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Extreme multi-basin flooding linked with extra-tropical cyclones [Poster]

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posted on 2017-09-08, 09:13 authored by Paolo De Luca, John HillierJohn Hillier, Robert WilbyRobert Wilby, Nevil W. Quinn, Shaun Harrigan
Fluvial floods are typically investigated as ‘events’ at the single basin-scale, hence flood management authorities may underestimate the threat of flooding across multiple basins driven by large-scale and nearly concurrent atmospheric event(s). We pilot a national-scale statistical analysis of the spatio-temporal characteristics of extreme multi-basin flooding (MBF) episodes, using peak river flow data for 260 basins in Great Britain (1975-2014), a sentinel region for storms impacting northwest and central Europe. During the most widespread MBF episode, 108 basins (~46% of the study area) recorded Annual Maximum (AMAX) discharge within a 16-day window. Such episodes are associated with persistent cyclonic and westerly atmospheric circulations, atmospheric rivers, and precipitation falling onto previously saturated ground, leading to hydrological response times <40h and documented flood impacts. Furthermore, peak flows tend to occur after 0-13 days of very severe gales causing combined and spatially-distributed, yet differentially time-lagged, wind and flood damages. These findings have implications for emergency responders, insurers and contingency planners worldwide.

History

School

  • Social Sciences

Department

  • Geography and Environment

Published in

NCAS Climate Modelling Summer School - University of Cambridge 10th-22nd Sept 2017

Citation

DE LUCA, P. ... et al, 2017. Extreme multi-basin flooding linked with extra-tropical cyclones. Presented at the NCAS Climate Modelling Summer School, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, 10th-22nd Sept 2017.

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Publication date

2017

Notes

This is a poster presented at the NCAS Climate Modelling Summer School, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, 10th-22nd Sept 2017.

Language

  • en

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