Speaker
Description
FLDPLN (Floodplain) is a low-computational-cost flood inundation mapping (FIM) model for inland basins that considers both backfill and spillover flow mechanisms. FLDPLN has been implemented for operational flood inundation mapping in the state of Kansas. Height Above Nearest Drainage (HAND) FIM is incorporated in the current version of the National Water Model (NWM), and its implementation was designed to permit mapping at scale across the continental United States (CONUS), while maintaining a modest computational cost. Our experiment documents the skill and efficiency of the FLDPLN model relative to the HAND model with respect to reference data sourced from satellite and aerial imagery, hydrodynamic models, and ground-observed watermarks. Results show that including FLDPLN in the suite of tools used with the NWM process has the potential to improve FIM accuracy beyond Kansas and to benefit communities across the country. The study dataset and instructions for processing and modeling simulations in this study will be publicly available via web repository.
