Sea level rise (SLR), a well-documented and urgent aspect of anthropogenic global warming, threatens population and assets located in low-lying coastal regions all around the world. Common flood hazard assessment practices typically account for one driver at a time (e.g., either fluvial flooding only or ocean flooding only), whereas coastal cities vulnerable to SLR are at risk for flooding from multiple drivers (e.g., extreme coastal high tide, storm surge, and river flow). Here, we propose a bivariate flood hazard assessment approach that accounts for compound flooding from river flow and coastal water level, and we show that a univariate approach may not appropriately characterize the flood hazard if there are compounding effects. Using copulas and bivariate dependence analysis, we also quantify the increases in failure probabilities for 2030 and 2050 caused by SLR under representative concentration pathways 4.5 and 8.5. Additionally, the increase in failure probability is shown to be strongly affected by compounding effects. The proposed failure probability method offers an innovative tool for assessing compounding flood hazards in a warming climate.

. The quantification of flood risk in estuarine regions relies on accurate estimation of flood probability, which is often challenging due to the rareness of hazardous flood events and their multi-causal (or “compound”) nature. Failure to consider the compounding nature of estuarine floods can lead to significant underestimation of flood risk in these regions. This study provides a comparative review of alternative approaches for estuarine flood estimation – namely, traditional univariate flood frequency analysis applied to both observed historical data and simulated data, as well as multivariate frequency analysis applied to flood events. Three specific implementations of the above approaches are evaluated on a case study – the estuarine portion of Swan River in Western Australia – highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. The theoretical understanding of the three approaches, combined with findings from the case study, enable the generation of guidance on method selection for estuarine flood probability estimation, recognizing issues such as data availability, the complexity of the application/analysis process, the location of interest within the estuarine region, the computational demands, and whether or not future conditions need to be assessed.

. Estuaries around Great Britain may be at heightened risk of flooding because of the simultaneous occurrence of extreme sea surge and river flow, both of which may be caused by mid-latitude cyclones. A measure especially suited for extremes was employed to estimate dependence between river flow and sea surge. To assist in the interpretation of why flow-surge dependence occurs in some areas and not in others, the dependence between precipitation and surge and between precipitation and river flow was also studied. Case studies of the meteorological situations leading to high surges and/or river flows were also carried out. The present study concerns catchments draining to the south and west coasts of Great Britain. Statistically significant dependence between river flow and daily maximum sea surge may be found at catchments spread along most of this coastline. However, higher dependence is generally found in catchments in hilly areas with a southerly to westerly aspect. Here, precipitation in south-westerly airflow, which is generally the quadrant of prevailing winds, will be enhanced orographically as the first higher ground is encountered. The sloping catchments may respond quickly to the abundant rainfall and the flow peak may arrive in the estuary on the same day as a large sea surge is produced by the winds and low atmospheric pressure associated with the cyclone. There are three regions where flow-surge dependence is strong: the western part of the English south coast, southern Wales and around the Solway Firth. To reduce the influence of tide-surge interaction on the dependence analysis, the dependence between river flow and daily maximum surge occurring at high tide was estimated. The general pattern of areas with higher dependence is similar to that using the daily maximum surge. The dependence between river flow and daily maximum sea surge is often strongest when surge and flow occur on the same day. The west coast from Wales and northwards has slightly stronger flow-surge dependence in summer than in winter, whereas dependence is stronger in winter than in summer for the southern part of the study area. Keywords: : Britain, dependence, sea surge, river flow, precipitation, mid-latitude cyclone, seasonality, time lag\n

Wahl, Thomas; Meyers, Steven D.; Luther, Mark E. Univ S Florida, Coll Marine Sci, St Petersburg, FL 33701 USA. Wahl, Thomas; Bender, Jens Univ Siegen, Res Ctr Siegen, D-57076 Siegen, Germany. Jain, Shaleen Univ Maine, Climate Change Inst, Civil & Environm Engn, Orono, ME 04469 USA. Jain, Shaleen Univ Maine, Mitchell Ctr Sustainabil Solut, Orono, ME 04469 USA. Bender, Jens Univ Siegen, Res Inst Water & Environm, D-57076 Siegen, Germany.

We analyze trends in compound flooding resulting from high coastal water levels (HCWLs) and peak river discharge over northwestern Europe during 1901-2014. Compound peak discharge associated with 37 stream gauges with at least 70 years of record availability near the North and Baltic Sea coasts is used. Compound flooding is assessed using a newly developed index, compound hazard ratio, that compares the severity of river flooding associated with HCWL with the at-site, T-year (a flood with 1/T chance of being exceeded in any given year) fluvial peak discharge. Our findings suggest a spatially coherent pattern in the dependence between HCWL and river peaks and in compound flood magnitudes and frequency. For higher return levels, we find upward trends in compound hazard ratio frequency at midlatitudes (gauges from 47 degrees N to 60 degrees N) and downward trends along the high latitude (>60 degrees N) regions of northwestern Europe. Plain Language Summary Compound floods in delta areas, that is, the co-occurrence of high coastal water levels (HCWLs) and high river discharge, are a particular challenge for disaster management. Such events are caused by two distinct mechanisms: (1) HCWLs may affect river flows and water levels by backwater effects or by reversing the seaward flow of rivers, particularly in regions with elevation less than 10 m in northwestern Europe. (2) The correlation between HCWL and river flow peaks may also stem from a common meteorological driver. Severe storm periods may be associated with high winds leading to storm surges, and at the same time with high precipitation followed by inland flooding. Understanding the historical trends in compound flooding, owing to changes in relative sea levels, in river flooding and in the dependence between these two drivers, is essential for projecting future changes and disaster management. The risk assessment frameworks are often limited to assessing flood risk from a single driver only. We present a new approach to assess compound flood severity resulting from extreme coastal water level and peak river discharge. We find upward trends in compound flooding for midlatitude regions and downward trends for high latitudes in northwestern Europe.

沿海地区极易受到极端降雨和高潮位引发的复合洪涝灾害影响。研究风暴增水和累积降雨同时发生的概率,设计雨潮联合分布函数,对提升沿海城市防洪除涝应对措施的有效性、减少城市复合洪涝灾害造成的损失具有重要意义。论文以1979—2014年中国沿海逐日最大风暴增水和邻近雨量站日累积降雨数据作为统计样本,采用Copula函数构建雨潮联合概率模型,并利用Kolmogorov-Smirnov检验、赤池信息准则、贝叶斯信息准则评价雨潮联合分布拟合优度,优选中国沿海雨潮联合概率分布函数模型。基于此模型,定量化设计中国沿海雨潮复合灾害情景。结果表明：在空间分布上,中国沿海雨潮复合灾害频次呈现明显的“两头多中间少”格局,其中,广东西部沿海、福建北部、浙江南部、山东及辽宁沿海频次相对较高;在50年一遇联合重现期下,北部湾、海南岛北部、浙江沿海、渤海湾部分沿海表现为极端降雨和较高的风暴增水,雨潮遭遇的复合灾害事件十分值得关注。研究结果在一定程度上揭示了中国沿海地区雨潮复合灾害的时空变化规律,并为复合灾害情景预测提供了定量化评估方案。

Coastal regions are extremely vulnerable to compound floods caused by extreme rainfall and strong storm surge. To improve the effectiveness of flood control measures in Chinese coastal cities and reduce the losses caused by urban compound flooding, it is important to analyze the joint probability of occurrence of extreme rainfall and strong storm surge and design the joint distribution function of daily storm surge and cumulative rainfall. In this study, we employed the Copula function to fit the joint probability distribution of storm surge and cumulative rainfall from 1979 to 2014. Then we used the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S), Akaike Information Criteria (AIC), and Bayesian Information Criteria (BIC) statistical methods to obtain the optimal Copula function between storm surge and cumulative rainfall at each gauge alone the coast of China. Finally, based on the Copula method, we assessed the design value of compound scenarios of storm surge and rainfall in coastal China. The results indicate that the northern and southern parts of Chinese eastern coast have high frequency and the middle part has low frequency of compound disasters of strong storm surge and extreme rainfall. Western Guangdong, northern Fujian, southern Zhejiang, Shandong, and Liaoning provinces have a high frequency of compound disasters. Under the 50-year return period, the Beibu Gulf, northern Hainan Island, the coast of Zhejiang Province, and parts of the Bohai Bay have extreme rainfall and high storm surge. This study shows the temporal and spatial distribution of compound disasters of storm surge and rainfall in coastal China, and provides a framework for compound disaster scenario prediction.

. The interaction between storm surge and concurrent precipitation is poorly understood in many coastal regions. This paper investigates the potential compound effects from these two flooding drivers along the coast of China for the first time by using the most comprehensive records of storm surge and precipitation. Statistically significant dependence between flooding drivers exists at the majority of locations that are analysed, but the strength of the correlation varies spatially and temporally and depending on how extreme events are defined. In general, we find higher dependence at the south-eastern tide gauges (TGs) (latitude < 30∘ N) compared to the northern TGs. Seasonal variations in the dependence are also evident. Overall there are more sites with significant dependence in the tropical cyclone (TC) season, especially in the summer. Accounting for past sea level rise further increases the dependence between flooding drivers, and future sea level rise will hence likely lead to an increase in the frequency of compound events. We also find notable differences in the meteorological patterns associated with events where both drivers are extreme versus events where only one driver is extreme. Events with both extreme drivers at south-eastern TG sites are caused by low-pressure systems with similar characteristics across locations, including high precipitable water content (PWC) and strong winds that generate high storm surge. Based on historical disaster damages records of Hong Kong, events with both extreme drivers account for the vast majority of damages and casualties, compared to univariate flooding events, where only one flooding driver occurred. Given the large coastal population and low capacity of drainage systems in many Chinese urban coastal areas, these findings highlight the necessity to incorporate compound flooding and its potential changes in a warming climate into risk assessments, urban planning, and the design of coastal infrastructure and flood defences.

风暴潮是沿海地区在强烈的大气扰动条件下产生的异常增水现象,并受海平面上升等因素的影响。中国风暴潮灾害频繁,其中尤以东南沿海地区发生频率较高,灾害损失严重。本文从风暴潮灾害的危险性、承灾体的易损性、综合风险区划3个方面系统总结风暴潮灾害的研究进展及存在的主要问题;并以风暴潮灾情特征及风险评估为基础,探讨气候变化对风暴潮灾害风险的影响及其适应对策。气候变化引起的海平面上升将影响风暴潮的趋势、周期及风险区域,因而亟待开展结合海平面上升等因素的综合风险评估。充分考虑气候变化背景下沿海地区自然条件变化及社会经济发展状况,注重短期与长期相结合,完善风险评估体系。为适度、有序的适应气候变化下风暴潮灾害风险,中国在应急预警机制、工程防御及政策法规等适应能力建设方面不断完善,以提高风暴潮灾害的防灾减灾能力。

Storm surges are a phenomenon of abnormal water-level rises under the influence of strong atmospheric turbulence in coastal areas and are effected by many factors, such as sea-level rise. China has seen frequent storm surges, especially in the southeastern coastal areas where their frequency is high and disaster losses are serious. This article systematically summarized the progress and main problems of storm surge research in China with regard to the hazard, vulnerability, and risk regionalization. Based on the characteristics and risk assessment of storm surges, the impact of climate change and adaptation strategies were further investigated. Especially in the context of climate change, future trend, recurrence periods, and high risk areas of storm surges would be greatly affected by sea-level rise. Thereby, a comprehensive risk assessment incorporating factors such as sea-level rise is urgently needed. Moreover, the changes in natural conditions and socioeconomic development in the coastal areas under global climate change should be taken into account to improve risk assessment with the combination of short-term and long-term views. In order to adapt to the risk of storm surge disasters under climate change, China has continuously improved the capacity building for emergency preparedness, structural defense, and policies and regulations to improve the ability of disaster prevention and mitigation.