Runoff peak under climate change and associated flood management in Taiwan
Journal
Journal of the Chinese Institute of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering
Journal Volume
24
Journal Issue
3
Pages
245-252
Date Issued
2012
Author(s)
Abstract
Under climate change, extreme conditions of precipitation and river runoff are more likely to occur. By means of GCM (Global Climate Model) downscaling and runoff simulation, this study evaluates the changes of precipitation and runoff peak under 21 IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) climate change scenarios for five basins in Taiwan. The simulations show that, by the end of the century, runoff peaks will be over 30% larger than the design capacity of current flood control systems. The change of runoff peak is much larger than that of precipitation, implying that runoff-induced flooding will be more easily triggered by precipitation increase in the future. A "Special Act for Flood Management", aimed to systematically harness all county/city rivers in the country by both structural and non-structural measures, was enforced in 2006. Though the project is still undergoing, it has preliminarily succeeded in reducing flood disasters triggered by extreme weather conditions in recent years. The methodology provided in this study can be served for further simulation on assessing project effectiveness against climate change.
Subjects
Climate change; Flood; Precipitation; River basin management
SDGs
Other Subjects
Climate change scenarios; Extreme conditions; Extreme weather conditions; Global climate model; Intergovernmental panel on climate changes; Precipitation and runoff; River basin management; Runoff simulation; Flood control; Floods; Lasers; Precipitation (chemical); Runoff; Water management; Climate change
Type
journal article