Identification

Title

Understanding the risks from extreme rainfall

Abstract

Empirical engineering design based on single 'fail safe' target return periods is not appropriate in a non-stationary future climate. Extreme responses to rainfall are very likely to increase under climate change, posing increased hazards to critical infrastructure and the most vulnerable sectors of society. Structures with long life spans require reasonable estimates of the hazards that will be faced now and in the future, necessitating some assessment of future rainfall extremes. Such challenges are not new. Although future climate conditions may be unprecedented, techniques to optimize water management and minimize risk in more extreme climate regimes are not. Designs that account for future climatic extremes could benefit from other countries' experiences of highly variable extreme rainfall. This paper synthesizes the physical mechanisms leading to extreme rainfall, and their representation in climate models. It then summarizes recent observed changes in extreme rainfall and the anticipated future changes in response to changing climate conditions. Finally, it discusses ways in which different measures of extreme rainfall, such as seasonality and intensity, can be used to inform designs for future flood resilience.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d71r6rqt

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2015-04-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact