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Flood risk mapping forms the basis for disaster risk management and the associated decision-making systems. The effectiveness of this process is highly dependent on the quality of the input data of both hazard and vulnerability maps and the method utilized. On the one hand, for higher-quality hazard maps, the use of 2D models is generally suggested. However, in ungauged regions, such usage becomes a difficult task, especially at the microscale. On the other hand, vulnerability mapping at the microscale suffers limitations as a result of the failure to consider vulnerability components, the low spatial resolution of the input data, and the omission of urban planning aspects that have crucial impacts on the resulting quality. This paper aims to enhance the quality of both hazard and vulnerability maps at the urban microscale in ungauged regions. The proposed methodology integrates remote sensing data and high-quality city strategic plans (CSPs) using geographic information systems (GISs), a 2D rainfall-runoff-inundation (RRI) simulation model, and multicriteria decision-making analysis (MCDA, i.e., the analytic hierarchy process (AHP)). This method was implemented in Hurghada, Egypt, which from 1996 to 2019 was prone to several urban flood events. Current and future physical, social, and economic vulnerability maps were produced based on seven indicators (land use, building height, building conditions, building materials, total population, population density, and land value). The total vulnerability maps were combined with the hazard maps based on the Kron equation for three different return periods (REPs) 50, 10, and 5 years to create the corresponding flood risk maps. In general, this integrated methodology proved to be an economical tool to overcome the scarcity of data, to fill the gap between urban planning and flood risk management (FRM), and to produce comprehensive and high-quality flood risk maps that aid decision-making systems.

Precipitation is the main component of global water cycle. At present, satellite quantitative precipitation estimates (QPEs) are widely applied in the scientific community. However, the evaluations of satellite QPEs have some limitations in terms of the deficiency in observation, evaluation methodology, the selection of time windows for evaluation and short periods for evaluation. The objective of this work is to make some improvements by evaluating the spatiotemporal pattern of the long-terms Climate Hazard Group InfraRed Precipitation Satellite';s (CHIRPS';s) QPEs over mainland China. In this study, we compared the daily precipitation estimates from CHIRPS with 2480 rain gauges across China and gridded observation using several statistical metrics in the long-term period of 1981-2014. The results show that there is significant difference between point evaluation and grid evaluation for CHIRPS. CHIRPS has better performance for a large amount of precipitation than it does for arid and semi-arid land. The change in good performance zones has strong relationship with monsoon';s movement. Therefore, CHIRPS performs better in river basins of southern China and exhibits poor performance in river basins in northwestern and northern China. Moreover, CHIRPS exhibits better in warm season than in Winter, owing to its limited ability to detect snowfall. Nevertheless, CHIRPS is moderately sensitive to the precipitation from typhoon weather systems. The limitations for CHIRPS result from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) 3B42 estimates'; accuracy and valid spatial coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precipitation is the main component of global water cycle. At present, satellite quantitative precipitation estimates (QPEs) are widely applied in the scientific community. However, the evaluations of satellite QPEs have some limitations in terms of the deficiency in observation, evaluation methodology, the selection of time windows for evaluation and short periods for evaluation. The objective of this work is to make some improvements by evaluating the spatio-temporal pattern of the long-terms Climate Hazard Group InfraRed Precipitation Satellite’s (CHIRPS’s) QPEs over mainland China. In this study, we compared the daily precipitation estimates from CHIRPS with 2480 rain gauges across China and gridded observation using several statistical metrics in the long-term period of 1981–2014. The results show that there is significant difference between point evaluation and grid evaluation for CHIRPS. CHIRPS has better performance for a large amount of precipitation than it does for arid and semi-arid land. The change in good performance zones has strong relationship with monsoon’s movement. Therefore, CHIRPS performs better in river basins of southern China and exhibits poor performance in river basins in northwestern and northern China. Moreover, CHIRPS exhibits better in warm season than in Winter, owing to its limited ability to detect snowfall. Nevertheless, CHIRPS is moderately sensitive to the precipitation from typhoon weather systems. The limitations for CHIRPS result from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) 3B42 estimates’ accuracy and valid spatial coverage.

Flood risk mapping forms the basis for disaster risk management and the associated decision-making systems. The effectiveness of this process is highly dependent on the quality of the input data of both hazard and vulnerability maps and the method utilized. On the one hand, for higher-quality hazard maps, the use of 2D models is generally suggested. However, in ungauged regions, such usage becomes a difficult task, especially at the microscale. On the other hand, vulnerability mapping at the microscale suffers limitations as a result of the failure to consider vulnerability components, the low spatial resolution of the input data, and the omission of urban planning aspects that have crucial impacts on the resulting quality. This paper aims to enhance the quality of both hazard and vulnerability maps at the urban microscale in ungauged regions. The proposed methodology integrates remote sensing data and high-quality city strategic plans (CSPs) using geographic information systems (GISs), a 2D rainfall-runoff-inundation (RRI) simulation model, and multicriteria decision-making analysis (MCDA, i.e., the analytic hierarchy process (AHP)). This method was implemented in Hurghada, Egypt, which from 1996 to 2019 was prone to several urban flood events. Current and future physical, social, and economic vulnerability maps were produced based on seven indicators (land use, building height, building conditions, building materials, total population, population density, and land value). The total vulnerability maps were combined with the hazard maps based on the Kron equation for three different return periods (REPs) 50, 10, and 5 years to create the corresponding flood risk maps. In general, this integrated methodology proved to be an economical tool to overcome the scarcity of data, to fill the gap between urban planning and flood risk management (FRM), and to produce comprehensive and high-quality flood risk maps that aid decision-making systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]