Global flood exposure from different sized rivers
<p>There is now a wealth of data to calculate global flood exposure. Available datasets differ in detail and representation of both global population distribution and global flood hazard. Previous studies of global flood risk have used datasets interchangeably without addressing the impacts us...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2021-09-01
|
| Series: | Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences |
| Online Access: | https://nhess.copernicus.org/articles/21/2829/2021/nhess-21-2829-2021.pdf |
| Summary: | <p>There is now a wealth of data to calculate global flood exposure. Available
datasets differ in detail and representation of both global population
distribution and global flood hazard. Previous studies of global flood risk
have used datasets interchangeably without addressing the impacts using
different datasets could have on exposure estimates. By calculating flood
exposure to different sized rivers using a model-independent
geomorphological river flood susceptibility map (RFSM), we show that limits
placed on the size of river represented in global flood models result in
global flood exposure estimates that differ by more than a factor of 2.
The choice of population dataset is found to be equally important and can
have enormous impacts on national flood exposure estimates. Up-to-date, high-resolution population data are vital for accurately representing exposure to
smaller rivers and will be key in improving the global flood risk picture.
Our results inform the appropriate application of these datasets and where
further development and research are needed.</p> |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1561-8633 1684-9981 |