Flood hazard potential reveals global floodplain settlement patterns
At Bristol · University of Bristol · +1 more institution
Abstract
Flooding is one of the most common natural hazards, causing disastrous impacts worldwide. Stress-testing the global human-Earth system to understand the sensitivity of floodplains and population exposure to a range of plausible conditions is one strategy to identify where future changes to flooding or exposure might be most critical. This study presents a global analysis of the sensitivity of inundated areas and population exposure to varying flood event magnitudes globally for 1.2 million river reaches. Here we show that topography and drainage areas correlate with flood sensitivities as well as with societal behaviour. We find clear settlement patterns in which floodplains most sensitive to frequent, low…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 26.61
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 101
Authors
5Topics & keywords
- Floodplain
- Flood myth
- Flooding (psychology)
- Hazard
- Natural hazard
- Environmental science
- Population
- Climate change
- Climate action
Funding
- AVAlexander von Humboldt-Stiftung
- URUK Research and InnovationAwards: NE/S003061/1, MR/V022857/1
- SRSight Research UKAwards: NE/S006079/1, NE/S015639/1, NE/S003061/1
- BFBundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
- EAEngineering and Physical Sciences Research CouncilAwards: EP/L016214/1, L016214
- NENatural Environment Research CouncilAwards: NE/S003061/1, NE/S015639/1, NE/S006079/1, NE/S003061/1