Author(s): Marian Muste
Linked Author(s): Marian Muste
Keywords: Flood risk mitigation, flood resilience, flood management, decision-support systems, hydroinformatics
Abstract: Flood mitigation has considerably evolved with the adoption of a flood-risk centered decision-making approach that integrates methodologies pertaining to three different domains: hydro-meteorological & hydraulic data, modelling of the physical processes, and decision support analyses. The approach has been successfully incorporated in early warning systems and planning tools for flood prevention. In parallel, a large number of flood-focused decision-support systems (DSS) have emerged for solving specific flood mitigation objectives (i. e. , to assist before, during or after the floods). Most of these systems were developed through place- and project-based efforts, hence, not serving all levels of decision making nor being readily transferable to other flood-affected communities. The increased socio-economic threat posed by floods globally would considerably benefit from widely-accessible generalized flood DSS (FLOODSS) that can be quickly deployed in any flood-prone areas irrespective of their size and geo-political location. The FLOODSS envisioned in this paper strives to fulfill this goal by assembling hydro-meteorological data, results of flood process simulations, and actionable information and syntheses for supporting decision-making in one web-platform through customized flood-related services and machine-to-machine communication. FLOODSS is essentially a customized cyberinfrastructure that integrate multiple resources (data, information, and knowledge) that are subsequently made available to stakeholders in flood-prone areas to mitigate risk and enhance community resilience. The paper describes the overall architecture of the FLOODSS, reviews its components, and highlights the impacts of this new platform on enhancing the collaborative planning process for flood mitigation and resilience. The benefits brought by FLOODSS to flood science and research are also identified and briefly discussed. As efficient and fast-paced translation of the FLOODSS from concept to practice can only be attained through a wide collaborative effort that transcend disciplines, institutions, and countries, the papers launches a call for community action and offer a road map for guiding the FLOODSS implementation
Year: 2017