Classification of flood-generating processes in Africa
Abstract River flooding has large societal and economic impacts across Africa. Despite the importance of this topic, little is known about the main flood generating mechanisms in Africa. This study is based on 13,815 flood events that occurred between 1981 and 2018 in 529 catchments. These flood eve...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-23725-5 |
| _version_ | 1811230402084339712 |
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| author | Yves Tramblay Gabriele Villarini Mohamed Elmehdi Saidi Christian Massari Lina Stein |
| author_facet | Yves Tramblay Gabriele Villarini Mohamed Elmehdi Saidi Christian Massari Lina Stein |
| author_sort | Yves Tramblay |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract River flooding has large societal and economic impacts across Africa. Despite the importance of this topic, little is known about the main flood generating mechanisms in Africa. This study is based on 13,815 flood events that occurred between 1981 and 2018 in 529 catchments. These flood events are classified to identify the different flood drivers: excess rains, long rains and short rains. Out of them, excess rains on saturated soils in Western Africa, and long rains for catchments in Northern and Southern Africa, are the two dominant mechanisms, contributing to more than 75% of all flood events. The aridity index is strongly related to the spatial repartition of the different flood generating processes showing the climatic controls on floods. Few significant changes were detected in the relative importance of these drivers over time, but the rather short time series available prevent a robust assessment of flood driver changes in most catchments. The major implication of these results is to underline the importance of soil moisture dynamics, in addition to rainfall, to analyze the evolution of flood hazards in Africa. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T10:28:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-023649e6d0024be5a5884588387ae35c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T10:28:50Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-023649e6d0024be5a5884588387ae35c2022-12-22T03:36:53ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222022-11-011211910.1038/s41598-022-23725-5Classification of flood-generating processes in AfricaYves Tramblay0Gabriele Villarini1Mohamed Elmehdi Saidi2Christian Massari3Lina Stein4HydroSciences Montpellier (University Montpellier, CNRS, IRD)IIHR-Hydroscience & Engineering, The University of IowaGeoresources, Geoenvironment and Civil Engineering Laboratory, Cadi Ayyad UniversityResearch Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection, National Research CouncilInstitute of Environmental Science and Geography, University PotsdamAbstract River flooding has large societal and economic impacts across Africa. Despite the importance of this topic, little is known about the main flood generating mechanisms in Africa. This study is based on 13,815 flood events that occurred between 1981 and 2018 in 529 catchments. These flood events are classified to identify the different flood drivers: excess rains, long rains and short rains. Out of them, excess rains on saturated soils in Western Africa, and long rains for catchments in Northern and Southern Africa, are the two dominant mechanisms, contributing to more than 75% of all flood events. The aridity index is strongly related to the spatial repartition of the different flood generating processes showing the climatic controls on floods. Few significant changes were detected in the relative importance of these drivers over time, but the rather short time series available prevent a robust assessment of flood driver changes in most catchments. The major implication of these results is to underline the importance of soil moisture dynamics, in addition to rainfall, to analyze the evolution of flood hazards in Africa.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-23725-5 |
| spellingShingle | Yves Tramblay Gabriele Villarini Mohamed Elmehdi Saidi Christian Massari Lina Stein Classification of flood-generating processes in Africa Scientific Reports |
| title | Classification of flood-generating processes in Africa |
| title_full | Classification of flood-generating processes in Africa |
| title_fullStr | Classification of flood-generating processes in Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | Classification of flood-generating processes in Africa |
| title_short | Classification of flood-generating processes in Africa |
| title_sort | classification of flood generating processes in africa |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-23725-5 |
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