Hydrodynamic Modelling of a Large River and Floodplain: Usumacinta, Mexico (PAP014329)

Código

PAP014329

Autores

Pedro N. Paredes-Victoria, J. Agustín Breña-Naranjo, Adrián Pedrozo-Acuña

Tema

Floods in a changing climate

Resumo

This investigation presents an integrated study for the identification of affected areas due to extreme flooding observed in the largest river of Mexico. In years 2008 and 2011 catastrophic events were registered due to heavy rainfall leaving a great social disruption and large economic damages. These recurring impacts, indicated the need of a practical approach to enable better decision making and a more efficient management of these events. The selected approach is designed to reduce some of the uncertainties in the results, and is comprised by high-quality field measurements, hydrologic and hydraulic numerical models, RADARSAT images and LiDAR data. A 30m digital elevation model and historical flooded areas for the year 2011 were extracted from a LiDAR data set and RADARSAT images, respectively. Hydrologic information was constructed from precipitation data obtained from the Mexican National Water Comission, and validated using gauging stations along the Usumacinta River. For the whole measurement period, results in terms of the hydrographs and flooded areas indicated a good agreement between numerical and measured data. This study demonstrates that the use of high-quality input data, in combination with a 1D hydraulic model, provide an adequate set-up for the identification of vulnerable areas to flood events in large-scale basins.