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A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Hydrology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2022) | Viewed by 24157

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Athanasios Loukas

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Guest Editor

Department of Rural and Surveying Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: surface hydrology; water resource management and engineering; climate change impacts on hydrology and water resources; extreme hydrological events (floods and droughts)
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Prof. Dr. Giuseppe T. Aronica

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Guest Editor

Department of Engineering, University of Messina, Contrada Di Dio, 98158 Sant'Agata, Messina, Italy
Interests: hydraulic modelling; flood risk management and flood defense design; flood damage and impact assessment; critical infrastructure; flash flooding; urban inundation; flood early warning; hydrological extremes
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Prof. Dr. María Carmen Llasat

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Guest Editor

Department of Applied Physics, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Martí Franqués 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
Interests: hydrometeorological hazards; climate change; climate change impact on natural hazards; risk awareness

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Natural hazards have caused significant damages to natural and manmade environments during the last few decades. Hydro-meteorological hazards such as severe storms, floods, and droughts are the most destructive weather- and water-related hazards and are mainly responsible for the loss of human lives, infrastructure damages, and economic losses. It is most probable that the frequency and severity of hydro-meteorological events will increase due to global climate change and variability. It is necessary to develop advanced models and methods for analysis, simulation, forecasting and early warning systems, and hazard prevention and proactive planning, but also for the assessment, management, and mitigation of disaster risks caused by extreme hydro-meteorological events.

This Special Issue is designed to cover all the above themes by including papers presenting innovate results on the following topics:

Storms;
Extreme rainfall, floods and flash floods;
Droughts;
Climate change impacts on hydro-meteorological hazards;
Societal impacts, risk management, responses, and education.

Prof. Dr. Athanasios Loukas
Prof. Dr. Giuseppe T. Aronica
Prof. Dr. María Carmen Llasat
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

extreme weather events
storms
droughts
floods
forecasting
planning
hazard management

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 4154 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatiotemporal Analysis of Meteorological and Hydrological Droughts and Their Propagations

by Adnan Abbas, Muhammad Waseem, Waheed Ullah, Chengyi Zhao and Jianting Zhu

Water 2021, 13(16), 2237; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13162237 - 17 Aug 2021

Cited by 45 | Viewed by 3169

Abstract

The quantitative description of relationships and propagation between different forms of drought at multiple spatiotemporal scales in various geographical locations is informative for early drought warning systems. This study intends to evaluate the historical hydrometeorological drought from 1984–2015 in the Soan River Basin, which is a critical water source for the Pothwar region of Pakistan. The reconnaissance drought index (RDI) and standardized runoff index (SRI) are used to characterize meteorological and hydrological droughts, respectively. The spatiotemporal variations of the RDI and SRI demonstrated that 2000 and 2010 were extremely dry and wet years, respectively. The results further reveal that the frequency of hydrometeorological drought events was higher in a shorter time scale (3 and 6 months), while durations featured longer timescales (9 and 12 months). The RDI and SRI time series showed a significant decreasing trend in terms of the Mann–Kendal and Sen slope estimator (SSE) results. Cross-correlation analysis for RDI and SRI with a time lag acknowledged the existence of a sequence between the RDI and SRI and a positive relationship between the two indices. The findings of this study could be helpful for better understanding drought variability and water resource management. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Management of Hydro-Meteorological Hazards)

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20 pages, 4062 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Identifying Storm Hotspots and the Most Unsettled Areas in Barcelona by Analysing Significant Rainfall Episodes from 2013 to 2018

by Laura Esbrí, Tomeu Rigo, María Carmen Llasat and Blanca Aznar

Water 2021, 13(13), 1730; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13131730 - 22 Jun 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3001

Abstract

Urban floods repeatedly threaten Barcelona, damaging the city infrastructure and endangering the safety of the population. The urban planning of the city, the socioeconomic distribution, its topography, and the characteristics of precipitation systems translate into these flood events having a heterogeneous effect across the city. It means that the coping capacity has a strong dependence on local factors that must be considered when management plans are developed by the municipality. This work aims to contribute to the better knowledge of precipitation structures associated with heavy rainfall events and floods in Barcelona based on radar data and an urban rain gauge network. Radar data have been provided by the Meteorological Service of Catalonia (SMC), while precipitation data, impact data, and early warnings, have been provided by Barcelona Cicle de l’Aigua S.A. (BCASA), for the period 2013–2018. A new radar-based methodology has been developed to identify convective rainfall structures from radar reflectivity volumes (CAPPI and TOP products) to make the analysis easier. The high computing speed of the procedure allows efficient analysis of a large set of convective cells without scarifying temporal resolution of radar data. Both rainfall fields (radar and rain gauge, respectively) have been compared. Then through the identified rainfall convective structures, thunderstorm hotspots have been identified. Considering an alert indicator from BCASA and the reported incidents, episodes with the highest impact have been analysed in depth. Results show 207 significant rainfall episodes in the ROI for the six years, which are mainly concentrated between September and November. The fact that significant episodes are usually produced by highly convective rain corroborates the advantage of using radar images as a tool to detect any maxima even when no rain gauge is there. In 64 of the episodes, the level of pre-alert was achieved with a maximum frequency between August and September. The proposed algorithm shows more than 8000 centroids of convective cells from 189 cases. Whilst maximum surface reflectivity over 45 dBZ is more prone to occur near the coastline, the centroids of storm cells tend to concentrate more inland. The final objective is to improve the actions taken by the organisation responsible for managing urban floods, which have seen Barcelona recognised as a model city for flood resilience by the United Nations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Management of Hydro-Meteorological Hazards)

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26 pages, 45029 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperEditor’s ChoiceArticle

A Flood Inundation Modeling Approach for Urban and Rural Areas in Lake and Large-Scale River Basins

by George Papaioannou, Lampros Vasiliades, Athanasios Loukas, Angelos Alamanos, Andreas Efstratiadis, Antonios Koukouvinos, Ioannis Tsoukalas and Panagiotis Kossieris

Water 2021, 13(9), 1264; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13091264 - 30 Apr 2021

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 4367

Abstract

Fluvial floods are one of the primary natural hazards to our society, and the associated flood risk should always be evaluated for present and future conditions. The European Union’s (EU) Floods Directive highlights the importance of flood mapping as a key stage for detecting vulnerable areas, assessing floods’ impacts, and identifying damages and compensation plans. The implementation of the EU Flood Directive in Greece is challenging because of its geophysical and climatic variability and diverse hydrologic and hydraulic conditions. This study addressed this challenge by modeling of design rainfall at the sub-watershed level and subsequent estimation of flood design hydrographs using the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Unit Hydrograph Procedure. The HEC-RAS 2D model was used for flood routing, estimation of flood attributes (i.e., water depths and flow velocities), and mapping of inundated areas. The modeling approach was applied at two complex and ungauged representative basins: The Lake Pamvotida basin located in the Epirus Region of the wet Western Greece, and the Pinios River basin located in the Thessaly Region of the drier Central Greece, a basin with a complex dendritic hydrographic system, expanding to more than 1188 river-km. The proposed modeling approach aimed at better estimation and mapping of flood inundation areas including relative uncertainties and providing guidance to professionals and academics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Management of Hydro-Meteorological Hazards)

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26 pages, 14181 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Extreme Floods in the Eastern Part of Europe: Large-Scale Drivers and Associated Impacts

by Monica Ionita and Viorica Nagavciuc

Water 2021, 13(8), 1122; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13081122 - 19 Apr 2021

Cited by 24 | Viewed by 5216

Abstract

The role of the large-scale atmospheric circulation in producing heavy rainfall events and floods in the eastern part of Europe, with a special focus on the Siret and Prut catchment areas (Romania), is analyzed in this study. Moreover, a detailed analysis of the socio-economic impacts of the most extreme flood events (e.g., July 2008, June–July 2010, and June 2020) is given. Analysis of the largest flood events indicates that the flood peaks have been preceded up to 6 days in advance by intrusions of high Potential Vorticity (PV) anomalies toward the southeastern part of Europe, persistent cut-off lows over the analyzed region, and increased water vapor transport over the catchment areas of Siret and Prut Rivers. The vertically integrated water vapor transport prior to the flood peak exceeds 300 kg m⁻¹ s⁻¹, leading to heavy rainfall events. We also show that the implementation of the Flood Management Plan in Romania had positive results during the 2020 flood event compared with the other flood events, when the authorities took several precaution measurements that mitigated in a better way the socio-economic impact and risks of the flood event. The results presented in this study offer new insights regarding the importance of large-scale atmospheric circulation and water vapor transport as drivers of extreme flooding in the eastern part of Europe and could lead to a better flood forecast and flood risk management. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Management of Hydro-Meteorological Hazards)

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20 pages, 10387 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Drought Variability Based on Continuous Days without Available Precipitation in Guizhou Province, Southwest China

by N.X. Qin, J.N. Wang, Y. Hong, Q.Q. Lu, J.L. Huang, M.H. Liu and L. Gao

Water 2021, 13(5), 660; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13050660 - 28 Feb 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2892

Abstract

Detecting the characteristics and variability of droughts is of crucial importance. In this study, Guizhou Province in China is selected as the target area, and the dataset there covering daily precipitation and drought records from 1960 to 2016 is adopted. The spatial and temporal differences in yearly and seasonal Dnp (the drought indicator of continuous days without available precipitation) values and longest Dnp as well as their trends are examined. Then the Dnp values and droughts are classified into different categories, and the relationships between Dnp and droughts are revealed. There was a steep increasing trend in yearly Dnp with a rate of 6 d/10a, and the Mann–Kendall (MK) value was estimated to be 5.05 in the past 56 years. The seasonal Dnp values showed significant increasing trends. Yearly and seasonal Dnp varied significantly in the space domain. There were slight increases in yearly and four seasonal longest Dnp values in the time domain. Although the increases in the spring and summer were not significant, heavy droughts tended to occur at this time. As to the Dnp values corresponding to different levels of droughts, there was only a decrease in mild drought, while there were significant increases in mild, moderate, and heavy droughts. The mild droughts increased significantly in summer, and the moderate droughts increased significantly in spring. Different levels of Dnp also varied in the spatial domain. The elevation effect is not obvious in Guizhou province. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Management of Hydro-Meteorological Hazards)

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17 pages, 5400 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Identification of Seasonal Sub-Regions of the Drought in the North China Plain

by Yanqiang Cui, Bo Zhang, Hao Huang, Xiaodan Wang, Jianjun Zeng, Wenhui Jiao and Rongpeng Yao

Water 2020, 12(12), 3447; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12123447 - 8 Dec 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2516

Abstract

Regional climate variability assessment is of great significance in decision-making such as agriculture and water resources system management. The identification of sub-regions with similar drought variability can provide a basis for agricultural disaster reduction planning and water resource distribution. In this research, a modified daily Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) was used to monitor the spatial and temporal variation characteristics of agricultural drought in the North China Plain from 1960 to 2017, which was studied by using the rotated empirical orthogonal functions (REOF). Through the seasonal REOF process, 7–9 seasonal drought sub-regions are confirmed by applying time series and the correlation relationship of SPEI original data. The strong correlation of these sub-regions indicates that the climate and weather conditions causing the drought are consistent and the drought conditions are independent for the regions that show no correlation. In general, the results of the seasonal trend analysis show that there has been no significant trend value in most areas since 1960. However, it is worth noting that some regions have the positive and negative temporal trends in different seasons. These results illustrate the importance of seasonal analysis, particularly for agro-ecosystems that depend on timely rainfall during different growing seasons. If this trend continues, seasonal drought will become more complex, then a more elaborate water management strategy will be needed to reduce its impact. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Management of Hydro-Meteorological Hazards)

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