TY - JOUR
T1 - The changing nature of flooding across the central United States
AU - Mallakpour, Iman
AU - Villarini, Gabriele
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge financial support by the USACE Institute for Water Resources, the Iowa Flood Center, and IIHR-Hydroscience & Engineering. This material is based in part on work supported by the National Science Foundation under CAREER Grant AGS-1349827 (G.V.). We gratefully acknowledge R. Denniston’s, E. Scoccimarro’s, W. Krajewski’s and J. Smith’s guidance and suggestions.
PY - 2015/2/25
Y1 - 2015/2/25
N2 - In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, flooding has taken a devastating societal and economic toll on the central United States, contributing to dozens of fatalities and causing billions of dollars in damage. As a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture (the Clausius-Clapeyron relation), a pronounced increase in intense rainfall events is included in models of future climate. Therefore, it is crucial to examine whether the magnitude and/or frequency of flood events is remaining constant or has been changing over recent decades. If either or both of these attributes have changed over time, it is imperative that we understand the underlying mechanisms that are responsible. Here, we show that while observational records (774 stream gauge stations) from the central United States present limited evidence of significant changes in the magnitude of floodpeaks, strong evidence points to an increasing frequency of flooding. These changes in flood hydrology result from changes in both seasonal rainfall and temperature across this region.
AB - In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, flooding has taken a devastating societal and economic toll on the central United States, contributing to dozens of fatalities and causing billions of dollars in damage. As a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture (the Clausius-Clapeyron relation), a pronounced increase in intense rainfall events is included in models of future climate. Therefore, it is crucial to examine whether the magnitude and/or frequency of flood events is remaining constant or has been changing over recent decades. If either or both of these attributes have changed over time, it is imperative that we understand the underlying mechanisms that are responsible. Here, we show that while observational records (774 stream gauge stations) from the central United States present limited evidence of significant changes in the magnitude of floodpeaks, strong evidence points to an increasing frequency of flooding. These changes in flood hydrology result from changes in both seasonal rainfall and temperature across this region.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84923925321&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1038/nclimate2516
DO - 10.1038/nclimate2516
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84923925321
SN - 1758-678X
VL - 5
SP - 250
EP - 254
JO - Nature Climate Change
JF - Nature Climate Change
IS - 3
ER -