Bastola, Satish, Murphy, Conor and Sweeney, John (2011) The sensitivity of fluvial flood risk in Irish catchments to the range of IPCC AR4 climate change scenarios. Science of the Total Environment, 409 (24). pp. 5403-5415. ISSN 1879-1026
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Abstract
In the face of increased flood risk responsible authorities have set out safety margins to incorporate climate
change impacts in building robust flood infrastructure. Using the case study of four catchments in Ireland, this
study subjects such design allowances to a sensitivity analysis of the uncertainty inherent in estimates of future
flood risk. Uncertainty in flood quantiles is quantified using regionalised climate scenarios derived from a large
number of GCMs (17), forcedwith three SRES emissions scenarios. In terms of hydrological response uncertainty
within and between hydrological models is assessed using the GLUE framework. Regionalisation is achieved
using a change factor method to infer changes in the parameters of a weather generator using monthly output
from the GCMs, while flood frequency analysis is conducted using themethod of probability weighted moments
to fit the Generalised Extreme Value distribution to ~20,000 annual maximia series. Sensitivity results showthat
for low frequency events, the risk of exceedence of design allowances is greater than for more frequent events,
with considerable implications for critical infrastructure. Peak flows for the five return periods assessed were
found to be less sensitive to temperature and subsequently to potential evaporation (PET) than to rainfall. The
average width of the uncertainty range for changes in flood magnitude is greater for low frequency events
than for high frequency events. In all catchments there is a progressive increase in the peak flows associated
with the 5, 25, 50 and 100-year return periods when moving from the 2020s to the 2080s.
Item Type: | Article |
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Keywords: | Sensitivity analysis; Weather generator; Flood frequency; Hydrological impact; GLUE; Ireland; |
Academic Unit: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Geography Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Institutes > Irish Climate Analysis and Research Units, ICARUS |
Item ID: | 8896 |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.08.042 |
Depositing User: | Conor Murphy |
Date Deposited: | 13 Oct 2017 13:21 |
Journal or Publication Title: | Science of the Total Environment |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Refereed: | Yes |
Related URLs: | |
URI: | https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/id/eprint/8896 |
Use Licence: | This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here |
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