Scientists from the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) will demonstrate their world-leading flood research, innovations and solutions at an event where thousands of international experts will discuss how to support communities affected by increased risk of flooding and coastal erosion.
Researchers, representatives of government agencies, engineers, major infrastructure providers, asset managers and charities, as well as residents from the areas most affected by the impacts of climate change, will attend Flood & Coast 2022 in Telford.
The annual event from 7-9 June will feature a range of engaging discussions, presentations, workshops and stands, and is organised by the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) in partnership with the Environment Agency.
UKCEH is exhibiting there to showcase its hydrological research, much of which is supported by National Capability funding from the Natural Environment Research Council.
Its scientists will be sharing the latest news on the following:
- Flood and Drought Research Infrastructure Programme
UKCEH led a scoping project that established the requirements for a potential new national research infrastructure that would increase the UK’s resilience to floods and droughts. This involved an extensive 21-month consultation with more than 700 representatives from the research community, industry, environmental regulatory bodies and government agencies.
The proposed large capital investment in state-of-the-art hydrological measuring instruments would dramatically improve forecasting, planning, incident response and management. - Flood Estimation Handbook
This service, available online, provides a range of data and methods to enable scientists and others to predict flooding and rainfall frequency in areas across the UK. It includes estimating probabilities of rainfall intensity for durations ranging from less than one hour to several days. UKCEH is now recalibrating the existing FEH model to also incorporate more recent rainfall measurements, including data from major events in recent years such as the Cumbria floods of 2009 and 2015. The updated FEH22 model, which will reduce uncertainty in the estimation of the most extreme events, is due to be released later this year. - Hydro-JULES
The project is creating a three-dimensional computer model of the terrestrial water cycle to enable the research community to study how it may be affected by future climate and land cover change. Significant developments to date include the creation of a modelling framework that integrates hydrological, land surface and atmospheric modelling. The Hydro-Jules team has also made available open-access datasets that provide hourly and daily rainfall data for every 1km square part of the UK for the past 100 years, based on a mixture of actual and extrapolated measurements. - National River Flow Archive
The NRFA is a comprehensive database on river flows and rainfall across the UK that is accessible for free to researchers as well as government agencies and other organisations to support flood and drought risk planning. It brings together daily, monthly and flood peak river flow measurements from more than 1,500 gauging stations across the UK. - National Hydrological Monitoring Programme
The NHMP produces monthly summaries to track the hydrological situation across the UK. The programme also reports on major flood events (including 2015-2016, 2020-2021), to document the severity, characteristics and impacts of the flooding, and place the events in a long-term context. It uses NRFA records to evaluate long-term changes in flood risk across the UK as a result of climate change, and to establish emerging hydrological trends relevant for flood risk planning.
At the Flood and Coast event, UKCEH will also demonstrate some of its hydro-meteorological technology:
- The UK Water Resources Portal is an interactive tool that monitors the UK hydrological situation in near real-time, bringing together the latest rainfall, river flow, soil moisture and groundwater data in one place from a local to a national scale. Users are able to view measurements in any part of the country by clicking on a map.
- The Enhanced Future Flows and Groundwater (eFLaG) dataset provides improved projections for rainfall, river flows and groundwater levels in the UK up to the year 2080 to enable water companies, regulators and government agencies to better prepare for future droughts.
- HYRAD is an advanced weather radar display system for the UK and Belgium, providing improved rainfall estimation and forecasting for viewing on personal computers.
UKCEH will be exhibiting at stand B11 at Flood & Coast 2022 in Telford International Centre. Registration for access to the exhibition is free, though there is a charge for delegates attending the conference events. See floodandcoast.com