Assessing the Effects of Climate Change on Compound Flooding in Coastal River Areas
Metadata
Show full item recordAuthor
Bermúdez Pita, MaríaEditorial
Wiley-Blackwell Publishing
Materia
Compound floods Coastal river areas Climate change Flood hazard Future projections
Date
2021-10Referencia bibliográfica
Bermúdez, M... [et al.] (2021). Assessing the effects of climate change on compound flooding in coastal river areas. Water Resources Research, 57, e2020WR029321. [https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR029321]
Sponsorship
European Commission 754446; UGR Research and Knowledge Transfer Fund-Athenea3i; Universidad de Granada/CBUAAbstract
Flood assessment in coastal river areas is subject to complex dependencies and interactions
between flood drivers. In addition, coastal areas are especially vulnerable to climate change, and
thus its effects should be considered in the evaluation of future flood hazard. In the present study, we
propose a methodology for a robust evaluation of historical and future flooding in coastal river areas. It
follows a continuous simulation approach in which a hydrologic-hydraulic modeling cascade is run for
several years, driven by a simultaneous series of flood drivers. The method differs from other existing
methodologies in: (a) jointly considering the relevant flood drivers, both coastal and inland, together with
their dependencies and interactions, to represent the simultaneous occurrence of extreme water levels
correctly, and (b) obtaining local-scale physically consistent projections of flood drivers to account for
future climate change effects on compound flood hazard. The methodology is tested for a coastal river
reach in NW Spain. The results show that, although mean sea level rise is usually expected to be the main
driver of increased flood hazard, climate change effects on river discharge can play a very significant role
in regions with compound flooding potential.