Reconstructing Flood Histories

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Reconstructing Flood Histories

Assessing flood risk is presently constrained by short (generally ~50 year) gauged river flow records that poorly represent the distribution of hydrological extremes because these records typically do not include the largest floods generated in a catchment. There is a need to extend flood series to improve our understanding of flood hazard and risk, particularly in light of a rapidly changing climate. Floodplain sedimentary archives offer the prospect of generating flood histories over centuries and even millennia because they directly record the sediment signature of discrete flood events. These palaeo flood reconstructions provide a window into historic and prehistoric floods occurring within a catchment during a range of climate conditions, which allow us to better prepare for future floods. This session will introduce floodplain sediment archives and their potential for flood series extension in New Zealand. A broad, nationwide overview of centennial-scale river activity in the last 10,000 years will be followed by focusing on specific flood histories in discrete catchments.

Presenter: Ian Fuller, Massey University, New Zealand

Ian holds the position of Professor in Physical Geography at Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand, where he co-directs the Innovative River Solutions group and has been based since 2003. His research in fluvial geomorphology provides an integrated understanding of river systems at multiple spatial and temporal scales. He has completed numerous projects for stakeholders in river management and worked in catchments throughout New Zealand, as well as the UK and Europe. Prior to arriving in New Zealand, Ian completed his PhD at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth in 1996, which was followed by a lectureship in Physical Geography at Northumbria University. He is passionate about educating students in NZ’s rivers and linking geomorphology with river management.


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