dr. Bastian van den Bout, dr. Janneke Ettema.
Modelling Multi-Hazards and Risk (2nd year) (Python), Programming Solutions (2nd year)
This research involves scripting for modelling and data analysis. While a potential study site does exist, other events/locations might be chosen if data is available.
Hazardous natural processes, such as flooding, landslides or storm surging do not always occur in isolation. When conditions are right, many hazardous processes might occur simultaneously and therefore have many, unforeseen,interactions. This cascade can increase damage and disrupt relieble predictions of the hazard’s behavior. An example of cascading hazards are occurring during tropical cyclones, which are commonly triggering flash floods, mass wasting, extreme winds and storm surging. In order to help decision making related to housing development and mitigation, it is essential to understand and predict potential mpact of these simultaneous hazardous events. Doing so requires innovative strategies for modelling complex multi-hazard interactions.
The aim of this study is to identify key hazardous processes that happen simultaneously during tropical cyclones. Possible research questions are:
- To what extend is storm surge impacting the flash flood hazard?
- What process interactions make the cascading hazard grow?
- What impact does the timing of the trigger mechanisms have on the cascade?
Simulation of simultaneous multi-hazard has progressed in recent years. The model OpenLISEM Hazard includes surface flows such as flooding, debris flows and landslides. In this work, you will create a modelling setup for ‘OpenLISEM Hazard’ which takes into account storm-surge data and wind velocities. With the use of pcraster or python, you will be able to set up automated boundary conditions for the model that enforce coastal flow velocities and wind speeds. This MSc topic is connected to ongoing research on the Caribbean island Dominica.
- van den Bout, B., & Jetten, V. G. (2020). Catchment-scale multi-process modeling with local time stepping. Environmental Earth Sciences, 79, 1-15.
- Ye, F., Zhang, Y. J., Yu, H., Sun, W., Moghimi, S., Myers, E., ... & Martins, K. (2020). Simulating storm surge and compound flooding events with a creek-to-ocean model: Importance of baroclinic effects. Ocean Modelling, 145, 101526Suggested elective course(s)
Weather Impact Analysis.