The Needs, Challenges, and Priorities for Advancing Global Flood Research

ABSTRACT In recent years, numerous flood events have caused loss of life, widespread disruption, and damage across the globe. These devastating impacts highlight the importance of a better understanding of flood generating processes, their impacts, and their variability under climate and landscape changes. Here, we argue that the ability to better model flooding is underpinned by the grand challenge of understanding flood generation mechanisms and potential impacts. To address this challenge, the World Meteorological Organization‐Global Energy and Water Exchanges (GEWEX) Hydrometeorology Panel (GHP) aims to establish a Global Flood Crosscutting project to propagate flood modeling and research knowledge across regions and to synthesize results at the global scale. This paper outlines a framework for understanding the dynamics and impacts of runoff generation processes and a rationale for the role of a Global Flood Crosscutting project to address these challenges. Within this Global Flood Crosscutting project, we will establish a common terminology and methods to enable the global research community to exchange knowledge and experiences, and to design experiments toward developing actionable recommendations for more effective flood management practices and policies for improved resilience. This harmonization of rich perspectives across disciplines will foster the co‐production of knowledge primed to advance flood research, particularly in the current period of heightened climate variability and rapid change. It will create a new transdisciplinary paradigm for flood science, wherein different dimensions of mechanistic understanding and processes are rigorously considered alongside socioeconomic impacts, early warning communications, and longer‐term adaptation to alleviate flood risks in society.

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Publication Details

Journal
Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Water
Published
2025-05-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.70026
Citations
10
Primary Topic
Flood Risk Assessment and Management
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
11.05

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article

The Needs, Challenges, and Priorities for Advancing Global Flood Research

Manuela I. Brunner, Lisa Umutoni, Mohammad Saberian, Huan Wu et al.
10 citations
Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Water
Flood Risk Assessment and Management
11.05
article

The Needs, Challenges, and Priorities for Advancing Global Flood Research

Manuela I. Brunner, Lisa Umutoni, Mohammad Saberian, Huan Wu, Joshua K. Roundy, Qingyun Duan, Conrad Wasko, Paola A. Arias, Hamid Moradkhani, P.J. van Oevelen, Ali Nazemi, Ke Zhang, Jessica Lamond, Jonathan Gourley, Andreas F. Prein, Ioana Popescu, Daniel B. Wright, Hayley J. Fowler, Thorsten Wagener, Vidya Samadi
article en
10 citations

Abstract

ABSTRACT In recent years, numerous flood events have caused loss of life, widespread disruption, and damage across the globe. These devastating impacts highlight the importance of a better understanding of flood generating processes, their impacts, and their variability under climate and landscape changes. Here, we argue that the ability to better model flooding is underpinned by the grand challenge of understanding flood generation mechanisms and potential impacts. To address this challenge, the World Meteorological Organization‐Global Energy and Water Exchanges (GEWEX) Hydrometeorology Panel (GHP) aims to establish a Global Flood Crosscutting project to propagate flood modeling and research knowledge across regions and to synthesize results at the global scale. This paper outlines a framework for understanding the dynamics and impacts of runoff generation processes and a rationale for the role of a Global Flood Crosscutting project to address these challenges. Within this Global Flood Crosscutting project, we will establish a common terminology and methods to enable the global research community to exchange knowledge and experiences, and to design experiments toward developing actionable recommendations for more effective flood management practices and policies for improved resilience. This harmonization of rich perspectives across disciplines will foster the co‐production of knowledge primed to advance flood research, particularly in the current period of heightened climate variability and rapid change. It will create a new transdisciplinary paradigm for flood science, wherein different dimensions of mechanistic understanding and processes are rigorously considered alongside socioeconomic impacts, early warning communications, and longer‐term adaptation to alleviate flood risks in society.

Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews WaterVol. 12(3)
The University of Sydney (AU), University of Wisconsin–Madison (US), University of Kansas (US), George Mason University (US), Hohai University (CN), University of Alabama (US), University of Potsdam (DE), University of the West of England (GB), IHE Delft Institute for Water Education (NL), ETH Zurich (CH), Universidad de Antioquia (CO), NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory (US), State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering (CN), Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou) (CN), Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos (CH), Tyndall Centre (GB), Concordia University (CA), Clemson University (US), Newcastle University (GB), Delft University of Technology (NL)
Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung, Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Universidad de Antioquia, Directorate for Engineering
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Flood Risk Assessment and Management
11.05
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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