Interacting Effects of Watershed and Coastal Processes on the Evolution of Compound Flooding During Hurricane Irene

Deb, Mithun; Sun, Ning; Yang, Zhaoqing; Wang, Taiping; Judi, David; Xiao, Ziyu; Wigmosta, Mark S.

doi:10.1029/2022EF002947

Interacting Effects of Watershed and Coastal Processes on the Evolution of Compound Flooding During Hurricane Irene

Journal Article · Wed Mar 22 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · Earth's Future

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2022EF002947· OSTI ID:1962929

^[1]; ^[2]; ^[1]; Wang, Taiping ^[1]; Judi, David ^[2]; Xiao, Ziyu ^[3]; ^[2]

Marine and Coastal Research Laboratory Energy and Environment Directorate Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Sequim WA USA
Energy and Environment Directorate Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Richland WA USA
CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Brisbane QLD Australia

Abstract

In low‐lying estuarine regions, compound flooding (CF) is caused by the co‐occurrence of extreme precipitation, river flooding and storm surge. In recent decades, there has been a rise in the frequency and intensity of pluvial‐coastal CF events in different parts of the U.S. due to the increased frequency of intense precipitation and storm surge events. However, in estuarine and deltaic regions, the CF characteristics depend mainly on the storm tide and river flow interaction. Understanding how the fluvial‐coastal CF may respond to changes to watershed and estuarine characteristics is essential for future CF hazard prediction. This study examined two critical processes: (a) the interplay between antecedent soil moisture conditions and peak river flow, and (b) how the impact of sea level rise (SLR) on storm surge and river flood distribution alters the CF in complex estuaries. As the study area, we selected the Delaware Bay and River, a shallow and convergent estuary in the US Mid‐Atlantic region—where flood hazards during a CF can become more significant than the surge and river flood processes occurring in isolation. For the focal event for the study, we selected Hurricane Irene (2011) because it reportedly produced the most extreme CF over the past two decades in the same region. Ultimately, our results illustrated that the potential changes to the catchment and bay characteristics from the global temperature increase and SLR could significantly modulate the fluvial‐coastal CF variability. The potential increase in global temperature and rainfall intensity might not always exacerbate the CF.

View Journal Article

Research Organization:: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-76RL01830

OSTI ID:: 1962929

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1962930
OSTI ID: 1971992

Report Number(s):: PNNL-SA-173756; e2022EF002947

Journal Information:: Earth's Future, Journal Name: Earth's Future Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 11; ISSN 2328-4277

Publisher:: American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (68)

Application of a GIS-based distributed hydrology model for prediction of forest harvest effects on peak stream flow in the Pacific Northwest Storck, Pascal; Bowling, Laura; Wetherbee, Paul Hydrological Processes, Vol. 12, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1085(199805)12:6<889::AID-HYP661>3.0.CO;2-P	journal	May 1998
Coastal flooding in Scituate (MA): A FVCOM study of the 27 December 2010 nor'easter Beardsley, Robert C.; Chen, Changsheng; Xu, Qichun Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, Vol. 118, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1002/2013jc008862	journal	November 2013
Probabilistic 21st and 22nd century sea-level projections at a global network of tide-gauge sites: KOPP ET AL. Kopp, Robert E.; Horton, Radley M.; Little, Christopher M. Earth's Future, Vol. 2, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1002/2014ef000239	journal	August 2014
The dynamic effects of sea level rise on low-gradient coastal landscapes: A review Passeri, Davina L.; Hagen, Scott C.; Medeiros, Stephen C. Earth's Future, Vol. 3, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1002/2015EF000298	journal	June 2015
Should flood regimes change in a warming climate? The role of antecedent moisture conditions: TRENDS IN PREEXTREME RAINFALL Woldemeskel, Fitsum; Sharma, Ashish Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 43, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069448	journal	July 2016
Impact of sea level rise on tidal range in Chesapeake and Delaware Bays: SEA LEVEL RISE CHANGING TIDES Lee, Serena Blyth; Li, Ming; Zhang, Fan Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, Vol. 122, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1002/2016jc012597	journal	May 2017
Tidal Response to Sea‐Level Rise in Different Types of Estuaries: The Importance of Length, Bathymetry, and Geometry Du, Jiabi; Shen, Jian; Zhang, Yinglong J. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 45, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1002/2017gl075963	journal	January 2018
A spatially distributed model for the assessment of land use impacts on stream temperature in small urban watersheds: ASSESSMENT OF LAND USE IMPACT ON URBAN STREAM TEMPERATURE Sun, Ning; Yearsley, John; Voisin, Nathalie Hydrological Processes, Vol. 29, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.10363	journal	October 2014
Understanding the impacts of predecessor rain events on flood hazard in a changing climate Khatun, Amina; Ganguli, Poulomi; Bisht, Deepak Singh Hydrological Processes, Vol. 36, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.14500	journal	February 2022
Projected changes in drought occurrence under future global warming from multi-model, multi-scenario, IPCC AR4 simulations Sheffield, Justin; Wood, Eric F. Climate Dynamics, Vol. 31, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-007-0340-z	journal	November 2007
Combined signatures of atmospheric drivers, soil moisture, and moisture source on floods in Narmada River basin, India Nanditha, J. S.; Rajagopalan, Balaji; Mishra, Vimal Climate Dynamics, Vol. 59, Issue 9-10 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-022-06244-x	journal	March 2022
Examining why trends in very heavy precipitation should not be mistaken for trends in very high river discharge Ivancic, Timothy J.; Shaw, Stephen B. Climatic Change, Vol. 133, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-015-1476-1	journal	August 2015
Allowances for evolving coastal flood risk under uncertain local sea-level rise Buchanan, Maya K.; Kopp, Robert E.; Oppenheimer, Michael Climatic Change, Vol. 137, Issue 3-4 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-016-1664-7	journal	June 2016
Simulation of the Hurricane Dennis storm surge and considerations for vertical resolution Dukhovskoy, Dmitry S.; Morey, Steven L. Natural Hazards, Vol. 58, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-010-9684-5	journal	December 2010
A modeling study of coastal inundation induced by storm surge, sea-level rise, and subsidence in the Gulf of Mexico Yang, Zhaoqing; Wang, Taiping; Leung, Ruby Natural Hazards, Vol. 71, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-013-0974-6	journal	December 2013
A FVCOM study of the potential coastal flooding in apponagansett bay and clarks cove, Dartmouth Town (MA) Zhang, Zhuo; Chen, Changsheng; Song, Zhiyao Natural Hazards, Vol. 103, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-020-04102-9	journal	June 2020
Coupled storm surge and wave simulations for the Southern Coast of Korea Yoon, Jong-Joo; Jun, Ki-Cheon Ocean Science Journal, Vol. 50, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12601-015-0002-8	journal	March 2015
Climate Change and Drought: the Soil Moisture Perspective Berg, Alexis; Sheffield, Justin Current Climate Change Reports, Vol. 4, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40641-018-0095-0	journal	April 2018
Global evaluation of MTCLIM and related algorithms for forcing of ecological and hydrological models Bohn, Theodore J.; Livneh, Ben; Oyler, Jared W. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Vol. 176 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2013.03.003	journal	July 2013
Parallel Distributed Hydrology Soil Vegetation Model (DHSVM) using global arrays Perkins, William A.; Duan, Zhuoran; Sun, Ning Environmental Modelling & Software, Vol. 122 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2019.104533	journal	December 2019
Regional hydrologic response to climate change in the conterminous United States using high-resolution hydroclimate simulations Naz, Bibi S.; Kao, Shih-Chieh; Ashfaq, Moetasim Global and Planetary Change, Vol. 143 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2016.06.003	journal	August 2016
Decomposition of the mean squared error and NSE performance criteria: Implications for improving hydrological modelling Gupta, Hoshin V.; Kling, Harald; Yilmaz, Koray K. Journal of Hydrology, Vol. 377, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.08.003	journal	October 2009
Influence of changes in rainfall and soil moisture on trends in flooding Wasko, Conrad; Nathan, Rory Journal of Hydrology, Vol. 575 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2019.05.054	journal	August 2019
Climate change impacts and uncertainty on spatiotemporal variations of drought indices for an irrigated catchment Chan, San Shing; Seidenfaden, Ida Karlsson; Jensen, Karsten Høgh Journal of Hydrology, Vol. 601 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.126814	journal	October 2021
Simulating storm surge and compound flooding events with a creek-to-ocean model: Importance of baroclinic effects Ye, Fei; Zhang, Yinglong J.; Yu, Haocheng Ocean Modelling, Vol. 145 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocemod.2019.101526	journal	January 2020
Compounding factors for extreme flooding around Galveston Bay during Hurricane Harvey Huang, Wei; Ye, Fei; Zhang, Y. Joseph Ocean Modelling, Vol. 158 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocemod.2020.101735	journal	February 2021
Compound flooding in Houston-Galveston Bay during Hurricane Harvey Valle-Levinson, Arnoldo; Olabarrieta, Maitane; Heilman, Lorraine Science of The Total Environment, Vol. 747 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141272	journal	December 2020
On the causes of tropical cyclone driven floods in India Rajeev, Akshay; Mishra, Vimal Weather and Climate Extremes, Vol. 36 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wace.2022.100432	journal	June 2022
Nonlinear terms in storm surge predictions: Effect of tide and shelf geometry with case study from Hurricane Rita Rego, João L.; Li, Chunyan Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 115, Issue C6 https://doi.org/10.1029/2009jc005285	journal	January 2010
A high-resolution study of tides in the Delaware Bay: Past conditions and future scenarios Hall, George F.; Hill, David F.; Horton, Benjamin P. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 40, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1029/2012gl054675	journal	January 2013
Regional Snow Parameters Estimation for Large‐Domain Hydrological Applications in the Western United States Sun, Ning; Yan, Hongxiang; Wigmosta, Mark S. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 124, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD030140	journal	May 2019
If Precipitation Extremes Are Increasing, Why Aren't Floods? Sharma, Ashish; Wasko, Conrad; Lettenmaier, Dennis P. Water Resources Research, Vol. 54, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1029/2018WR023749	journal	November 2018
The Relative Importance of Different Flood‐Generating Mechanisms Across Europe Berghuijs, Wouter R.; Harrigan, Shaun; Molnar, Peter Water Resources Research https://doi.org/10.1029/2019WR024841	journal	June 2019
Assessing Compound Flooding From Landfalling Tropical Cyclones on the North Carolina Coast Gori, Avantika; Lin, Ning; Smith, James Water Resources Research, Vol. 56, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1029/2019WR026788	journal	April 2020
Projections of Mountain Snowpack Loss for Wolverine Denning Elevations in the Rocky Mountains Barsugli, Joseph J.; Ray, Andrea J.; Livneh, Ben Earth's Future, Vol. 8, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1029/2020EF001537	journal	October 2020
Projected Changes in Compound Flood Hazard From Riverine and Coastal Floods in Northwestern Europe Ganguli, Poulomi; Paprotny, Dominik; Hasan, Mehedi Earth's Future, Vol. 8, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1029/2020EF001752	journal	November 2020
To What Extent Are Changes in Flood Magnitude Related to Changes in Precipitation Extremes? Do, Hong Xuan; Mei, Yiwen; Gronewold, Andrew D. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 47, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL088684	journal	September 2020
Impact of Historical Channel Deepening on Tidal Hydraulics in the Delaware Estuary Pareja‐Roman, L. Fernando; Chant, Robert J.; Sommerfield, Christopher K. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, Vol. 125, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JC016256	journal	December 2020
Combined Modeling of US Fluvial, Pluvial, and Coastal Flood Hazard Under Current and Future Climates Bates, Paul D.; Quinn, Niall; Sampson, Christopher Water Resources Research, Vol. 57, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR028673	journal	February 2021
Forest Canopy Density Effects on Snowpack Across the Climate Gradients of the Western United States Mountain Ranges Sun, Ning; Yan, Hongxiang; Wigmosta, Mark S. Water Resources Research, Vol. 58, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR029194	journal	January 2022
Climate Change and Changes in Compound Coastal‐Riverine Flooding Hazard Along the U.S. Coasts Ghanbari, Mahshid; Arabi, Mazdak; Kao, Shih‐Chieh Earth's Future, Vol. 9, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EF002055	journal	May 2021
Multiday Precipitation Is a Prominent Driver of Floods in Indian River Basins Nanditha, J. S.; Mishra, Vimal Water Resources Research, Vol. 58, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1029/2022WR032723	journal	July 2022
Tidal propagation in strongly convergent channels Friedrichs, Carl T.; Aubrey, David G. Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 99, Issue C2 https://doi.org/10.1029/93jc03219	journal	January 1994
A distributed hydrology-vegetation model for complex terrain Wigmosta, Mark S.; Vail, Lance W.; Lettenmaier, Dennis P. Water Resources Research, Vol. 30, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1029/94WR00436	journal	June 1994
Increasing risk of compound flooding from storm surge and rainfall for major US cities Wahl, Thomas; Jain, Shaleen; Bender, Jens Nature Climate Change, Vol. 5, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2736	journal	July 2015
Overestimation of marsh vulnerability to sea level rise Kirwan, Matthew L.; Temmerman, Stijn; Skeehan, Emily E. Nature Climate Change, Vol. 6, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2909	journal	February 2016
Tropical cyclone climatology change greatly exacerbates US extreme rainfall–surge hazard Gori, Avantika; Lin, Ning; Xi, Dazhi Nature Climate Change, Vol. 12, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-01272-7	journal	February 2022
Slower decay of landfalling hurricanes in a warming world Li, Lin; Chakraborty, Pinaki Nature, Vol. 587, Issue 7833 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2867-7	journal	November 2020
Global assessment of flood and storm extremes with increased temperatures Wasko, Conrad; Sharma, Ashish Scientific Reports, Vol. 7, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08481-1	journal	August 2017
Extreme Coastal Water Levels Exacerbate Fluvial Flood Hazards in Northwestern Europe Ganguli, Poulomi; Merz, Bruno Scientific Reports, Vol. 9, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-49822-6	journal	September 2019
Sea-level rise exponentially increases coastal flood frequency Taherkhani, Mohsen; Vitousek, Sean; Barnard, Patrick L. Scientific Reports, Vol. 10, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-62188-4	journal	April 2020
Compounding effects of sea level rise and fluvial flooding Moftakhari, Hamed R.; Salvadori, Gianfausto; AghaKouchak, Amir Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 114, Issue 37 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1620325114	journal	August 2017
Assessing the present and future probability of Hurricane Harvey’s rainfall Emanuel, Kerry Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 114, Issue 48 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1716222114	journal	November 2017
Amplification of flood frequencies with local sea level rise and emerging flood regimes Buchanan, Maya K.; Oppenheimer, Michael; Kopp, Robert E. Environmental Research Letters, Vol. 12, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa6cb3	journal	May 2017
Climatological analysis of tropical cyclone impacts on hydrological extremes in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States Sun, Ning; Wigmosta, Mark S.; Judi, David Environmental Research Letters, Vol. 16, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac2d6a	journal	November 2021
Higher probability of compound flooding from precipitation and storm surge in Europe under anthropogenic climate change Bevacqua, E.; Maraun, D.; Vousdoukas, M. I. Science Advances, Vol. 5, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaw5531	journal	September 2019
Efficient Inverse Modeling of Barotropic Ocean Tides Egbert, Gary D.; Erofeeva, Svetlana Y. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Vol. 19, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0426(2002)019<0183:EIMOBO>2.0.CO;2	journal	February 2002
An Unstructured Grid, Finite-Volume, Three-Dimensional, Primitive Equations Ocean Model: Application to Coastal Ocean and Estuaries Chen, Changsheng; Liu, Hedong; Beardsley, Robert C. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Vol. 20, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0426(2003)020<0159:augfvt>2.0.co;2	journal	January 2003
Tropical Cyclones and Climate Change Assessment: Part II: Projected Response to Anthropogenic Warming Knutson, Thomas; Camargo, Suzana J.; Chan, Johnny C. L. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 101, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1175/bams-d-18-0194.1	journal	March 2020
A Long-Term Hydrologically Based Dataset of Land Surface Fluxes and States for the Conterminous United States: Update and Extensions Livneh, Ben; Rosenberg, Eric A.; Lin, Chiyu Journal of Climate, Vol. 26, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.1175/jcli-d-12-00508.1	journal	December 2013
Global compound floods from precipitation and storm surge: Hazards and the roles of cyclones Lai, Yangchen; Li, Jianfeng; Gu, Xihui Journal of Climate https://doi.org/10.1175/jcli-d-21-0050.1	journal	July 2021
Extreme Rainfall from Landfalling Tropical Cyclones in the Eastern United States: Hurricane Irene (2011) Liu, Maofeng; Smith, James A. Journal of Hydrometeorology, Vol. 17, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1175/jhm-d-16-0072.1	journal	November 2016
The variability of currents and sea level in the upper Delaware estuary Wong, Kuo-Chuin; Sommerfield, Christopher K. Journal of Marine Research, Vol. 67, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1357/002224009790741111	journal	July 2009
Impact of projected 21st century climate change on basin hydrology and runoff in the Delaware River Basin, USA Hawkins, Timothy W.; Woltemade, Christopher J. Journal of Water and Climate Change, Vol. 12, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.2166/wcc.2019.140	journal	December 2019
Characterizing the Non-linear Interactions Between Tide, Storm Surge, and River Flow in the Delaware Bay Estuary, United States Xiao, Ziyu; Yang, Zhaoqing; Wang, Taiping Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol. 8 https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.715557	journal	July 2021
What's streamflow got to do with it? A probabilistic simulation of the competing oceanographic and fluvial processes driving extreme along-river water levels Serafin, Katherine A.; Ruggiero, Peter; Parker, Kai Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, Vol. 19, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-19-1415-2019	journal	July 2019
Measuring compound flood potential from river discharge and storm surge extremes at the global scale Couasnon, Anaïs; Eilander, Dirk; Muis, Sanne Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, Vol. 20, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-20-489-2020	journal	January 2020
A cross-scale study for compound flooding processes during Hurricane Florence Ye, Fei; Huang, Wei; Zhang, Yinglong J. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, Vol. 21, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-1703-2021	journal	June 2021

Similar Records

Extreme flood return levels in a U.S. mid-Atlantic estuary using 40-year fluvial-coastal model simulations

Journal Article · Wed Aug 20 20:00:00 EDT 2025 · Scientific Data · OSTI ID:2585101

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Estuarine hydrodynamics
climate change
coastal hydrology
compound flooding
hurricane surge
hydrological processes
sea level rise
storm surge

Interacting Effects of Watershed and Coastal Processes on the Evolution of Compound Flooding During Hurricane Irene

Citation Formats

References (68)

Similar Records

Related Subjects