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Features of tropical cyclone‐induced flood peaks on Grande Terre, New Caledonia
Author(s) -
Terry James P.,
Kostaschuk Ray A.,
Wotling Geoffroy
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
water and environment journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1747-6593
pISSN - 1747-6585
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-6593.2007.00098.x
Subject(s) - tropical cyclone , overbank , tropical cyclone rainfall forecasting , flood myth , flooding (psychology) , climatology , hydrograph , hydrology (agriculture) , cyclone (programming language) , environmental science , geology , geography , fluvial , structural basin , geomorphology , psychology , geotechnical engineering , archaeology , field programmable gate array , computer science , computer hardware , psychotherapist
New Caledonia, an archipelago of islands in the South Pacific, is periodically affected in the wet season by tropical cyclones that can deliver intense rainfall and cause severe river flooding. On the mountainous island of Grande Terre, the majority of the largest historical flows in the Tontouta River were caused by tropical cyclones and 75% of cyclone‐induced floods were overbank events. Discharge data for the Tontouta River over the period 1969–2003 were used to construct partial duration series (PDS) of daily mean and instantaneous flows. The log Pearson Type III distribution provided a good fit to the PDS. Instantaneous flows are much higher than daily flows, reflecting the flashiness of tropical cyclone hydrographs. This highlights the need to use instantaneous flow data, where available, to investigate flood hazards in steep tropical basins impacted by tropical cyclones.