Published in

American Geophysical Union, Geophysical Research Letters, 24(43), 2016

DOI: 10.1002/2016gl071199

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Recent trends in U.S. flood risk

Journal article published in 2016 by Louise J. Slater ORCID, Gabriele Villarini ORCID
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Postprint: archiving allowed
Orange circle
Published version: archiving restricted
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

This paper is in closed access until 21st June 2017. ; Flooding is projected to become more frequent as warming temperatures amplify the atmosphere???s water holding capacity and increase the occurrence of extreme precipitation events. However, there is still little evidence of regional changes in flood risk across the USA. Here, we present a novel approach assessing the trends in inundation frequency above the National Weather Service???s four flood level categories in 2,042 catchments. Results reveal stark regional patterns of changing flood risk that are broadly consistent above the four flood categories. We show that these patterns are dependent on the overall wetness and potential water storage, with fundamental implications for water resources management, agriculture, insurance, navigation, ecology, and populations living in flood-affected areas. Our findings may assist in a better communication of changing flood patterns to a wider audience compared with the more traditional approach of stating trends in terms of discharge magnitudes and frequencies.