High Resolution Flash Flood Forecasting Using a Wireless Sensor Network in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex
Abstract
In this study, we develop and evaluate a high resolution urban flash flood monitoring system using a wireless sensor network (WSN), a real-time rainfall-runoff model, and spatially-explicit radar rainfall predictions. Flooding is the leading cause of natural disaster fatalities in the US, with flash flooding in particular responsible for a majority of flooding deaths. While many riverine flood models have been operationalized into early warning systems, there is currently no model that is capable of reliably predicting flash floods in urban areas. Urban flash floods are particularly difficult to model due to a lack of rainfall and runoff data at appropriate scales. To address this problem, we develop a wide-area flood-monitoring wireless sensor network for the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, and use this network to characterize rainfall-runoff response over multiple heterogeneous catchments. First, we deploy a network of 22 wireless sensor nodes to collect real-time stream stage measurements over catchments ranging from 2-80 km2 in size. Next, we characterize the rainfall-runoff response of each catchment by combining stream stage data with gage and radar-based precipitation measurements. Finally, we demonstrate the potential for real-time flash flood prediction by joining the derived rainfall-runoff models with real-time radar rainfall predictions. We find that runoff response is highly heterogeneous among catchments, with large variabilities in runoff response detected even among nearby gages. However, when spatially-explicit rainfall fields are included, spatial variability in runoff response is largely captured. This result highlights the importance of increased spatial coverage for flash flood prediction.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2017
- Bibcode:
- 2017AGUFMNH43B..08B
- Keywords:
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- 1821 Floods;
- HYDROLOGY;
- 1847 Modeling;
- HYDROLOGY;
- 4333 Disaster risk analysis and assessment;
- NATURAL HAZARDS;
- 4341 Early warning systems;
- NATURAL HAZARDS