artículo científico
Improving regional flood risk assessment using flood frequency and dendrogeomorphic analyses in mountain catchments impacted by tropical cyclones
Fecha
2022-01-01Registro en:
0169-555X
10.1016/j.geomorph.2021.108000
217-C1-212
Autor
Quesada Román, Adolfo
Ballesteros Cánovas, Juan Antonio
Granados Bolaños, Sebastián
Birkel Dostal, Christian
Stoffel, Markus
Institución
Resumen
River floods frequently occur when tropical cyclones hit land. Nonetheless, systematic, long-term discharge data
remain rather scarce in many tropical countries, which prevent proper analysis of peak discharges occurring during floods. The Térraba catchment is the biggest and most dynamic catchment in Costa Rica. In this study, we developed regional flood-frequency analyses combining tree-ring based estimation and measurement of peak
discharge at monitoring stations during tropical cyclones to derive flood quartiles. Flood quartiles were combined
with the Topographic Wetness Index (TWI) to determine regional flood hazards along floodplains. The flood risk
assessment was based on a high-resolution mapping of infrastructure, population density (as a measure of exposure), and a social development index (to represent vulnerability). We show that peak discharge of cycloneinduced floods can be assessed accurately with flood-frequency analyses including dendrogeomorphic reconstructions and systematic discharge measurements. We also show that regional flood risk assessments can be
performed in large-scale catchments if both coarse and detailed inputs are used. The results of this study will
be useful for the development of flood risk schemes promoting resilience of local populations.