The terraces of Petra, Jordan: archives of a lost agricultural hinterland

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rupert Bäumler ◽  
Bernhard Lucke ◽  
Jago Birk ◽  
Patrick Keilholz ◽  
Christopher O. Hunt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Irrigation System ◽  
Extreme Rainfall ◽  
Flash Floods ◽  
Available Phosphorus ◽  
Extreme Rainfall Events ◽  
Rainfall Events ◽  
Islamic Period ◽  
Extreme Precipitation Events ◽  
Limited Degree ◽  
Agricultural Use

<p>Petra is hidden in rugged arid mountains prone to flash floods, while the dry climate and barren landscape seem hostile to cultivation. Nevertheless, there are countless remains of terraces of so far unknown purpose. We investigated three well-preserved terraces at Jabal Haroun to the south-west of Petra which seemed representative for the diverse geology and types of terraces. A hydrological model shows that the terraces were effective at both control of runoff and collection of water and sediments: they minimized flash floods and allowed for an agricultural use. However, rare extreme rainfall events could only be controlled to a limited degree, and drought years without floods caused crop failures. Pollen and phytoliths in the sediments attest to the past presence of well-watered fields including reservoirs storing collected runoff, which suggest a sophisticated irrigation system. In addition, faeces biomarkers and plant-available phosphorus indicate planned manuring. Ancient land use as documented by the terraces created a green oasis in the desert. They seem to represent Petra's agricultural hinterland, which was lost during the Islamic period due growing aridity and an increased frequency of devastating extreme precipitation events. The heirs of the Nabateans reverted to their original Bedouin subsistence strategies but continue to opportunistically cultivate terrace remains.</p>

scholarly journals Extreme Rainfall in the Mediterranean: What Can We Learn from Observations?

2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 906-922 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Rebora ◽  
L. Molini ◽  
E. Casella ◽  
A. Comellas ◽  
E. Fiori ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Extreme Rainfall ◽  
Flash Floods ◽  
Rain Gauge ◽  
Extreme Rainfall Events ◽  
Rainfall Events ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer ◽  
Ground Effects

Abstract Flash floods induced by extreme rainfall events represent one of the most life-threatening phenomena in the Mediterranean. While their catastrophic ground effects are well documented by postevent surveys, the extreme rainfall events that generate them are still difficult to observe properly. Being able to collect observations of such events will help scientists to better understand and model these phenomena. The recent flash floods that hit the Liguria region (Italy) between the end of October and beginning of November 2011 give us the opportunity to use the measurements available from a large number of sensors, both ground based and spaceborne, to characterize these events. In this paper, the authors analyze the role of the key ingredients (e.g., unstable air masses, moist low-level jets, steep orography, and a slow-evolving synoptic pattern) for severe rainfall processes over complex orography. For the two Ligurian events, this role has been analyzed through the available observations (e.g., Meteosat Second Generation, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, the Italian Radar Network mosaic, and the Italian rain gauge network observations). The authors then address the possible role of sea–atmosphere interactions and propose a characterization of these events in terms of their predictability.

Some lessons to improve adaptation measures in basis to the analysis of three extreme rainfall events and its associated impacts in the Spanish Mediterranean Coast.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel Caballero-Leiva ◽  
Montserrat Llasat-Botija ◽  
María Carmen Llasat
Keyword(s):  
Extreme Rainfall ◽  
Flash Floods ◽  
Mediterranean Coast ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Extreme Rainfall Events ◽  
Rainfall Events ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Short Time

<p>The Mediterranean coast of Spain is well known for its pleasant weather, which results in high population densities and large number of tourists. The littoral area is constituted by a rich variety of ecosystems combined with a well-developed industry and agricultural land. The attractive Mediterranean climate has another side of the story, due partially to the Spanish mountain ranges along the east coast. This results in extreme rainfall events that drive flash floods that carry significant economic, environmental and social impact to the affected areas. The mentioned scenario gets more complex when considering the climate change that is already experienced in the Mediterranean region. Among others, the increase in extreme precipitation events envisioned by global climate models. Considering that storms and flash floods are the highest occurrence and most expensive events, it is fair to analyse the adaptation measures in place for the studied area.</p><p>The present work shows the comparative analysis of three recent case studies of major compound hazard events happened in the Mediterranean coast of Spain with special focus on littoral impacts and within a short time frame of 4 months: September 2019, October 2019, and January 2020. The nearness of the events left short time for recovery between them, as well as added aggravation due to the accumulated environmental and economic impacts caused to the region and the Covid-19 pandemics. The work presents a wide range of data (meteorological, hydrological, economical, impact data, etc.), collected from the press and social media as well as from official sources such as CCS, Meteorological agencies, Civil Protection, and others. This allows developing a multidisciplinary approach from the point of view of hydrology, meteorology, sea sciences and social science.</p><p>The analysis of the events is made from a holistic point of view including details as varied as the geographical areas affected up to municipality level, circumstances of casualties, location of extreme hydrometeorological values recorded during the events, environmental impact and economic loss. Furthermore, the different factors driving to each compound hazard event (floods, windstorms, sea surges, ...) and cascade effects have been analysed. Moreover, an analysis of the adaptation measures present at the time is done, along with suggestions of complementary or better adaptation measures for the three cases. Even though the data collection and analysis are made for the entire affected area within the Iberian Peninsula, the impacts and adaptation measures considered in this communication have a focus on the coastal area, including its various littoral ecosystems, coastal infrastructures, tourist sector, etc.</p><p>This work has been done in the framework of the M-CostAdapt (CTM2017-83655-C2-1&2-R) research project, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN-AEI/FEDER, UE).</p>

scholarly journals Long-Term Temporal Variation of Extreme Rainfall Events in Australia: 1910–2006

2010 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 950-965 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guobin Fu ◽  
Neil R. Viney ◽  
Stephen P. Charles ◽  
Jianrong Liu
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Variation ◽  
Extreme Events ◽  
Extreme Precipitation ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Extreme Rainfall ◽  
Temporal Variations ◽  
Recurrence Interval ◽  
Extreme Rainfall Events ◽  
Rainfall Events ◽  
Extreme Precipitation Events

Abstract The temporal variability of the frequency of short-duration extreme precipitation events in Australia for the period 1910–2006 is examined using the high-quality rainfall dataset identified by the Bureau of Meteorology, Australia, for 189 stations. Extreme events are defined by duration and recurrence interval: 1, 5, 10, and 30 days, and 1, 5, and 20 yr, respectively. The results indicate that temporal variations of the extreme precipitation index (EPI) for various durations and recurrence intervals in the last 100 yr, except for the low frequencies before 1918, have experienced three U-shaped cycles: 1918–53, 1953–74, and 1974–2006. Seasonal results indicate that about two-thirds of 1-day, 1-yr recurrence interval extreme events occur from December to March. Time series of anomalies of the regional EPIs for four regions indicate that northeast Australia and southeast Australia have almost the same temporal variation as the national anomalies, South Australia experienced a negative anomaly of extreme rainfall events in the mid-1950s, and southwest Western Australia (SWWA) experienced relatively small temporal variation. The relationships between extreme rainfall events and the Southern Oscillation index (SOI) and the interdecadal Pacific oscillation (IPO) indicate that extreme rainfall events in Australia have a strong relationship with both, especially during La Niña years and after 1942.

scholarly journals Regional Flood Forecasting using SWMM for Urban Catchment

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 1027-1031
Keyword(s):  
Flow Direction ◽  
Extreme Rainfall ◽  
Storm Water ◽  
Reference Level ◽  
Extreme Rainfall Events ◽  
Rainfall Events ◽  
Storm Water Management Model ◽  
Extreme Precipitation Events ◽  
Elevation Data ◽  
Urban Designing

Urban flooding is the inundation of land or property in a designed atmosphere, significantly in additional densely inhabited areas, caused by precipitation overwhelming the capability of drain systems, like storm sewers. Due to expeditious increment and improper urban designing the probabilities of creek, localized or flash urban floods have drastically multiplied. This study explores the application of Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) to densely populated area of Vijayawada city, which is fragmented into 58 sub-catchments. The study area is delineated in SWMM by the assistance of blueprint AutoCAD maps showing drainage network and Reference Level details. From this elaborated elevation data of drain networks, the flow direction has been evaluated to create the descriptive view of the area in SWMM. In this study area 2016, 2017 and 2018 extreme rainfall events of 24 hrs interval is considered for runoff analysis. The focus of the current wok is to model runoff conditions by applying Dynamic wave equation for routing floods and Green-Ampt equation for infiltration in SWMM. The model outputs guided in visualizing the runoff from extreme precipitation events and to analyze the accuracy of the storm water network system.

The Influence of Geographical Factors on Extreme Rainfalls in Lampung Province

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
M Welly
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Location ◽  
Daily Rainfall ◽  
Extreme Rainfall ◽  
Design Flood ◽  
Extreme Rainfall Events ◽  
Rainfall Events ◽  
Ungauged Basin ◽  
Flood Discharge ◽  
Design Rainfall ◽  
Geographical Factors

Many people in Indonesia calculate design rainfall before calculating the design flooddischarge. The design rainfall with a certain return period will eventually be convertedinto a design flood discharge by combining it with the characteristics of the watershed.However, the lack of a network of rainfall recording stations makes many areas that arenot hydrologically measured (ungauged basin), so it is quite difficult to know thecharacteristics of rain in the area concerned. This study aims to analyze thecharacteristics of design rainfall in Lampung Province. The focus of the analysis is toinvestigate whether geographical factors influence the design rainfall that occurs in theparticular area. The data used in this study is daily rainfall data from 15 rainfallrecording stations spread in Lampung Province. The method of frequency analysis usedin this study is the Gumbel method. The research shows that the geographical location ofan area does not have significant effect on extreme rainfall events. The effect of risingearth temperatures due to natural exploitation by humans tends to be stronger as a causeof extreme events such as extreme rainfall.Keywords: Influence, geographical, factors, extreme, rainfall.

CLIMATOLOGY OF EXTREME RAINFALL EVENTS IN EASTERN AND NORTHERN SANTA CATARINA STATE, BRAZIL: PRESENT AND FUTURE CLIMATE

2013 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 413 ◽  
Author(s):  
André Becker Nunes ◽  
Gilson Carlos Da Silva
Keyword(s):  
Climate Model ◽  
Climate Modeling ◽  
Linear Trend ◽  
Extreme Rainfall ◽  
Eastern Region ◽  
Santa Catarina ◽  
Extreme Rainfall Events ◽  
Rainfall Events ◽  
History Of ◽  
Santa Catarina State

ABSTRACT. The eastern region of Santa Catarina State (Brazil) has an important history of natural disasters due to extreme rainfall events. Floods and landslides are enhancedby local features such as orography and urbanization: the replacement of natural surface coverage causing more surface runoff and, hence, flooding. Thus, studies of this type of events – which directly influence life in the towns – take on increasing importance. This work makes a quantitative analysis of occurrences of extreme rainfall events in the eastern and northern regions of Santa Catarina State in the last 60 years, through individual analysis, considering the history of floods ineach selected town, as well as an estimate through to the end of century following regional climate modeling. A positive linear trend, in most of the towns studied, was observed in the results, indicating greater frequency of these events in recent decades, and the HadRM3P climate model shows a heterogeneous increase of events for all towns in the period from 2071 to 2100.Keywords: floods, climate modeling, linear trend. RESUMO. A região leste do Estado de Santa Catarina tem um importante histórico de desastres naturais ocasionados por eventos extremos de precipitação. Inundações e deslizamentos de terra são potencializados pelo relevo acidentado e pela urbanização das cidades da região: a vegetação nativa vem sendo removida acarretando um maior escoamento superficial e, consequentemente, em inundações. Desta forma, torna-se de suma importância os estudos acerca deste tipo de evento que influencia diretamente a sociedade em geral. Neste trabalho é realizada uma análise quantitativa do número de eventos severos de precipitação ocorridos nas regiões leste e norte de Santa Catarina dos últimos 60 anos, por meio de uma análise pontual, considerandoo histórico de inundações de cada cidade selecionada, além de uma projeção para o fim do século de acordo com modelagem climática regional. Na análise dos resultados observou-se uma tendência linear positiva na maioria das cidades, indicando uma maior frequência deste tipo de evento nas últimas décadas, e o modelo climático HadRM3P mostra um aumento heterogêneo no número de eventos para todas as cidades no período de 2071 a 2100.Palavras-chave: inundações, modelagem climática, tendência linear.

Comparing vulnerability and institutional capacities in three Latin American coastal localities in response to extreme rainfall events

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arturo Ruiz-Luna ◽  
Claudia Martínez-Peralta ◽  
Patricia P. B. Eichler ◽  
Leonardo R. Teixeira ◽  
Montserrat Acosta-Morel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Extreme Rainfall ◽  
Extreme Rainfall Events ◽  
Rainfall Events

scholarly journals Tropical cyclone contribution to extreme rainfall over southwest Pacific Island nations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anil Deo ◽  
Savin S. Chand ◽  
Hamish Ramsay ◽  
Neil J. Holbrook ◽  
Simon McGree ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Cyclone ◽  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Extreme Rainfall ◽  
Pacific Island ◽  
Extreme Rainfall Events ◽  
Rainfall Events ◽  
Southwest Pacific ◽  
Inactive Phase ◽  
Pacific Island Nations

AbstractSouthwest Pacific nations are among some of the worst impacted and most vulnerable globally in terms of tropical cyclone (TC)-induced flooding and accompanying risks. This study objectively quantifies the fractional contribution of TCs to extreme rainfall (hereafter, TC contributions) in the context of climate variability and change. We show that TC contributions to extreme rainfall are substantially enhanced during active phases of the Madden–Julian Oscillation and by El Niño conditions (particularly over the eastern southwest Pacific region); this enhancement is primarily attributed to increased TC activity during these event periods. There are also indications of increasing intensities of TC-induced extreme rainfall events over the past few decades. A key part of this work involves development of sophisticated Bayesian regression models for individual island nations in order to better understand the synergistic relationships between TC-induced extreme rainfall and combinations of various climatic drivers that modulate the relationship. Such models are found to be very useful for not only assessing probabilities of TC- and non-TC induced extreme rainfall events but also evaluating probabilities of extreme rainfall for cases with different underlying climatic conditions. For example, TC-induced extreme rainfall probability over Samoa can vary from ~ 95 to ~ 75% during a La Niña period, if it coincides with an active or inactive phase of the MJO, and can be reduced to ~ 30% during a combination of El Niño period and inactive phase of the MJO. Several other such cases have been assessed for different island nations, providing information that have potentially important implications for planning and preparing for TC risks in vulnerable Pacific Island nations.

scholarly journals Trends in the Frequency of Intense Precipitation Events in Southern and Southeastern Brazil during 1960–2004

2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (7) ◽  
pp. 1913-1921 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mateus da Silva Teixeira ◽  
Prakki Satyamurty
Keyword(s):  
Extreme Rainfall ◽  
Southeastern Brazil ◽  
Extreme Rainfall Event ◽  
Southern Brazil ◽  
Extreme Rainfall Events ◽  
Rainfall Events ◽  
Annual Frequency ◽  
Long Term Trends ◽  
Increasing Trends

Abstract A new approach to define heavy and extreme rainfall events based on cluster analysis and area-average rainfall series is presented. The annual frequency of the heavy and extreme rainfall events is obtained for the southeastern and southern Brazil regions. In the 1960–2004 period, 510 (98) and 466 (77) heavy (extreme) rainfall events are identified in the two regions. Monthly distributions of the events closely follow the monthly climatological rainfall in the two regions. In both regions, annual heavy and extreme rainfall event frequencies present increasing trends in the 45-yr period. However, only in southern Brazil is the trend statistically significant. Although longer time series are necessary to ensure the existence of long-term trends, the positive trends are somewhat alarming since they indicate that climate changes, in terms of rainfall regimes, are possibly under way in Brazil.

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