Evaluation of Global Water Resources Reanalysis Data for Estimating Flood Events in the Brahmaputra River Basin
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Evaluation of Global Water Resources Reanalysis Data for Estimating Flood Events in the Brahmaputra River Basin Patricia López López 1,2 & Tashrifa Sultana 3 & Mohammed Abdulla Hel Kafi 3 & Mohammed Shahadat Hossain 3 & Abu Saleh Khan 3 & Mohammed Sohel Masud 3 Received: 18 November 2018 / Accepted: 1 April 2020/ # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract
Bangladesh and India are in a long-standing conflict with regard to the sharing of hydrometeorological information of the Brahamaputra River. Consequently, it limits flood risk management in Bangladesh (the downstream country). Recently developed water resources reanalysis data appear as a promising alternative in providing this information. Further evaluation of these global datasets is needed to understand their capabilities to improve flood events estimation. In this study, the potential of the global water resources reanalysis (WRR) developed within the EU-FP7 project eartH2Observe is critically assessed for detecting and estimating flood events in the Brahmaputra River basin for 1980 to 2012 period. The discharge time series of five large-scale models available in the WRR dataset and two multi-model combinations are evaluated at different temporal resolutions and their performance is compared with a local-scale hydrological model. In situ data and reported damaging flood events compiled from two global disaster databases are used as benchmarks in flood events evaluation. Results show that the WRR data have reasonable skill in detecting flood events, though a significant underestimation of magnitude is found. This study also reveals that the individual large-scale models simulate peak flows similarly or even better than the local-scale model, capturing the hydrological behaviour in the basin and identifying the occurrence and severity of both observed and reported damaging flood events. In conclusion, this study gives insights in the applicability of global hydrological models and datasets for estimating flood events at a local-scale for transboundary rivers in water-sharing countries. Keywords Global water resources reanalysis . Flood estimation . Brahamputra River basin
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-02002546-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
* Patricia López López [email protected] Extended author information available on the last page of the article
López P.L. et al.
1 Introduction Natural hazards cause tens of thousands of deaths, hundreds of thousands of injuries and billions of dollars in economic losses each year around the world. Between them, floods are the most common and the leading cause of natural disaster fatalities worldwide (UNISDR 2015). One of the most flood vulnerable regions in the world is Southern Asia, where the frequency of extreme floods is on the rise causing enormous damages to lives, crops and infrastructure (Mirza 2011). In addition, some countries in Southern Asia depend upon water originating from outside their natio
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