Unit 8. Impacts of Extreme Hydroclimatic Events

After completing Unit 8, students will be able to:

• Define the meaning and explain the characteristics of extreme events (floods and droughts)
• Collect and and perform statistical analysis on geoscience data
• Develop the chart for predicting extremes
• Recognize the usefulness of geoscience data in engineering design and application
• Evaluate and argue potential measures to deal with extremes
• Reflect on key elements of the resilient urban water system

This lesson is designed for use in mid- to upper-level undergraduate courses of engineering and geoscience disciplines. It can be adopted in hydrology, engineering hydrology, or water resources-related courses. There is no discipline-specific prerequisite required since the science content is basic and fundamental in nature. The lesson could also be adapted for use in an online setting.

The activity is structured around a 1-hour 15-minute class period with several hours of supporting work out of class as a class assignment.

Pre-Class Reading

Read/Scan the following articles on flood frequency:

• 100-Year Flood - It's all About Chance poster from USGS
• The 100-Year Flood Fact Sheet 229-96 from USGS
• Floods: Recurrence intervals and 100-year floods (USGS) from USGS Water Science School

Go over the pre-class presentation slides (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 521kB Sep21 16) and complete the Pre-Class Assignment (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 28kB Sep21 16). These files can ideally be placed under the Online Course Management System such as BlackBoard or course website or can also be administered in the classroom at the start of the class.

In-Class Activities

(20 min) Fundamentals of floods, droughts, urban resilience

Use the

Floods and Droughts PowerPoint -- private instructor-only file

Hide

(25 min) Flood planning activity with Rational Method

Use the

Rational Method and Urban Resilience PowerPoint -- private instructor-only file

Hide

(20 min) Drought analysis

• Before class, the instructor should go to the PRISM Climate Data website and
  • print out the most recent year's annual precipitation map for the United States
  • print out the 30-year normal precipitation map for the United States
• Divide class into groups and give each group the two maps. Have them look at the recent year's precipitation compared to the 30-year average and decide what parts of the country might be in "drought"
• Then, the instructor can pull up the current drought monitor on the screen and talk about what contributes to drought declaration and severity of drought

(10 min) Wrap-up and general discussion questions for reflecting on what was learned (metacognition)

Initiate classroom discussion using Think-Pair-Share approach (and collect group responses). Example discussion questions are:

1. What do we mean by "doing a statistical analysis" for extreme events and why it is necessary?
2. How does climate change affect the current understanding of and potential measures to tackle extreme events?
3. What are your thoughts on how the urban system can be more resilient to uncertain extreme events?

Students may have difficulty understanding some of the new terms such as frequency analysis, return period, exceedance probability, etc. It is advised to explain the basic meanings of new terms as they appear.

Grading Scheme:

• Pre-class assignment (50% weight)
• Notes of Think-Pair-Share group work (50% weight)
• Excellent: >90%; Very Good: 80–90%; Good: 70–80%; Poor: 60–70%

Konrad, C.P. 2003. Effects of urban development on floods. U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet FS-076-03.

Tallaksen, L.M. and van Lanen H.A.J. 2004. Hydrological Drought: Processes and Estimation Methods for Streamflow and Groundwater. Volume 48 of Developments in Water Science. ISSN 0167-5648. Gulf Professional Publishing. 579 pages.

Tyler, S. and M. Moench. 2012. A framework for urban climate resilience. Climate and Development 4(4): 311-326.