Fundamental concepts and research priorities for advancing the science of urban stormwater hydrology and flood management
Abstract
In cities, hydrologic processes are drastically altered by human interventions. Modification of land cover and the enhancement of hydraulic efficiency have been documented as root causes of augmented stormwater runoff in urban watersheds, contributing to higher magnitude discharge events that pose flood risks for human communities. Climate change is expected to accelerate the hydrologic cycle, leading to more extreme events and increased flood risk. We present a synthesis of the physical and conceptual components and processes that govern urban stormwater runoff, and highlight key areas for future research. There is limited understanding about the fine-scale spatio-temporal relationships between gray, green, brown, and blue land cover features, the underlying social-ecological mechanisms responsible for their distribution, and the resulting effects on runoff dynamics. Horizontal and vertical complexity of urban morphological features and connectivity with the network of stormwater management infrastructure leads to heterogeneous and non-linear runoff responses that confound efforts for accurately predicting flood hazards. Quantitative analysis is needed to understand how urban drainage network structure varies across stream orders, and illuminate the landscape-scale patterns that potentially serve as organizing principles for generating hydrologic processes across diverse socio-bio-climatic domains and scales. Field-based and modeling studies are also needed to quantify the individual hydrologic capacities of urban structural elements and their cumulative effects at the watershed scale, particularly in developing regions. Integrated, transdisciplinary, multi-scalar approaches to framing and investigating complex socio-eco-techno-hydrologic systems are essential for advancing the science of urban stormwater hydrology, and developing resilient, multifunctional management solutions appropriate to the challenges of urban flooding in the twenty-first century.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016AGUFM.H13C1379N
- Keywords:
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- 0414 Biogeochemical cycles;
- processes;
- and modeling;
- BIOGEOSCIENCESDE: 1803 Anthropogenic effects;
- HYDROLOGYDE: 1830 Groundwater/surface water interaction;
- HYDROLOGYDE: 1843 Land/atmosphere interactions;
- HYDROLOGY