Open AccessResearch Spotlight: New analysis can better anticipate the likelihood of flood occurrence
Author(s) -
Kumar Mohi
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/2011eo220014
Subject(s) - flood myth , streamflow , environmental science , representation (politics) , flash flood , duration (music) , environmental resource management , hydrology (agriculture) , computer science , geography , engineering , cartography , drainage basin , art , literature , archaeology , geotechnical engineering , politics , political science , law
To manage freshwater resources, communities need information on how likely the volume of flow for a river or stream will equal or exceed a certain value of interest. Such information, for example, helps engineers know how much water to release into dams' spillways, guides urban planners in anticipating flash floods, and provides scientists with information on how changing precipitation patterns may influence flood frequency. Central to gaining these insights are flow duration curves (FDCs), which help to quantify the likelihood that streamflow will be greater than a specific level. Traditional period‐of‐record FDCs are a representation of the entire record of observation of a particular stream, whereas annual FDCs yield a picture on an annual basis. Serinaldi shows that both FDCs and annual FDCs can be complemented with confidence intervals based on a unique theoretical framework, which confirms the dual nature of the two approaches.