining the spatial smoothing method and the potential seismic source zoning method with an integrated account of the seismicity and known seismotectonics is a feasible approach to estimate the seismic hazard in moderate and low seismicity regions.     

Reservoir operation by staging due to climate variability

The changing environment enhances the hydrological cycle and increases the frequency of extreme floods. In this paper, the impacts of climate variability on flood season segmentation are determined and the scientific basis for determining corresponding flood limiting water levels (FLWLs) is provided. Climate variation was determined and then the flood season was divided into several sub-seasons using the results of the set pair analysis method (SPAM) and four indices; peak floods crossing the transitional periods were sampled to obtain a design flood hydrograph; and, finally, seasonal FLWLs were determined for reservoir operation. The performance of this reservoir staging operation was evaluated for a case study in the Chengbihe Reservoir, China.     

Flood‐loss modelling for assessing impacts of flood‐frequency adjustment,Middle Mississippi River,USA

This study modelled flood losses (economic damages) along the Middle Mississippi River (MMR) (1) using current US government estimates of flow frequencies and (2) using frequencies based on the original, unaltered discharge measurements. The official flood frequencies were quantified in the Upper Mississippi River System Flow Frequency Study (UMRSFFS), but as a last step in that study, early discharges along the MMR were reduced by up to 54% to reflect a purported bias in early measurements. Subsequently, early discharge measurements were rigorously tested, and no such bias was found. Here, flood damages were quantified using a combination of one‐dimensional hydraulic modelling and flood‐loss modelling. For all recurrence intervals, damages were much less using the UMRSFFS flow frequencies compared with the frequencies based on the original discharge measurements, with differences ranging up to 79% (100‐year event) and $2.9bn (200‐year event). Annualized losses in the study area based on the UMRSFFS frequencies were just $41.6m versus $125.6m using the raw frequencies (an underestimation of 67%). These totals do not include flood losses elsewhere along the MMR, including in metropolitan St Louis. In summary, a seemingly small methodological adjustment – in this case, a single hidden adjustment, not documented anywhere within the UMRSFFS – can have dramatic societal impacts in terms of underestimation of flood probabilities and flood risk. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Direct loss model for seismically damaged structures

Loss ratio, which is the ratio of the repair cost to the total replacement cost, is an effective parameter for representing structural and nonstructural damage caused by earthquakes. A probabilistic loss estimation framework is first presented that directly relates hazard to response and hence to losses. A key feature of the loss estimation approach is the determination of losses without need for customary fragility curves. Relationships between intensity measures and engineering demand parameters are used to define the demand model. An empirically calibrated loss model in the form of a power curve with upper and lower cut‐offs is used in conjunction with the demand model to estimate loss ratios. Loss ratios for each of the damage states take into account epistemic uncertainty and an effect on price surge following a major hazardous event. The loss model is calibrated and validated for bridges designed based on the prevailing Caltrans, Japan, and New Zealand standards. The loss model is then transformed to provide a composite seismic hazard–loss relationship that is used to estimate the expected annual loss for structures. The closed‐form four‐step stochastic loss estimation model is applied to the bridges designed for ductility. Results of these ductile designs are compared to a bridge detailed to an emerging damage avoidance design philosophy. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.