** Progress in Earth and Planetary Science is the official journal of the Japan Geoscience Union, published in collaboration with its 50 society members.

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    Atmospheric and hydrospheric sciences

    202012202012

    Ensemble flash flood predictions using a high-resolution nationwide distributed rainfall-runoff model: case study of the heavy rain event of July 2018 and Typhoon Hagibis in 2019

    Sayama T, Yamada M, Sugawara Y, Yamazaki D

    Ensemble forecasting, Flash floods, Rainfall-runoff-inundation model, Typhoon Hagibis, Uncertainty, Flood forecasting, Quantitative precipitation forecasting, Saturated subsurface flow, Distributed hydrological model, Meso-scale Ensemble Prediction System (MEPS)

    Flood forecasting results for Typhoon Hagibis (No. 19). Left: Simulated peak runoff (= discharge normalized by the upstream catchment area) along the main rivers, Center: simulated peak runoff for all rivers, Right: forecasted peak runoff based on the MEPS rainfall data. Typically, runoff greater than 30 mm/h cause some damages along small-to-medium rivers due to the levee breaching or overtopping.

    The heavy rain event of July 2018 and Typhoon Hagibis in October 2019 caused severe flash flood disasters in numerous parts of western and eastern Japan. Flash floods need to be predicted over a wide range with long forecasting lead time for effective evacuation. The predictability of flash floods caused by the two extreme events is investigated by using a high-resolution (~ 150 m) nationwide distributed rainfall-runoff model forced by ensemble precipitation forecasts with 39 h lead time. Results of the deterministic simulation at nowcasting mode with radar and gauge composite rainfall could reasonably simulate the storm runoff hydrographs at many dam reservoirs over western Japan for the case of heavy rainfall in 2018 (F18) with the default parameter setting. For the case of Typhoon Hagibis in 2019 (T19), a similar performance was obtained by incorporating unsaturated flow effect in the model applied to Kanto Region. The performance of the ensemble forecast was evaluated based on the bias ratios and the relative operating characteristic curves, which suggested the higher predictability in peak runoff for T19. For the F18, the uncertainty arises due to the difficulty in accurately forecasting the storm positions by the frontal zone; as a result, the actual distribution of the peak runoff could not be well forecasted. Overall, this study showed that the predictability of flash floods was different between the two extreme events. The ensemble spreads contain quantitative information of predictive uncertainty, which can be utilized for the decision making of emergency responses against flash floods.