Impact of Geospatial Data Enhancements for Regional-Scale 2D Hydrodynamic Flood Modeling: Case Study for the Coastal Plain of Virginia
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 26, Issue 4
Abstract
Hydrology in low-relief coastal plains is especially challenging to simulate in flood modeling applications. Two-dimensional (2D) hydrodynamic models are often necessary, but creating such models for regional-scale systems at a high spatial resolution presents significant data challenges. The objective of this research is to explore these challenges using a 2D hydrodynamic model built for a region in the coastal plain of Virginia as a case study. Systematic enhancements to the hydrodynamic model’s topographic, bathymetric, streamline, surface roughness, and rainfall representations are tested to assess their impact on the model’s predictive skill. Results showed that incorporating high-resolution terrain and land use data sets alone only produced minor improvements to model accuracy. However, the addition of river cross-section data collected through site visits and careful, detailed quality control (QC) of observed rainfall data produced much more substantial improvements to accuracy. Based on these findings, increased focus should be placed on integrating topographic and river bathymetric data sets for low-relief coastal plain regions along with improved methods for QC of observed rainfall data, especially for extreme weather events.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Virginia Transportation Research Council (VTRC). We wish to thank Russel Lotspeich from the US Geological Survey for his assistance in obtaining unpublished water elevation data for our study region. We also would like to acknowledge the Viz Lab, a facility for University of Virginia, for providing us with GPU workstations.
References
Abdullah, A. F., Z. Vojinovic, R. K. Price, and N. A. A. Aziz. 2012. “A methodology for processing raw LiDAR data to support urban flood modelling framework.” J. Hydroinf. 14 (1): 75–92. https://doi.org/10.2166/hydro.2011.089.
Bacopoulos, P. 2019. “Extreme low and high waters due to a large and powerful tropical cyclone: Hurricane Irma (2017).” Nat. Hazards 98 (3): 939–968. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-018-3327-7.
Bates, P. D., M. G. Anderson, L. Baird, D. E. Walling, and D. Simm. 1992. “Modelling floodplain flows using a two-dimensional finite element model.” Earth Surf. Process. Landf. 17 (6): 575–588. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.3290170604.
Bates, P. D., and A. P. J. De Roo. 2000. “A simple raster-based model for flood inundation simulation.” J. Hydrol. 236 (1–2): 54–77. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-1694(00)00278-X.
Bates, P. D., K. J. Marks, and M. S. Horritt. 2003. “Optimal use of high-resolution topographic data in flood inundation models.” Hydrol. Process. 17 (3): 537–557. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.1113.
Bedient, P. B., W. C. Huber, and B. E. Vieux. 2008. Hydrology and floodplain analysis. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Bilskie, M. V., and S. C. Hagen. 2018. “Defining flood zone transitions in low-gradient coastal regions.” Geophys. Res. Lett. 45 (6): 2761–2770. https://doi.org/10.1002/2018GL077524.
BMT WBM. 2016. TUFLOW user manual: Build 2016-03-AA. Brisbane, Australia: BMT Commercial Australia.
Bruni, G., R. Reinoso, N. C. Van De Giesen, F. H. L. R. Clemens, and J. A. E. Ten Veldhuis. 2015. “On the sensitivity of urban hydrodynamic modelling to rainfall spatial and temporal resolution.” Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 19 (2): 691–709. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-691-2015.
Chow, V. T. 1959. Open-channel hydraulics. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Cobby, D. M., D. C. Mason, and I. J. Davenport. 2001. “Image processing of airborne scanning laser altimetry data for improved river flood modeling.” ISPRS J. Photogramm. Remote Sens. 56 (2): 121–138. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0924-2716(01)00039-9.
Crowder, D. W., and P. Diplas. 2000. “Using two-dimensional hydrodynamic models at scales of ecological importance.” J. Hydrol. 230 (3–4): 172–191. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-1694(00)00177-3.
Engineers Australia. 2012. “Australian rainfall and runoff revision projects PROJECT 15 two dimensional modelling in urban and rural floodplains STAGE 1&2 REPORT.” Accessed December 4, 2018. http://arr.ga.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/40573/ARR_Project15_TwoDimensional_Modelling_DraftReport.pdf.
Feng, Z., L. R. Leung, S. Hagos, R. A. Houze, C. D. Burleyson, and K. Balaguru. 2016. “More frequent intense and long-lived storms dominate the springtime trend in central US rainfall.” Nat. Commun. 7 (1): 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13429.
Fernandez-Diaz, J. C., C. L. Glennie, W. E. Carter, R. L. Shrestha, M. P. Sartori, A. Singhania, C. J. Legleiter, and B. T. Overstreet. 2014. “Early results of simultaneous terrain and shallow water bathymetry mapping using a single-wavelength airborne LiDAR sensor.” IEEE J. Sel. Top. Appl. Earth Obs. Remote Sens. 7 (2): 623–635. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2013.2265255.
García, L., J. Barreiro-Gomez, E. Escobar, D. Téllez, N. Quijano, and C. Ocampo-Martinez. 2015. “Modeling and real-time control of urban drainage systems: A review.” Adv. Water Resour. 85 (Nov): 120–132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2015.08.007.
Giese, G. L., H. B. Wilder, and G. G. Parker. 1985. Hydrology of major estuaries and sounds of North Carolina. Alexandria, VA: US GS.
Grimaldi, S., Y. Li, J. P. Walker, and V. R. N. Pauwels. 2018. “Effective representation of river geometry in hydraulic flood forecast models.” Water Resour. Res. 54 (2): 1031–1057. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017WR021765.
Horritt, M. S., P. D. Bates, and M. J. Mattinson. 2006. “Effects of mesh resolution and topographic representation in 2D finite volume models of shallow water fluvial flow.” J. Hydrol. 329 (1–2): 306–314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2006.02.016.
Kalyanapu, A. J., S. J. Burian, and T. N. Mcpherson. 2009. “Effect of land use-based surface roughness on hydrologic model output.” J. Spatial Hydrol. 9 (2): 51–71.
Kalyanapu, A. J., S. Shankar, E. R. Pardyjak, D. R. Judi, and S. J. Burian. 2011. “Assessment of GPU computational enhancement to a 2D flood model.” Environ. Modell. Software 26 (8): 1009–1016. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2011.02.014.
Knebl, M. R., Z. L. Yang, K. Hutchison, and D. R. Maidment. 2005. “Regional scale flood modeling using NEXRAD rainfall, GIS, and HEC-HMS/RAS: A case study for the San Antonio River Basin summer 2002 storm event.” J. Environ. Manage. 75 (4): 325–336. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2004.11.024.
Lamb, R., M. Crossley, and S. Waller. 2009. “A fast two-dimensional floodplain inundation model.” Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng. Water Manage. 162 (6): 363–370. https://doi.org/10.1680/wama.2009.162.6.363.
Leandro, J., A. S. Chen, S. Djordjević, and D. A. Savić. 2009. “Comparison of 1D/1D and 1D/2D coupled (sewer/surface) hydraulic models for urban flood simulation.” J. Hydraul. Eng. 135 (6): 495–504. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)HY.1943-7900.0000037.
Lim, N. J., and S. A. Brandt. 2019. “Flood map boundary sensitivity due to combined effects of DEM resolution and roughness in relation to model performance.” Geomatics Nat. Hazards Risk 10 (1): 1613–1647. https://doi.org/10.1080/19475705.2019.1604573.
Liu, Z., V. Merwade, and K. Jafarzadegan. 2019. “Investigating the role of model structure and surface roughness in generating flood inundation extents using one- and two-dimensional hydraulic models.” J. Flood Risk Manage. 12 (1): e12347. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfr3.12347.
Marks, K., and P. Bates. 2000. “Integration of high-resolution topographic data with floodplain flow models.” Hydrol. Process. 14 (11–12): 2109–2122. https://doi.org/10.1002/1099-1085(20000815/30)14:11/12%3C2109::AID-HYP58%3E3.0.CO;2-1.
McCuen, R. H., Z. Knight, and A. G. Cutter. 2006. “Evaluation of the Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency index.” J. Hydrol. Eng. 11 (6): 597–602. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1084-0699(2006)11:6(597).
McKean, J., D. Isaak, and W. Wright. 2009. “Improving stream studies with a small-footprint green lidar.” EOS Trans. Am. Geophys. Union 90 (39): 341–342. https://doi.org/10.1029/2009EO390002.
Medeiros, S. C., S. C. Hagen, and J. F. Weishampel. 2012. “Comparison of floodplain surface roughness parameters derived from land cover data and field measurements.” J. Hydrol. 452–453 (Jul): 139–149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2012.05.043.
Moriasi, D. N., J. G. Arnold, M. W. Van Liew, R. L. Bingner, R. D. Harmel, and T. L. Veith. 2007. “Model evaluation guidelines for systematic quantification of accuracy in watershed simulations.” Trans. ASABE 50 (3): 885–900. https://doi.org/10.13031/2013.23153.
Moriasi, D. N., M. W. Gitau, N. Pai, and P. Daggupati. 2015. “Hydrologic and water quality models: Performance measures and evaluation Criteria.” Trans. ASABE 58 (6): 1763–1785. https://doi.org/10.13031/trans.58.10715.
Morsy, M. M., J. L. Goodall, G. L. O’Neil, J. M. Sadler, D. Voce, G. Hassan, and C. Huxley. 2018. “A cloud-based flood warning system for forecasting impacts to transportation infrastructure systems.” Environ. Modell. Software 107 (Sep): 231–244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2018.05.007.
Muñoz, D. F., H. Moftakhari, and H. Moradkhani. 2020. “Compound effects of flood drivers and wetland elevation correction on coastal flood hazard assessment.” Water Resour. Res. 56 (7): e2020WR027544. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR027544.
National Research Council. 2009. Mapping the zone: Improving flood map accuracy. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). 2013. “Bathy lidar: Harder than it looks: Digital coast GeoZone.” Accessed August 10, 2020. https://geozoneblog.wordpress.com/2013/09/25/bathy-lidar-harder-than-it-looks/.
NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). 2017. “Extremely active 2017 Atlantic hurricane season finally ends.” Accessed May 7, 2020. https://www.noaa.gov/media-release/extremely-active-2017-atlantic-hurricane-season-finally-ends.
NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). 2018. “Historical Hurricane Florence, September 12-15, 2018.” Accessed February 28, 2020. https://www.weather.gov/mhx/Florence2018.
NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). 2019. “NOAA/NOS vertical datums transformation.” Accessed May 29, 2020. https://vdatum.noaa.gov/.
Noman, N. S., E. J. Nelson, and A. K. Zundel. 2001. “Review of automated floodplain delineation from digital terrain models.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage. 127 (6): 394–402. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9496(2001)127:6(394).
Ochoa-Rodriguez, S., et al. 2015. “Impact of spatial and temporal resolution of rainfall inputs on urban hydrodynamic modelling outputs: A multi-catchment investigation.” J. Hydrol. 531 (Dec): 389–407. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.05.035.
Office of Water Prediction. 2019. “Information about the national water model.” Accessed May 13, 2020. https://water.noaa.gov/about/nwm.
Prein, A. F., C. Liu, K. Ikeda, S. B. Trier, R. M. Rasmussen, G. J. Holland, and M. P. Clark. 2017. “Increased rainfall volume from future convective storms in the US.” Nat. Clim. Change 7 (12): 880–884. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-017-0007-7.
Reynolds, J. E., S. Halldin, J. Seibert, C. Y. Xu, and T. Grabs. 2020. “Robustness of flood-model calibration using single and multiple events.” Hydrol. Sci. J. 65 (5): 842–853. https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2019.1609682.
Ritter, A., and R. Muñoz-Carpena. 2013. “Performance evaluation of hydrological models: Statistical significance for reducing subjectivity in goodness-of-fit assessments.” J. Hydrol. 480 (Feb): 33–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2012.12.004.
Santiago-Collazo, F. L., M. V. Bilskie, and S. C. Hagen. 2019. “A comprehensive review of compound inundation models in low-gradient coastal watersheds.” Environ. Modell. Software 119 (Sep): 166–181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2019.06.002.
Schumann, G., P. Matgen, M. E. J. Cutler, A. Black, L. Hoffmann, and L. Pfister. 2008. “Comparison of remotely sensed water stages from LiDAR, topographic contours and SRTM.” ISPRS J. Photogramm. Remote Sens. 63 (3): 283–296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2007.09.004.
Shrestha, R. R., and F. Nestmann. 2009. “Physically based and data-driven models and propagation of input uncertainties in river flood prediction.” J. Hydrol. Eng. 14 (12): 1309–1319. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)HE.1943-5584.0000123.
Skinner, C., F. Bloetscher, and C. S. Pathak. 2009. “Comparison of NEXRAD and rain gauge precipitation measurements in South Florida.” J. Hydrol. Eng. 14 (3): 248–260. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1084-0699(2009)14:3(248).
SSURGO (Soil Survey Geographic). 2018. Soil survey geographic (SSURGO) database for [Virginia]. Washington, DC: Natural Resources Conservation Service—USDA.
Steiner, M., J. A. Smith, S. J. Burges, C. V. Alonso, and R. W. Darden. 1999. “Effect of bias adjustment and rain gauge data quality control on radar rainfall estimation.” Water Resour. Res. 35 (8): 2487–2503. https://doi.org/10.1029/1999WR900142.
Tate, E. C., D. R. Maidment, F. Olivera, and D. J. Anderson. 2002. “Creating a terrain model for floodplain mapping.” J. Hydrol. Eng. 7 (2): 100–108. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1084-0699(2002)7:2(100).
Timbadiya, P. V., P. L. Patel, and P. D. Porey. 2015. “A 1D–2D coupled hydrodynamic model for river flood prediction in a coastal urban floodplain.” J. Hydrol. Eng. 20 (2): 05014017. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)HE.1943-5584.0001029.
USGS. 2011. NLCD 2011 land cover (CONUS). Reston, VA: USGS.
VGIN (Virginia Geographic Information Network). 2016a. “Elevation—LIDAR.” Accessed December 4, 2018. https://www.vita.virginia.gov/integrated-services/vgin-geospatial-services/elevation---lidar/.
VGIN (Virginia Geographic Information Network). 2016b. “Land cover—VITA.” Accessed December 4, 2018. https://www.vita.virginia.gov/integrated-services/vgin-geospatial-services/land-cover/.
Yan, K., A. Tarpanelli, G. Balint, T. Moramarco, and G. Di Baldassarre. 2015. “Exploring the potential of SRTM topography and radar altimetry to support flood propagation modeling: Danube case study.” J. Hydrol. Eng. 20 (2): 04014048. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)HE.1943-5584.0001018.
Yu, D. 2010. “Parallelization of a two-dimensional flood inundation model based on domain decomposition.” Environ. Modell. Software 25 (8): 935–945. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2010.03.003.
Zhao, L., J. Xia, C. Y. Xu, Z. Wang, L. Sobkowiak, and C. Long. 2013. “Evapotranspiration estimation methods in hydrological models.” J. Geog. Sci. 23 (2): 359–369. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-013-1015-9.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 4, 2020
Accepted: Nov 20, 2020
Published online: Jan 27, 2021
Published in print: Apr 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Jun 27, 2021
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.