flash floods – HEPEX

ZOOMing into the Age of Digital Collaborations

January 19, 2023 Ilias Pechlivanidis Comments 0 Comment

Contributed by Bart van Osnabrugge, Antara Dasgupta, Louise Arnal, Rebecca Emerton and Shaun Harrigan Are physical meetings strictly necessary to foster effective collaborations? The Context Hearing the laments about online conferences, limited interactions and zoom fatigue, it seems easy to go with the answer “yes they are”. Yes, meeting in person is fun and makes connecting a lot easier. There is no rivalling going out for dinner or partying after a full day of presentations. However, the virtual world also offers…

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Flash flooding is a serious threat in the UK – here’s how scientists are tackling its prediction

December 11, 2019 Rebecca Emerton Comments 0 Comment

Contributed by Christopher J White, University of Strathclyde ; Michael Cranston, RAB; Laura Kelly, University of Strathclyde ; Linda Speight, University of Reading. It’s becoming a familiar scene on the news: sodden British people wading through streets up to their knees in flood water. From Stirling to Sheffield, many parts of the UK in 2019 felt the impact of severe surface water flooding – often referred to as flash flooding – that followed torrential rain. As the climate changes and the…

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Improving forecasting of flooding from intense rainfall through interdisciplinary research

February 20, 2019 Rebecca Emerton Comments 0 Comment

Contributed by Dr Linda Speight, University of Reading. In England and Wales alone 3 million properties are at risk of surface water flooding. Having spent the past year speaking to a number of experts in the field (see below), I feel confident saying the universal biggest challenge facing everyone involved in forecasting flooding from intense rainfall is communicating the uncertainties around the location and timing of flood events. Whether you are a researcher looking at developing novel ways to visualise…

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Crowdsourced data for flood hydrology – Interview with flood chasers in France and Argentina

October 11, 2016 Maria-Helena Ramos Comments 0 Comment

Contributed by MH Ramos, member of the IRSTEA Columnist Team A recent paper published in the Journal of Hydrology has drawn my attention: Crowdsourced data for flood hydrology: Feedback from recent citizen science projects in Argentina, France and New Zealand. The paper deals with the use of information from social media in applied sciences and operations, with a focus on collecting photos and videos to better assess river flows and to improve flood mapping after severe events. It prompts reflections on the way qualitative and quantitative data can…

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The human hydrological model

April 24, 2015 Marie-Amélie Boucher Comments 3 comments

by Marie-Amélie Boucher, a HEPEX 2015 Guest Columnist Very recently, my fellow HEPEX columnist Jan Danhelka discussed the importance of the human forecasters in the whole process of weather and streamflow forecasting. His blog reminded me of a visit I made last year which somewhat challenged my views on flood forecasting. It was a technical tour about water management on Spencer Creek watershed that took place at the end of a conference. And there I met the first (and so far…

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