A Method to Assess Localized Impact of Better Floodplain Topography on Flood Risk Prediction

Many studies have highlighted the need for a higher accuracy global digital elevation model (DEM), mainly in river floodplains and deltas and along coastlines. In this paper, we present a method to infer the impact of a better DEM on applications and science using the Lower Zambezi basin as a use ca...

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Main Authors: Guy J.-P. Schumann, Konstantinos M. Andreadis
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hindawi Limited 2016-01-01
Series:Advances in Meteorology
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/6408319
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spelling doaj-6c7b6c2cc68b431b934a4484f585e4ac2020-11-24T23:33:59ZengHindawi LimitedAdvances in Meteorology1687-93091687-93172016-01-01201610.1155/2016/64083196408319A Method to Assess Localized Impact of Better Floodplain Topography on Flood Risk PredictionGuy J.-P. Schumann0Konstantinos M. Andreadis1Remote Sensing Solutions, Inc., Monrovia, CA 91016, USANASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USAMany studies have highlighted the need for a higher accuracy global digital elevation model (DEM), mainly in river floodplains and deltas and along coastlines. In this paper, we present a method to infer the impact of a better DEM on applications and science using the Lower Zambezi basin as a use case. We propose an analysis based on a targeted observation algorithm to evaluate potential data acquisition subregions in terms of their impact on the prediction of flood risk over the entire study area. Consequently, it becomes trivial to rank these subregions in terms of their contribution to the overall accuracy of flood prediction. The improvement from better topography data may be expressed in terms of economic output and population affected, providing a multifaceted assessment of the value of acquiring better elevation data. Our results highlight the notion that having higher resolution measurements would improve our current large-scale flood inundation prediction capabilities in the Lower Zambezi by at least 30% and significantly reduce the number of people affected as well as the economic loss associated with high magnitude flooding. We believe this procedure to be simple enough to be applied to other regions where high quality topographic and hydrodynamic data are currently unavailable.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/6408319
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Guy J.-P. Schumann
Konstantinos M. Andreadis
spellingShingle Guy J.-P. Schumann
Konstantinos M. Andreadis
A Method to Assess Localized Impact of Better Floodplain Topography on Flood Risk Prediction
Advances in Meteorology
author_facet Guy J.-P. Schumann
Konstantinos M. Andreadis
author_sort Guy J.-P. Schumann
title A Method to Assess Localized Impact of Better Floodplain Topography on Flood Risk Prediction
title_short A Method to Assess Localized Impact of Better Floodplain Topography on Flood Risk Prediction
title_full A Method to Assess Localized Impact of Better Floodplain Topography on Flood Risk Prediction
title_fullStr A Method to Assess Localized Impact of Better Floodplain Topography on Flood Risk Prediction
title_full_unstemmed A Method to Assess Localized Impact of Better Floodplain Topography on Flood Risk Prediction
title_sort method to assess localized impact of better floodplain topography on flood risk prediction
publisher Hindawi Limited
series Advances in Meteorology
issn 1687-9309
1687-9317
publishDate 2016-01-01
description Many studies have highlighted the need for a higher accuracy global digital elevation model (DEM), mainly in river floodplains and deltas and along coastlines. In this paper, we present a method to infer the impact of a better DEM on applications and science using the Lower Zambezi basin as a use case. We propose an analysis based on a targeted observation algorithm to evaluate potential data acquisition subregions in terms of their impact on the prediction of flood risk over the entire study area. Consequently, it becomes trivial to rank these subregions in terms of their contribution to the overall accuracy of flood prediction. The improvement from better topography data may be expressed in terms of economic output and population affected, providing a multifaceted assessment of the value of acquiring better elevation data. Our results highlight the notion that having higher resolution measurements would improve our current large-scale flood inundation prediction capabilities in the Lower Zambezi by at least 30% and significantly reduce the number of people affected as well as the economic loss associated with high magnitude flooding. We believe this procedure to be simple enough to be applied to other regions where high quality topographic and hydrodynamic data are currently unavailable.
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/6408319
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