scholarly journals Post-flood field investigation of the June 2020 flash flood in the upper Muráň River basin and the catastrophic flash flood scenario

2021 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 288-299
Author(s):  
Pavla Pekárová ◽  
Jakub Mészáros ◽  
Pavol Miklánek ◽  
Ján Pekár ◽  
Cyril Siman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Extreme Precipitation ◽  
Peak Flow ◽  
Flash Flood ◽  
Daily Rainfall ◽  
Field Investigation ◽  
Precipitation Event ◽  
Total Runoff ◽  
Daily Data ◽  
River Profiles

Abstract After a dry spring, in June 2020 several intense storms occurred at the headwaters of the small basins of the Muráň and Zdychava rivers in the territory of the Muránska planina National Park (Slaná River basin, Slovakia). In the first part of the study– according to a hydrological survey made by the authors after the flash flood – the peak discharge was reconstructed at several Muráň River profiles. Next, the flash flood waves were reconstructed by the rainfall-runoff model NLC (non-linear cascade). The results of modelling based on field investigations show that, despite the extreme precipitation event (108 mm per 1 hour at the precipitation gauging station at Predná Hora), the peak flow rates were not exceptional in selected profiles on the Muráň River. The fact that extreme precipitation above 120 mm fell in a relatively very small area at the division of the Muráň and Zdychava rivers’ water contributed to this result. In the second part, a catastrophic 1000-year rainfall event scenario on the Zdychava River basin has been prepared. In analysing time series and identifying T-year daily rainfall depths, daily data was used from six precipitation stations in the vicinity of Muránska planina. Then, the 1000-year discharge of the Zdychava at Revúca was simulated by the calibrated NLC model. In such an extreme precipitation scenario, the peak flow rate would reach 105.15 m3 s−1, i.e. with a specific runoff of 1.78 m3 s−1 km–2. The total runoff in an 18-hour period would be 1.119 million m3, representing 21.11% of the rainfall (5.301 million m3).

scholarly journals Seasonal Surface Runoff Characteristics in the Semiarid Region of Western Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China—A Case of the Alun River Basin

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 557
Author(s):  
Jinbai Huang ◽  
Kotaro Tagawa ◽  
Bin Wang ◽  
Jiawei Wen ◽  
Jingcai Wang
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Surface Runoff ◽  
Peak Flow ◽  
Annual Runoff ◽  
Annual Rainfall ◽  
Semiarid Region ◽  
Heilongjiang Province ◽  
Runoff Coefficient ◽  
Total Runoff ◽  
Annual Means

Water resource issues are a challenging area of research in semiarid regions of the world. The objective of the current study was to reveal the main characteristics of seasonal surface runoff for the semiarid western Heilongjiang Province of China. The Alun River Basin, which has hydrological and meteorological characteristics of the local region, was adopted as the study location. A distributed rainfall-runoff combined with snowmelt hydrological model was used to carry out the runoff calculation for the six years (2011–2016). The results indicated that: The mean annual runoff coefficient was 0.34; snowmelt runoff accounted for 2.2% of annual total runoff in 2011–2016; the main part of annual rainfall and runoff was concentrated in the rainy season from June to September, the proportions of rainfall and runoff in this period were 78% and 86% to that of the annual means of 2011–2016; the peak flow represents a decreased trend since 2013, and evidently decreased in 2015 and 2016; less annual precipitation complex with paddy field retention of rainwater and runoff led to the peak flow and annual runoff coefficient in 2016 were obviously lower than that of annual means of 2011–2016. The results are expected to provide the basis for rational development and utilization of surface runoff, and further researches on surface runoff and water resources of the semiarid western Heilongjiang Province of China.

Evaluating the skill of satellite data on the individuation of extreme precipitation events in Calabria (southern Italy)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tommaso Caloiero ◽  
Roberto Coscarelli ◽  
Giulio Nils Caroletti
Keyword(s):  
Satellite Data ◽  
Extreme Precipitation ◽  
Southern Italy ◽  
Hot Spot ◽  
Rain Gauge ◽  
Precipitation Event ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Extreme Precipitation Events ◽  
Daily Data ◽  
Precipitation Events

<p>In this study, the skill of TRMM Multi-Satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) data to locate spatially and temporally extreme precipitation has been tested over Calabria, a region in southern Italy.</p><p>Calabria is a very challenging region for hydrometeorology studies, as i) it is a mainly mountainous region with complex orography; ii) it is surrounded by sea, providing  an abundance of available moisture; iii) it belongs to the Mediterranean region, a hot-spot for climate change.</p><p>TMPA, which provides daily data at a 0.25° resolution (i.e., about 25 km at southern Italy latitudes), was tested with regards to three extreme precipitation events that occurred between 1998 and 2019, i.e., the years of TMPA’s operational time frame. The first event, taking place on 07-12/09/2000, lasted for several days and involved most of Calabria. The second (01-04/07/2006) was a very localized midsummer event, which hit a very small area with destructive consequences. Finally, the 18-27/11/2013 event was a ten-day long heavy precipitation event that hit the region in spots.</p><p>TMPA daily data were compared against validated and homogenized rain gauge data from 79 stations managed by the Multi-Risk Functional Centre of the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection. TMPA was evaluated both in relative and absolute terms: i) the relative skill was tested by checking if TMPA evaluated correctly the presence of extreme precipitation, defined as daily precipitation passing the 99th percentile threshold; ii) the absolute skill was tested by checking if TMPA reproduced correctly the cumulated precipitation values during the events.</p><p>TMPA proved sufficiently able to locate areas subject to heavy cumulated precipitation during large spatially distributed events over the region. However, it showed difficulties in reproducing very localized events, as the 2006 case study was not detected at all, showing that 25-km spatial resolution and daily time resolution proved inadequate to resolve this type of rainfall event.</p><p>Results might give insights into the possibility of using satellite data for real-time monitoring of extreme precipitation, especially since the transition from the old TMPA to the new Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) set was completed in January 2020.</p><p> </p><p>Acknowledgments:</p><p>The Project INDECIS is part of ERA4CS, an ERA-NET initiated by JPI Climate, and funded by FORMAS (SE), DLR (DE), BMWFW (AT), IFD (DK), MINECO (ES), ANR (FR) with co-funding by the European Union (Grant 690462).</p>

scholarly journals Analysis of an extreme precipitation event in the Atacama Desert on January 2020 and its relationship to humidity advection along the Southeast Pacific

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose Miguel Vicencio Veloso
Keyword(s):  
Extreme Precipitation ◽  
Atacama Desert ◽  
Austral Summer ◽  
Daily Rainfall ◽  
Extreme Precipitation Event ◽  
Precipitation Event ◽  
Local Circulation ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Southeast Pacific ◽  
Weather Stations

An extreme precipitation event took place during the second half of January of 2020 in the Atacama Desert. From Tacna, Perú to Iquique, Chile (18-21ºS) rainfall extended for several days producing floods, major damage to infrastructure, and affectation to the population in one of the driest deserts of the world. Analysis of surface-weather stations, sounding, satellite data and reanalysis suggests that the most intense precipitation occurred in precordillera (2,000 to 3,600 m.a.s.l). In a historical context, several weather stations between the pampas and precordillera recorded the highest daily rainfall intensity on record. The analysis of this EP event also suggests that at least four major factors were present to produce record-breaking precipitation in the Atacama Desert: (i) a low-level circulation off-shore Atacama Desert, potentially linked to the southward displacement of the Bolivian High and a high troposphere trough subtropical southeast Pacific Perú, (ii) the advection of humidity through an atmospheric river like structure, trapped to the coast in the front of the low-level cyclonic circulation, leading to increases in precipitable water vapor over the Atacama Desert, (iii) above normal sea surface temperatures that favor moist conditions in the boundary layer and (iv) a reinforced local circulation, where low level winds transport humid wet parcels toward the east, producing terrain-forced ascend at the foothill of the west slope of the Andes Cordillera, triggering precipitation and thunderstorm mostly in precordillera, but also extended to the coast, pampas and Altiplano. Analysis of previous austral summer precipitation days from 2008 to 2020 suggests that this thermo-dynamic mechanism is highly linked to the majority of the EP days in Southern Perú and Northern Chile, becoming in an important configuration to predict future EP events in the Atacama Desert.

Analysis of a short-duration severe precipitation event in a small ungauged basin through a semi-distributed hydrological model

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofia Sarchani ◽  
Ioannis Tsanis
Keyword(s):  
Hydrological Model ◽  
Flash Flood ◽  
Daily Rainfall ◽  
Heavy Precipitation ◽  
Rain Gauge ◽  
Precipitation Event ◽  
Distributed Hydrological Model ◽  
Time Step ◽  
Time To Peak ◽  
Ungauged Basin

<p>A cyclone passed over Western Crete in October 17, 2006 and caused a heavy precipitation event producing a flash flood in a small agricultural basin. The only rain gauge in the studied basin recorded daily rainfall of 196.2 mm with a time-step of 15 minutes while 117 mm was recorded in 4 hours. Simulation of the flow hydrograph was performed with the semi-distributed hydrological model HBV-light and the calibration with the post-flood field data from witnesses that indicated the time to peak flow and the maximum water depth of the passing flood wave. The warming-up period of the model was sixteen days and the previous observed rainfall was 21 mm which was recorded on October 12<sup>th</sup>. Potential evaporation was estimated through the Blaney-Criddle method. The basin was divided into various elevation zones representing three vegetation classes. The parameters regarding the soil moisture routine were applied per vegetation class. Sensitivity analysis, performed by changing one parameter at a time shows that the parameters concerning the response and routing routine affected mostly the peak hydrograph. Initial results for the peak hydrograph were compared with the one validated with HEC-HMS model and produced a very good Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient. There is on-going research of the effect of HBV-light parameters and further results will appear on the poster.</p>

Runoff variability of an extreme flash flood event on the Catalan Coastal System-Ebro Basin water divide (NE Iberian Peninsula)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josep Carles Balasch ◽  
Jordi Tuset ◽  
Xavier Castelltort ◽  
Mariano Barriendos ◽  
Llanos Valera-Prieto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Overland Flow ◽  
Peak Flow ◽  
Flash Flood ◽  
Maximum Intensity ◽  
Tree Cover ◽  
Hydrological Response ◽  
Coastal System ◽  
Maximum Rainfall

<p>On the 22<sup>nd</sup> and 23<sup>rd</sup> of October 2019 a severe rainfall produced floods in the basins of the Catalan Coastal Range-Ebro Depression border (Francolí, Set, Femosa rivers) that affected various towns such as L'Espluga de Francolí, Montblanc, l'Albi, Vinaixa, among others, causing 6 deaths and material damages that exceeded 100 million euros. According to historical records, this rainfall episode would exceed the maximum rainfall estimates expected for 500 years in this region and the maximum heights reached by the water are comparable to, or exceed, those of the remembered Santa Tecla flash flood on September 1874, which would have a recurrence of more than 250 years.</p><p>This rain was caused by a S-SE warm and wet Mediterranean air mass over the Catalan Coastal System (Prades and Llena Ranges). The area of maximum rainfall was located at the headwaters of the rivers Set, Francolí and Montsant rivers, with rain depths above 200 mm. The hourly distribution at El Vilosell and Prades rain gauges shows 50 mm from 6 to 14 UTC and maximum intensity of 10 to 15 mm h<sup>-1</sup>, followed by a second pulse of 180-220 mm from 16 to 01 UTC and maximum intensity of 65 mm h<sup>-1</sup> (maximum 3.1 mm min<sup>-1</sup>). </p><p>Soil moisture content was low at the time of the rain after a dry summer. Early precipitation saturated the topsoil, therefore the soil surface was very wet at the beginning of the second rainfall event and it generated a hortonian overland flow. The highest rainfall intensity occurred around 19 UTC and the peak flow response was immediate, around an hour later, depending on the location.</p><p>Despite the similarity of rainfall and initial soil moisture conditions, the hydrological response in the two analyzed basins was markedly different. The flows generated in the Set River basin at l'Albagès reservoir produced a peak flow of 245 m<sup>3</sup> s<sup>-1</sup> (1.5·m<sup>3</sup>·s<sup>-1</sup>·km<sup>-2</sup>) and a very low flood runoff ratio of only 8%. In the basin of the Francolí River, at L'Espluga de Francolí, the peak flow was 1,300 m<sup>3</sup> s<sup>-1</sup> (13 m<sup>3</sup>·s<sup>-1</sup>·km<sup>-2</sup>) and the runoff ratio was of the order of 70%. The Set river basin is basically agricultural with terraced slopes that retained much of the precipitation, only released after the flood as baseflow. The Francolí river basin has steeper slopes and channels and is dominated by an extensive tree cover but very poorer soils that caused little water retention, giving rise to a major hydrological response, an order of magnitude larger than that of the Set River.</p>

scholarly journals Insights on the Impacts of Hydroclimatic Extremes and Anthropogenic Activities on Sediment Yield of a River Basin

Earth ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-50
Author(s):  
Rocky Talchabhadel ◽  
Jeeban Panthi ◽  
Sanjib Sharma ◽  
Ganesh R. Ghimire ◽  
Rupesh Baniya ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Suspended Sediment ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Extreme Precipitation ◽  
Suspended Sediment Concentration ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Sediment Concentration ◽  
Sediment Flux ◽  
Mountain River ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Precipitation Indices

Streamflow and sediment flux variations in a mountain river basin directly affect the downstream biodiversity and ecological processes. Precipitation is expected to be one of the main drivers of these variations in the Himalayas. However, such relations have not been explored for the mountain river basin, Nepal. This paper explores the variation in streamflow and sediment flux from 2006 to 2019 in central Nepal’s Kali Gandaki River basin and correlates them to precipitation indices computed from 77 stations across the basin. Nine precipitation indices and four other ratio-based indices are used for comparison. Percentage contributions of maximum 1-day, consecutive 3-day, 5-day and 7-day precipitation to the annual precipitation provide information on the severity of precipitation extremeness. We found that maximum suspended sediment concentration had a significant positive correlation with the maximum consecutive 3-day precipitation. In contrast, average suspended sediment concentration had significant positive correlations with all ratio-based precipitation indices. The existing sediment erosion trend, driven by the amount, intensity, and frequency of extreme precipitation, demands urgency in sediment source management on the Nepal Himalaya’s mountain slopes. The increment in extreme sediment transports partially resulted from anthropogenic interventions, especially landslides triggered by poorly-constructed roads, and the changing nature of extreme precipitation driven by climate variability.

scholarly journals Response of a mixed grass prairie to an extreme precipitation event

Ecosphere ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (10) ◽  
pp. art172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy L. Concilio ◽  
Janet S. Prevéy ◽  
Peter Omasta ◽  
James O'Connor ◽  
Jesse B. Nippert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Extreme Precipitation ◽  
Extreme Precipitation Event ◽  
Precipitation Event ◽  
Mixed Grass Prairie ◽  
Mixed Grass

scholarly journals Daily precipitation records over mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 2483-2491 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Ramis ◽  
V. Homar ◽  
A. Amengual ◽  
R. Romero ◽  
S. Alonso
Keyword(s):  
Extreme Events ◽  
Extreme Values ◽  
Daily Rainfall ◽  
Rain Gauge ◽  
Balearic Islands ◽  
Precipitation Event ◽  
Similar Distribution ◽  
Major Interest ◽  
Precipitation Records ◽  
Different Characteristics

Abstract. Understanding the spatial distribution of extreme precipitations is of major interest in order to improve our knowledge of the climate of a region and its relationship with society. These analyses inevitably require the use of directly observed values to account for the actual extreme amounts rather than analyzed gridded values. A study of daily rainfall extremes observed over mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands is performed by using records from 8135 rain gauge stations from the Spanish Weather Agency (AEMET). Results show that the heaviest daily precipitations have been observed mainly on the coastal Mediterranean zone from Gibraltar to the Pyrenees. In particular, a record value of 817 mm was recorded in the Valencia region in 1987. The current map of daily records in Spain, which updates the pioneering work of the Spanish meteorologist Font, shows similar distribution of extreme events but with notably higher amounts. Generalized extreme values distributions fit the Mediterranean and Atlantic rain gauge measurements and shows the different characteristics of the extreme daily precipitations in both regions. We identify the most extreme events (above 500 mm per day) and provide a brief description of a typical meteorological situation in which these damaging events occur. An analysis of the low-level circulation patterns producing such extremes – by means of simple indices such as NAO, WeMOi and IBEI – confirms the relevance of local flows in the generation of either Mediterranean or Atlantic episodes. WeMOi, and even more IBEI, are good discriminants of the region affected by the record precipitation event.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document