Floodplain inundation spectrum across the United States

Durelle T. Scott; Jesus D. Gomez-Velez; C. Nathan Jones; Judson W. Harvey

doi:10.1038/s41467-019-13184-4

Floodplain inundation spectrum across the United States

Durelle T. Scott
, Jesus D. Gomez-Velez
, C. Nathan Jones
, Judson W. Harvey

Watershed Systems Modeling

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

49 Scopus citations

Abstract

Floodplain inundation poses both risks and benefits to society. In this study, we characterize floodplain inundation across the United States using 5800 stream gages. We find that between 4% and 12.6% of a river’s annual flow moves through its floodplains. Flood duration and magnitude is greater in large rivers, whereas the frequency of events is greater in small streams. However, the relative exchange of floodwater between the channel and floodplain is similar across small streams and large rivers, with the exception of the water-limited arid river basins. When summed up across the entire river network, 90% of that exchange occurs in small streams on an annual basis. Our detailed characterization of inundation hydrology provides a unique perspective that the regulatory, management, and research communities can use to help balance both the risks and benefits associated with flooding.

Original language	English
Article number	5194
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	10
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13184-4
State	Published - Dec 1 2019

Funding

Support was provided by the John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis and NSF Geosciences. D.T.S. is supported by the Virginia Agricultural Experimental Station and the Hatch Program of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (U.S. Department of Agriculture) and the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science at Virginia Tech. J.D.G.V. is funded by the the U.S. National Science Foundation (award EAR 1830172) and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER), as part of BER\u2019s Subsurface Biogeochemistry Research Program (SBR). This contribution originates from the SBR Scientific Focus Area (SFA) at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). J.W.H. was also supported by the USGS Water Resources Availability Program and Water Observing Systems Program. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government

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10.1038/s41467-019-13184-4

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title = "Floodplain inundation spectrum across the United States",

abstract = "Floodplain inundation poses both risks and benefits to society. In this study, we characterize floodplain inundation across the United States using 5800 stream gages. We find that between 4\% and 12.6\% of a river{\textquoteright}s annual flow moves through its floodplains. Flood duration and magnitude is greater in large rivers, whereas the frequency of events is greater in small streams. However, the relative exchange of floodwater between the channel and floodplain is similar across small streams and large rivers, with the exception of the water-limited arid river basins. When summed up across the entire river network, 90\% of that exchange occurs in small streams on an annual basis. Our detailed characterization of inundation hydrology provides a unique perspective that the regulatory, management, and research communities can use to help balance both the risks and benefits associated with flooding.",

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Floodplain inundation spectrum across the United States

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