A synoptic climatology of extreme unseasonable floods in the southeastern United States, 1950-1990
Climatic event ; Flood ; Hurricane ; Natural hazards ; Rainstorm ; Seasonality ; Synoptic climatology ; United States of America ; Weather type
The purpose of this study is to identify the synoptic atmospheric environment associated with extreme unseasonable flood events in the southeastern United States. Unseasonable is defined as flood occurrence in the season of lowest flood frequency
, and extreme refers to the 10 greatest flood magnitudes within this season over the study period. The results are intended to expand knowledge of climatic conditions associated with unseasonable floods and offer a potential forecasting tool to be used by both
A regional perspective of the hydrology of the 1993 Mississippi River basin floods
Flood ; Floodplain ; Heavy rain ; Humid environment ; Hydrology ; Land use ; Midwest ; Mississippi ; Missouri ; Pic discharge ; Precipitation ; Rill wash ; United States of America ; Watershed ; Weather type
The great Flood of 1993 was one of the costliest natural disasters in American history. This flood was primarily the result of a persistent weather pattern that delivered precipitation across a very large part of the Midwest for an extended period
of the summer. Much of this rain fell on soils that were already saturated and unable to store additional runoff. Arguments that land-use modifications in the Mississippi River basin exacerbated flooding in 1993 are reviewed in detail, and it is suggested
that htese effects may be important for floods with return periods < 50 years but have much less influence on floods of this magnitude.
Response of a Mediterranean riparian forest to a 1 in 400 year flood, Ouveze River, Drôme-Vaucluse, France
Deforestation ; Ecosystem ; Flood ; Forest ; France ; Geographical information system ; Human impact ; Mediterranean area ; Natural hazards ; Southern France ; Stream
This study provides original data concerning the impact of an exceptional 400-year flood on the riparian forest of a six order French Mediterranean river. Both the restricting effects of the forest on the flood and the hydraulic behaviour
of the forest during the flood were studied. Future legislation will have to take into account the nature of antropogenic activity in the area of the study.
The characteristics of overbank deposits associated with a major flood event in the catchment of the River Ouse, Yorkshire, UK
England ; Flood ; Floodplain ; Geochemistry ; Grain size distribution ; Sedimentation ; Spatial variation ; Suspended load ; United Kingdom ; Watershed ; Yorkshire
A high magnitude flood event in the catchment of the River Ouse, UK, in January and February 1995, afforded a valuable opportunity to collect representative samples of the associated overbank sediment deposits at various locations throughout
in the local rivers in order to investigate the particle size selectivity of conveyance losses during overbank flood events.
Floodplain sedimentation and sensitivity : summer 1993 flood, upper Mississippi River valley
Erosion ; Flood ; Floodplain ; Grain size distribution ; Illinois ; Mississippi ; Missouri ; Sediment transport ; Sedimentation ; Spatial variation ; Stream ; Suspended load ; United States of America
This paper elaborates on the pattern of overbank sedimentation associated with the point failure of artificial levees during the summer 1993 flood in the upper Mississippi River basin. These failures inundated clearly delineated, 16 to 179 km2
in the upper Mississippi River valley to the summer 1993 flood by comparing the response of the floodplain in the study reach to that of the floodplain reaches further downriver.
Response of extreme floods in the southwestern United States to climatic variations in the late Holocene
Arizona ; Climatic variation ; El Niño ; Flood ; Geochronology ; Holocene ; Ocean atmosphere interaction ; Palaeoclimate ; Palaeohydrology ; Quaternary ; United States of America ; Utah
A regional synthesis of paleoflood chronologies on rivers in Arizona and southern Utah reveals that the largest floods over the last 5000 years cluster into distinct time periods that are related to regional and global climatic fluctuations
. The flood chronologies were constructed using fine-grained slackwater deposits that accumulate in protected areas along the margins of bedrock canyons and selectively preserve evidence of the largest events. A positive relationship between the paleofloods
Cape Town ; Cost-benefit analysis ; Flood ; Hydraulic works ; Impact ; Model ; Natural hazards ; Precipitation ; Rill wash ; South Africa ; Watershed
The catchment of the Orangekloof Nature Reserve, Hout Bay, is conceptualised as an assemblage of landforms and valued with respect to its ability to attenuate flood discharges derived from precipitation runoff. Costs of flood protection works
Erosion, flooding and channel management in Mediterranean environments of southern Europe
Badland ; Europe ; Flood ; Gully erosion ; Heavy rain ; Hydraulic works ; Inundation ; Land use ; Mass movement ; Mediterranean area ; Soil erosion ; Southern Europe ; Water erosion ; Watershed
Soil erosion by water is one of the most important land degradation processes in Mediterranean environments. This process is strongly linked to problems of flooding and channel management. This article reviews existing knowledge on these topics
Energy expenditure and geomorphic work of the cataclysmic Missoula flooding in the Columbia River gorge, USA
Alluvium ; Carrying capacity ; Catastrophe ; Channel geometry ; Flood ; Fluvial erosion ; Fluvial processes ; Hydrodynamics ; Palaeohydrology ; United States of America ; Washington State
This study provides an analysis of local flow hydraulics, and their spatial variations and relationships with erosional and depositional landforms. The study area is located in the Columbia River Gorge where the multiple flood pathways
The objective of this paper is to present results of continuous bedload measurements in a mountain catchment, and to compare sediment transport data in relation to flood parameters for several mountain streams in Switzerland. The torrents considered
in this study have average bedslopes above 10 per cent. A detailed analysis of the measurements in the Erlenbach stream results in an empirical equation in which the sediment load per flood event is expressed as a function of the effective runoff volume
Botswana ; C 14 dating ; Delta ; Flood ; Habitat ; Holocene ; Humid environment ; Organic materials ; Palaeo-environment ; Palaeohydrology ; Palynology ; Valley
The paper presents the preliminary results of geomorphological and sedimentological investigations in the Ncamasere Valley, a seasonally back-flooded tributary of the Okavango River. Studies of organic horizons within cores indicate the differences
Africa ; Applied climatology ; Arizona ; Atmospheric circulation ; Atmospheric pollution ; Birmingham ; Climatic warming ; Drought ; England ; Flood ; Inundation ; Midwest ; Plant cover ; Sahel ; Soil moisture ; United Kingdom ; United States
This report focuses upon topics such as : causes of drought and flooding in the midwestern USA; drought in the African Sahel; applied studies in air pollution and urban building energy usage.
Floodplains are unique ecosystems. This article focuses on the importance of hydrological inputs to floodplains through 1) their influence on the arrangement of landforms and vegetation communities and 2) the connections between flooding regimes
Earthquakes, tropical cyclones and floods are the most important natural perils in terms of human deaths on a global basis. Much of this paper has a local or regional focus but is applicable globally. The A. tries to deal with what is known and what
Aerial photography ; British Columbia ; Canada ; Flood ; Glacial features ; Glacial lake ; Ice breakup ; Meltwater ; Photointerpretation
of this century, and it has not refilled since the outburst in July 1994. In addition, the jökulhlaup is the largest flood in the valley below Goddard Glacier in the last century or more, and caused long-lasting changes to the channel and floodplain of Farrow
Canyon ; Cave ; Flood ; Floodplain ; Indicator ; Pic discharge ; Sedimentation ; Silt ; Stratigraphy ; United States of America ; Watershed ; West Virginia
This paper describes flood-derived sediments found within caves of the Cheat River canyon. The stratigraphy of historical and paleoflood slackwater sediments, sedimentary units within slackwater deposits, and the origins are discussed and compared