Project B2-2a

Project Team: James Smith, PI – Princeton University

Tom Meixner – University of Arizona

Brian Blesoe – Colorado State University

Andy Miller – University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Darrel Jenerette – University of California-Riverside

Project Overview

In this project, we will examine the hydrology, hydrometeorology and hydroclimatology of urban flooding through numerical modeling and data-driven studies that focus on urban watersheds in Baltimore, Miami, Denver, Phoenix (and the broader Sun Corridor region), Los Angeles and Portland.  The broad objective of this study is to develop a predictive understanding of urban flood hydrology that can be used to assess the effectiveness of “urban water solutions”, especially Green Infrastructure technologies, in reducing flood hazards. We will develop long-term, high-resolution radar rainfall fields for each of the six urban regions for hydrologic modeling studies and for examining the hydroclimatology of urban flash flooding.  In previous studies (see, for example, Figure 1), it has been shown that high-resolution radar rainfall fields provide an exceptional resource for assessing urban flooding.  The six urban study regions provide a broad range of settings for examining urban flooding, both in terms of land surface process and in terms of rainfall climatology.  We will develop and implement hydrologic models for each of the study regions.  Modeling analyses will be used to address core scientific questions and assess the effectiveness of urban water solutions in reducing flood hazards.