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Impacts on Flood Risk from Land Use Strategies for Coping with Climate Change – An Assessment using the Time-Area Method

Green, Agneta LU (2014) MVEM30 20132
Studies in Environmental Science
Abstract
Climate change places pressure on rural land in terms of carbon sequestration, biomass for substitution and adaptation of crops. Land use can both positively and negatively influence the runoff regime, therefor a catchment perspective is important when developing climate strategies. This is also important with respect to flood-risk that will increase with climate change. Here I investigate if there is the potential to improve the representation of impact from rural land use during conventional hydrological modeling using the simple Time-Area Method, an advantage over other expensive and time consuming models. Using this method I have further assessed the impact on flood risk due to external effects from climate strategies in the rural... (More)
Climate change places pressure on rural land in terms of carbon sequestration, biomass for substitution and adaptation of crops. Land use can both positively and negatively influence the runoff regime, therefor a catchment perspective is important when developing climate strategies. This is also important with respect to flood-risk that will increase with climate change. Here I investigate if there is the potential to improve the representation of impact from rural land use during conventional hydrological modeling using the simple Time-Area Method, an advantage over other expensive and time consuming models. Using this method I have further assessed the impact on flood risk due to external effects from climate strategies in the rural sector.

I have further developed the rural component of an existing MIKE URBAN model over a small village, Eneryda, Sweden. The focus has been on constructing more detailed runoff coefficients (φ) for rural areas. Through a literature search and results from an integrated land use model, Dyna-CLUE, I constructed four rural climate strategy scenarios for year 2050: A2, B2, Substitution and Carbon storage. The impact from the different climate strategies on the flood risk was then analyzed in MIKE URBAN and MIKE FLOOD.

My results show that there is a potential to present the general impact from rural land use through the Time-Area Method. The influence from rural land is of importance for flood risk in Eneryda, prolonging the duration of over pressure in the sewer system. The total sum from the applied φ is valid for both the west and east catchments in Eneryda during the validation of a ̴10 year rain event (r2 0.9633 and 0.8691). The individual φ are higher then what is conventionally applied in Sweden, but the values used are supported for conditions with high soil moisture in other countries. Results from a MIKE SHE model also supports the proportional difference in my φ values for mixed forest, agriculture and clear-cut. The substantial disadvantage with my model is the inability to distinguish the effect of different runoff processes on how they contribute to the resulting hydrograph.

Rural climate strategies can have external effects on flood risk in Eneryda. A substitution strategy for example, including intensive forestry, is projected to increase the flood risk compared to a climate strategy favoring carbon storage. When both are exposed to a 100-year (24 hour) rain event, the substitution strategy increases the water volume by 22%, giving a 1 hour longer and 2.5% larger flooded area, and increasing the severity of flood depth by a few centimeters. This shows that local adaptation of strategies and the use of best forestry and agricultural practices are needed to not increase the risk of flooding.

The impact from rural land use also highlights the importance of working with flood measures using a wider perspective than considering only grey infrastructure as land use change over time. Land use and the runoff regime can also change quickly due to direct effects from weather events. Recently, substantial storm damage of the forest in the area has made the current land use the worst case scenario for floods in this thesis. My results therefore stress the importance of adaptation strategies in the forest sector.

Keywords: environmental science, physical geography, climate strategies, land use, hydrological modeling, flooding (Less)
Popular Abstract (Swedish)
Synergieffekter med ett avrinningsområdesperspektiv vid utformning av klimatstrategier

Klimatförändringen ställer krav på naturmarken vi har i Sverige i form av utsläppsminskning, kolinlagring och klimatanpassning. Då avrinningen kan öka eller minska beroende på markanvändning är det viktigt med ett avrinningsområdets perspektiv vid utformningen av klimatstrategier. Det är särskilt angeläget då översvämningsrisken förväntas öka med den globala uppvärmningen.

Hydrologiska modeller används som hjälpmedel i utformningen av markanvändnings strategier. Jag har vidareutvecklat en MIKE URBAN/MIKE FLOOD modell över byn Eneryda i Småland. Med hjälp av den har jag studerat om man kan inkludera påverkan av naturmark i Tid-Area metoden, som är... (More)
Synergieffekter med ett avrinningsområdesperspektiv vid utformning av klimatstrategier

Klimatförändringen ställer krav på naturmarken vi har i Sverige i form av utsläppsminskning, kolinlagring och klimatanpassning. Då avrinningen kan öka eller minska beroende på markanvändning är det viktigt med ett avrinningsområdets perspektiv vid utformningen av klimatstrategier. Det är särskilt angeläget då översvämningsrisken förväntas öka med den globala uppvärmningen.

Hydrologiska modeller används som hjälpmedel i utformningen av markanvändnings strategier. Jag har vidareutvecklat en MIKE URBAN/MIKE FLOOD modell över byn Eneryda i Småland. Med hjälp av den har jag studerat om man kan inkludera påverkan av naturmark i Tid-Area metoden, som är en förhållandevis billig och enkel metod att använda i modeller men som normalt används för urbana miljöer. Modellen har jag sedan använd för att analysera hur klimatstrategier påverkar översvämningsrisken i Eneryda. Fyra scenario för år 2050, innehållande A2, B2, Substitutions principen and Kolinlagring, har analyserats.

Mina resultat visar en potential att åskådliggöra den generella påverkan från naturmark genom Tid-Area metoden. Att inkludera påverkan från naturmark i simuleringen visar sig också vara av betydelse för översvämningsrisken i Eneryda. Varaktigheten av ett för högt tryck i dagvattenledningarna blir därmed synligt. En tydlig svaghet är dock att denna modell inte är känslig för olika avrinningsprocesser varför påverkan på flödestopparna inte blir synliga.

Min studie visar att en markanvändningsstrategi som innefattar ett intensivt skogsbruk, för utbyte av fossilbränslen mot biomassa, ökar översvämningsrisken jämfört med en strategi som gynnar kolinlagring i vegetation och mark. En simulering av ett 24-timmars regn med en återkomsttid på 100 år ger detta scenario 22% större volym vatten, en timmes längre och en 2,5% större översvämning. Även djupet på översvämningen ökar med några centimeter. Lokal anpassning av strategier är därför viktigt så att man genom att försöka lösa ett problem inte skapar ett annat problem nedströms.

Det är viktigt med andra översvämningsåtgärder än infrastruktur. Markanvändning ändras över tid och flödet från naturmark kan också ändras snabbt. Extra tydligt blir detta i Eneryda där stora delar av skogen är fälld på grund av stormen Gudrun, 2005. Detta gör den nuvarande markanvändningen till det värsta scenariot för översvämning i den här studien. Mina resultat understryker därför vikten av att arbeta med klimatanpassningsåtgärder i skogssektorn. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Green, Agneta LU
supervisor
organization
course
MVEM30 20132
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
environmental science, physical geography, climate strategies, land use, hydrological modeling, flooding
language
English
id
4696758
date added to LUP
2015-01-27 09:38:19
date last changed
2015-01-27 09:38:19
@misc{4696758,
  abstract     = {{Climate change places pressure on rural land in terms of carbon sequestration, biomass for substitution and adaptation of crops. Land use can both positively and negatively influence the runoff regime, therefor a catchment perspective is important when developing climate strategies. This is also important with respect to flood-risk that will increase with climate change. Here I investigate if there is the potential to improve the representation of impact from rural land use during conventional hydrological modeling using the simple Time-Area Method, an advantage over other expensive and time consuming models. Using this method I have further assessed the impact on flood risk due to external effects from climate strategies in the rural sector. 

I have further developed the rural component of an existing MIKE URBAN model over a small village, Eneryda, Sweden. The focus has been on constructing more detailed runoff coefficients (φ) for rural areas. Through a literature search and results from an integrated land use model, Dyna-CLUE, I constructed four rural climate strategy scenarios for year 2050: A2, B2, Substitution and Carbon storage. The impact from the different climate strategies on the flood risk was then analyzed in MIKE URBAN and MIKE FLOOD.

My results show that there is a potential to present the general impact from rural land use through the Time-Area Method. The influence from rural land is of importance for flood risk in Eneryda, prolonging the duration of over pressure in the sewer system. The total sum from the applied φ is valid for both the west and east catchments in Eneryda during the validation of a ̴10 year rain event (r2 0.9633 and 0.8691). The individual φ are higher then what is conventionally applied in Sweden, but the values used are supported for conditions with high soil moisture in other countries. Results from a MIKE SHE model also supports the proportional difference in my φ values for mixed forest, agriculture and clear-cut. The substantial disadvantage with my model is the inability to distinguish the effect of different runoff processes on how they contribute to the resulting hydrograph. 

Rural climate strategies can have external effects on flood risk in Eneryda. A substitution strategy for example, including intensive forestry, is projected to increase the flood risk compared to a climate strategy favoring carbon storage. When both are exposed to a 100-year (24 hour) rain event, the substitution strategy increases the water volume by 22%, giving a 1 hour longer and 2.5% larger flooded area, and increasing the severity of flood depth by a few centimeters. This shows that local adaptation of strategies and the use of best forestry and agricultural practices are needed to not increase the risk of flooding. 

The impact from rural land use also highlights the importance of working with flood measures using a wider perspective than considering only grey infrastructure as land use change over time. Land use and the runoff regime can also change quickly due to direct effects from weather events. Recently, substantial storm damage of the forest in the area has made the current land use the worst case scenario for floods in this thesis. My results therefore stress the importance of adaptation strategies in the forest sector.

Keywords: environmental science, physical geography, climate strategies, land use, hydrological modeling, flooding}},
  author       = {{Green, Agneta}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Impacts on Flood Risk from Land Use Strategies for Coping with Climate Change – An Assessment using the Time-Area Method}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}