Description

Flood hazard at a given location is not only determined by rainfall characteristics (spatial-temporal variability) but also by catchment characteristics, especially soil wetness conditions and topography. This MSc topic is designed to assess to what extent catchment characteristics are driving flood hazard by comparing at least 2 catchments. Such catchment characteristics include storm water management system, storm drainage network, depression storage and antecedent soil moisture conditions. This MSc could be an extension of the work done by Vincent Katonda (2019) on a catchment in the southern part of The Netherlands.

Objectives and Methodology

The research is placed in the context of extreme rainfall characteristics (pattern, spatial and temporal distribution). The following main research questions could be considered:
- What is the role of basin characteristics in driving flood hazard as compared to extreme rainfall characteristics?
- What are the factors affecting wetness conditions at watershed scale (urban/rural)?
- How efficient is the wetness conditions estimated by satellite compared to continuous simulation (CS) based soil moisture conditions as well as In-situ based observation?
- Why are different catchments responding differently to similar soil moisture and rainfall characteristics?

The aim of this study is to assess/analyze the soil moisture conditions and catchment characteristics triggering flood hazard at catchment scale. The objective can be achieved by applying continuous hydrological model simulation as well as through satellite soil moisture estimation. Hydrological model will be calibrated by using flow data at the outlet. The estimated design soil moisture is then compared with In-situ soil moisture information as well as satellite data.

Further reading