GCRI · Climate and Hazards
Flood and storm
Floods and storms cause much of the world’s disaster loss. Rivers overflow after prolonged rain or snowmelt, intense bursts overwhelm drains in hours, and storm surge drives the sea inland. Cyclones combine wind, rain and surge in one system. This page sets out how these hazards form, how they are measured and modelled, and what evidence serves the agencies that forecast, plan and defend against them.
Flood and storm on the record.
Flood and storm: how the risk develops.
Extreme precipitation, coastal storm and flooding. The dossier below sets out how the risk develops, what is measured, where the data come from, how it is modelled and who decides.
Rainfall becomes runoff
How much rain becomes flood depends on its intensity and duration, how wet the ground already is, slope, land cover and drainage. Saturated or sealed ground turns modest rain into high runoff.
Warmer air holds more water
Each degree of warming raises the air’s capacity for water vapour, which intensifies heavy rainfall. Short-duration extremes can increase faster than averages.
Surge pushes the sea inland
Low pressure and onshore winds raise sea level at the coast. Surge on a high tide, on top of sea-level rise, reaches defences and land that normal tides never touch.
Hazards arrive together
A cyclone can bring wind damage, surge and river flooding at once, and a coastal river can be blocked by surge while it carries heavy rain. Treating each hazard alone understates the combined event.
Water now worldwide.
Flood water, rain and root-zone soil moisture across the world, from NASA GIBS. Each layer carries its own date.
The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.
Layers 3
Water now, for this page
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed (clouds leave gaps)
- Source
- VIIRS Global Flood Product (NASA LANCE)
- Provider
- NASA LANCE
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite detection; clouds leave gaps
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-14
- Resolution
- about 250 m grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite detection; clouds leave gaps. Satellite or model raster as the provider publishes it. Clouds, swath gaps and retrieval error leave gaps and noise; values are indicators, not measurements at a place.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Estimated
- Source
- GPM IMERG (NASA GES DISC)
- Provider
- NASA GES DISC
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite estimate, near real time
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-12
- Resolution
- about 2 km grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite estimate, near real time. Satellite or model raster as the provider publishes it. Clouds, swath gaps and retrieval error leave gaps and noise; values are indicators, not measurements at a place.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Modelled
- Source
- SMAP Level 4 (NASA NSIDC DAAC)
- Provider
- NASA NSIDC DAAC
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Model with satellite data assimilated
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-11
- Resolution
- about 2 km grid
- Uncertainty
- Model with satellite data assimilated. Satellite or model raster as the provider publishes it. Clouds, swath gaps and retrieval error leave gaps and noise; values are indicators, not measurements at a place.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed
- Source
- VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance (NASA LANCE)
- Provider
- NASA LANCE
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite image
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-14
- Resolution
- about 250 m grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite image. Satellite or model raster as the provider publishes it. Clouds, swath gaps and retrieval error leave gaps and noise; values are indicators, not measurements at a place.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Modelled (latest year GIBS publishes)
- Source
- MODIS Terra and Aqua land cover (MCD12Q1) (NASA LP DAAC)
- Provider
- NASA LP DAAC
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- yearly; Satellite classification; latest year GIBS publishes
- Newest at build
- 2024-01-01
- Resolution
- about 500 m grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite land cover classes for the year shown, including croplands; a classification with known errors, not a farm register.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Estimated
- Source
- Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (NASA SEDAC (CIESIN, Columbia University))
- Provider
- NASA SEDAC (CIESIN, Columbia University)
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
- Vintage
- null; Census-based estimate, static (2020)
- Resolution
- about 1 km grid
- Uncertainty
- Census-based estimate of people per square kilometre in 2020, shown as exposure context; not a count of people affected by any hazard.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
Keyboard, with the map focused
Hold Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll to zoom
Latest available
NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth
Loading the latest NASA imagery.
Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.
Water now, framed on the world.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.
Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONET · NASA GPM IMERG Early · NASA JPL OPERA DIST-ALERTSources and licences
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- GPM IMERG precipitation, NASA Precipitation Processing System; distributed by the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- SMAP Level 4 soil moisture and snow mass, NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office; distributed by the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center DAAC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- MODIS land products (vegetation indices, gross primary production, land cover), NASA LP DAAC and LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
- ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
- Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
- © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). ODbL
- Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
- Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
- Live: NASA EONET Events are indicative, not authority warnings.
- Live: NASA GPM IMERG Early. We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- Observed (EO): NASA JPL OPERA DIST-ALERT (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026). We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- River discharge forecast, 30 days with range (GloFAS via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Emergency Management Service information 2026; not a flood warning.
- Past year, daily temperature (ERA5 via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
- Past year, daily temperature and sunshine (NASA POWER): These data were obtained from the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) POWER Project funded through the NASA Earth Science/Applied Science Program..
- Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Optional layers (14 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.
Layers and dates
- Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026
- Precipitation rate, daily mean: GPM IMERG, NASA GES DISC · 12 Oct 2026
- Root-zone soil moisture, 0 to 100 cm: SMAP Level 4, NASA NSIDC DAAC · 11 Oct 2026
- True colour: VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
- Land cover type (IGBP), yearly: MODIS Terra and Aqua land cover (MCD12Q1), NASA LP DAAC · 2024
- Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
Floods and storms test water, power and health systems at once.
- WaterCouplingRiver, surface and coastal floods each need their own hazard model.What to watchFlood type stated with each map
- EnergyCouplingStorm winds and flooded substations cause long outages.What to watchSubstations in flood zones
- HealthCouplingFlooded hospitals and post-flood disease are the main health effects.What to watchFacilities in flood zones
Flood and storm analyses are designed for the Country Systems Risk and Resilience series. Tropical cyclone records come from IBTrACS and flood forecasting context from GloFAS; national services issue warnings. Hazard layers would carry NS-3b metadata under the proposed Nexus Standards.
- Surveyed flood marks with dates.
- Storm damage and outage records.
Flood and storm hazard modeller.
The screen a team would use to follow this subject: its measures, states and decisions. Names are examples and values are illustrative.
Flood and storm hazard modeller
Flood and storm · River delta · Return period set
Flood depth by return period
hydraulic model · illustrative
Scenario set
| 1-in-10 | 17 | 0.8 |
| 1-in-100 | 46 | 1.4 |
| 1-in-1000 | 41 | 3.3 |
Validation against observed flood
What is measured, and how well.
Each indicator carries its unit, its cadence, the kind of source behind it and the evidence label a value would carry. No values are shown: a programme supplies them under its own authority.
| Indicator | Unit | Cadence | Source type | Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peak river discharge | cubic metres per second | per event | River gauging stations | OBSERVED |
| Discharge return period | years | per event | Flood frequency analysis | ESTIMATED |
| Rainfall intensity | millimetres per hour | sub-daily | Rain gauges and weather radar | OBSERVED |
| Storm surge height | metres above predicted tide | per event | Tide gauges | OBSERVED |
| Tropical cyclone maximum sustained wind | knots at a stated averaging period | six-hourly | Best-track archives | Published statistics |
| Flood extent | square kilometres | per event | Satellite flood mapping | OBSERVED |
| Population in flood hazard zone | people by return period | per model release | Flood hazard maps and population grids | MODELLED |
Route a storm through a river network.
Rain becomes runoff by the curve number method, drains each sub-catchment through a linear reservoir and travels down the main stem by Muskingum routing; play it to watch the flood wave move and flatten. Teaching model with stated illustrative values, not a prediction.
Controls
- Storm rainfall depth
- 120 mm
- Storm duration
- 12 h
- Curve number (soil and land cover)
- 78
- Catchment area
- 800 km²
- Reaches on the main stem
- 5
- Travel time per reach (Muskingum K)
- 6.0 h
- Muskingum X (storage weighting)
- 0.20
- Channel capacity per unit area
- 300 L/s per km²
Readouts
- Peak discharge at the outlet
- 452 m³/s
- Time to peak
- 21.6 h
- Attenuation by the channel
- 61%
- Hours over capacity
- 26.4 h
- Runoff coefficient
- 52%
Numbers, methods and sources
| Hour | Outlet (m³/s) | Unrouted (m³/s) | Upper reach (m³/s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.4 | 0.0 | 678.9 | 0.0 |
| 12.0 | 308.3 | 1,151.4 | 181.8 |
| 21.6 | 452.4 | 35.1 | 73.7 |
| 31.2 | 363.3 | 1.1 | 11.1 |
| 40.8 | 198.8 | 0.0 | 1.5 |
| 50.4 | 79.3 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| 60.0 | 25.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 69.6 | 6.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 79.2 | 1.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 88.8 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 98.4 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 108.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 117.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 127.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 136.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Methods
- Curve number runoff USDA Soil Conservation Service (1972), National Engineering Handbook, Section 4: Hydrology
- Linear reservoir Nash (1957), The form of the instantaneous unit hydrograph, IAHS 45
- Muskingum channel routing McCarthy (1938); Cunge (1969), Journal of Hydraulic Research 7
- Uncertainty fan (parameter Monte Carlo) Spiegelhalter, Pearson and Short (2011), Visualising uncertainty about the future, Science 333
- One-at-a-time sensitivity (tornado) Saltelli and others (2008), Global Sensitivity Analysis: The Primer, Wiley
Data
The model runs on the teaching values set by the controls. To calibrate it for a place, read it against these admitted layers and series, which this page’s map can draw:
- Rivers Natural Earth
- Lakes and reservoirs Natural Earth
- Cities Natural Earth
- Rain rate, last half hour (IMERG) NASA GPM IMERG Early · register nasa.gibs.context-live-layers
- River discharge forecast, 30 days with range (GloFAS via Open-Meteo) Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0), Copernicus GloFAS · register open-meteo.public-pages
- Surface soil moisture (SMAP) NASA SMAP · register nasa.gibs.context-live-layers
- Surface water, 30 m (OPERA DSWx-HLS) NASA JPL OPERA DSWx-HLS (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026) · register nasa.gibs.context-live-layers
- Surface water through cloud, 30 m (OPERA DSWx-S1 radar) NASA JPL OPERA DSWx-S1 (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel-1 data 2026) · register nasa.gibs.context-live-layers
Across the six pillars, led by Nexus Consortium
- Experiments Labs
- Built in Climate and Hazards in Foundry
- Tested at Climate and Hazards in Universe
- Codified in Climate and Earth Systems in Standards
- Published in Climate and Hazards in Reports
- Taught in Faculty of Earth and Environmental Sciences in Academy
Where the evidence comes from.
Named public datasets and institutional records, each with its licence class. Sources by agreement are used only under their terms and never republished.
| Source | What it gives | Licence class |
|---|---|---|
| International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS, NOAA) | Tropical cyclone tracks and intensities from all agencies | Public domain, US government data |
| Global Flood Awareness System (GloFAS, Copernicus Emergency Management Service) | Global river discharge forecasts and reanalysis | Free, Copernicus terms |
| Copernicus Emergency Management Service rapid mapping | Satellite-based flood extent maps for activated events | Free, Copernicus terms |
| Global Runoff Data Centre | Historical river discharge from national services | Free for non-commercial use, GRDC terms (to check) |
| GESLA global sea-level archive | High-frequency tide gauge records | Free with citation, licence per contributor (to check) |
| JRC global river flood hazard maps | Modelled flood extent and depth by return period | Open, licence to check |
Model flood and storm as a system. Run the cascade.
Assembled from the Nexus Standards area profile Climate risk standards: the hazards it names, the systems and sectors that carry the loss, the controls that dampen it and the data that observe it. Choose the components, pick an initiating hazard and step through the cascade. The Map view places the run on an example geography with open data. Every coupling weight is a stated assumption you can change. A teaching model, not a forecast, an assessment or a certification. To model a place of your own choosing, open the full System Builder.
Hazards
- Sea-level rise
- Coastal flood (set off downstream)
- Storm surge (set off downstream)
- High-tide flooding (set off downstream)
- Coastal erosion (set off downstream)
- Saltwater intrusion (set off downstream)
- Estuary flood (set off downstream)
- Coastal habitat squeeze (set off downstream)
- Wetland loss (set off downstream)
- Mangrove loss (set off downstream)
- Groundwater flood (set off downstream)
- Climate-driven migration and relocation (set off downstream)
- Mass displacement (set off downstream)
Systems and couplings
Controls
NS-0Constitution and principlesNS-1The UNI and the artefact catalogue (grammar v0.2: domain, sector, region and environment segments)NS-3Risk record UNIs (grammar, legacy crosswalk, allocation authority)NS-3bDataset and product metadata profile (STAC, DCAT, PROV-O)NS-9Contextual UNIs (deployments, instances, programme instances)NS-11Verification and monitoring (evidence, attestations, zero-trust conformance observation)NS-14Conformance and crosswalk to external standardsNRS-H65Hazard family: Planetary boundary transgressions (NHS-1 planet.boundary)NRS-H62Hazard family: Compound and multi-hazard events (NHS-1 sys.compound)NRS-H71Hazard family: Deep-time and cosmic catastrophes (NHS-1 planet.deep-time)NRS-H79Hazard family: Mental health crises (NHS-1 health.mental)NRS-H75Hazard family: Climate-sensitive illness (NHS-1 health.climate-sensitive)NRS-H7Hazard family: Large-scale circulation anomalies (NHS-1 atmo.climate-mode)
Observation
- ERA5 reanalysis (Copernicus Climate Data Store) (listed for reference)
- CMIP6 climate projections (Copernicus Climate Data Store) (listed for reference)
- NGFS Scenario Explorer (listed for reference)
- INFORM Risk Index (listed for reference)
- Number of deaths, missing persons and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population
- Total greenhouse gas emissions per year
- Direct economic loss attributed to disasters in relation to global GDP
Example geography
- Pacific Island states: 150 hexagonal cells
- Night lights tonight, outages (VIIRS Day/Night Band), NASA GIBS
- Surface water through cloud, 30 m (OPERA DSWx-S1 radar), NASA GIBS
- Rain rate, last half hour (IMERG), NASA GIBS
- Vegetation disturbance alerts, 30 m (OPERA DIST-ALERT), NASA GIBS
Who decides, and what the evidence serves.
Climate and Hazards prepares evidence. The decisions below are taken by the authorities named, under their own rules, and never by the platform.
| Who decides | The question | Evidence this page serves |
|---|---|---|
| National hydrological services | Which flood thresholds and forecast products to operate | Frequency analyses; event reconstructions; forecast verification |
| Spatial planning authorities | Where to restrict development or require flood-resilient design | Hazard maps by return period with their uncertainty |
| Coastal and river defence agencies | What standard of protection to design for | Surge and discharge extremes; compound scenarios |
| Civil protection agencies | Which areas to prepare for evacuation in a cyclone season | Track archives; surge and rainfall evidence |
Outputs this topic produces
- Flood frequency analyses with confidence intervals and record length stated
- Event reconstructions combining gauge, radar and satellite evidence
- Compound flood scenarios for coastal river systems
- Hazard map comparisons that show where products disagree
Coupled risk, applied response.
The sectors urban flood touches and how strongly they depend on each other: what a study has to observe and model together.
Choose a context
Sectors · Urban floodStress
Pillars · Urban floodKPI
In this contextDependence or handoff, heavier is strongerOutside this context
Programme yearAll phases
Context
Urban flood
Flooded streets take out substations, pumping stations and clinic access together; drinking water fails when power does.
W · E · I · F · H · B
Risk
- Sectors
- 4 of 6
- Relations
- 6 of 15
- Coupling
- 0.46 share of total
Hover a corner, a line or a row to trace it across both sides.
Route
Applied to urban flood
L · F · U · S · R · A
Response
- Pillars
- 5 of 6
- Handoffs
- 11 of 18
- Loops
- 8 closed
Expected value
- What is at stake
- $390Ba year at least, in infrastructure disruption costs to households and firms in low- and middle-income countriesWorld Bank, Lifelines, 2019
- Return on resilience
- 4 : 1benefit to costWorld Bank, Lifelines, 2019
- Avoided loss
- 30%less damage with 24 hours’ warning of a storm or heatwaveGlobal Commission on Adaptation, Adapt Now, 2019
Hover a pillar, a line or a row to read how it is applied.
A: a teaching cascade (shock 0.6, gain 0.35, four rounds) over teaching values for a typical city-region, not measurements. B: illustrative applications and the KPI each pillar answers for; values are published benchmarks, cited, not forecasts. Open events: NASA EONET, live.
What experts ask.
Flood and storm questions turn on intensity, timing and the landscape.
- How is the intensity of short-duration extreme rainfall changing?
- How do sea-level rise and storm surge combine at a given coastline?
- Which areas flood from rivers, from surface water, from the sea, or from several at once?
- How are tropical and extratropical storms changing in intensity, rainfall and track?
- How well do defences, drainage and land use perform under events beyond their design?
How flood and storm is modelled, measured and tested.
The model, its assumptions, its data and its uncertainty, in the form a scientist or engineer would check. Structures follow published methods. The values drawn are illustrative, not findings.
Uncertainty bands
How far the outlook for flood and storm could spread, shown as ranges rather than a single line.
- Central estimate
- median of the ensemble
- Ranges
- likely and very likely, in IPCC calibrated language
- Ensemble
- members, scenarios and initial conditions stated
- Read with
- the sensitivity of the result to each input
Mechanisms and drivers.
Warmer air holds more moisture, roughly a few per cent more for each degree of warming, which is the physical reason heavy rainfall intensifies. Short, intense bursts overwhelm urban drainage and cause surface-water flooding, while longer, widespread rain fills rivers. Soil condition, slope, land cover and paved surfaces strongly shape how rain becomes runoff.
On coasts, storm surge is driven by wind and low pressure pushing water ashore; sea-level rise raises the base on which surge and tides build, so a given storm causes higher water than it would have in the past. Changes in the frequency of tropical cyclones are less certain than changes in their rainfall and the share of intense storms.
How it is studied, and where the methods stop.
| Method or data | What it shows | Limits |
|---|---|---|
| Rain gauges and weather radar | Observed rainfall intensity and distribution | Gauges are sparse; radar needs calibration and has gaps in mountains |
| Hydrological and hydraulic models | Flood extent, depth and timing | Depend on terrain data, roughness and defence information |
| Storm surge and wave models | Coastal water levels in storms | Sensitive to storm track and local bathymetry |
| Satellite flood mapping | Observed flood extent over large areas | Cloud cover and vegetation can mask water |
| Extreme value analysis of rainfall and river flow | Estimates of rare event magnitudes | Short records and changing climate add uncertainty |
How it is studied, and what the methods cannot say.
- 01Hydrology and water scienceCatchment flood modelling · Drought propagation · Flood frequency with changing climateApplied here
- 02Extreme value theory and tail riskReturn level estimation · Non-stationary extremes · Regional frequency analysisApplied here
- 03Forecasting and time-series analysisEnsemble forecast interpretation · Seasonal outlook use · Forecast verificationApplied here
- 04Earth observation and remote sensingFlood extent mapping · Vegetation and drought monitoring · Active fire and burned areaApplied here
- 05Ocean and coastal scienceExtreme sea-level analysis · Marine heatwave detection · Climate mode monitoringApplied here
- 06Spatial statistics and geostatisticsInterpolating station data · Merging satellite and gauge data · Spatial clustering of eventsApplied here
Where this page’s references lead.
The bodies and documents this page is read against. Status and editions change; each link goes to the issuing body.
Where this page leads across the Consortium.
Questions and answers.
What does a hundred-year flood mean?
What is storm surge?
Why do flood maps from different sources disagree?
What does a one-in-a-hundred-year flood mean?
Why do surface-water floods surprise people?
Does the platform publish flood maps for planning?
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