Project discription
From GeoMod
In the scope of semester project, I want to develop a model to simulate a flash flood after a storm in a small watershed, e.g, Wolf River. I need a raster file of the watershed as the base map, I've prepared a DEM for the watershed of Wolf River. But I find the data is to big, if it is exported as ASCII file, it is about 50 MB, two times of original raster file. It is a big challenge! Another problem I face right now is what kind of rainfall-runoff model I would choose. Should I apply a built-in model from other researchers or I need develope a new one by myself. I just have a little knowledge of rainfall-runoff modeling. There are lots of questions I cann't answered right now. Hopefully I could learn something useful from Dr. Urbano's built-in model, "chertman". Based on the model I develope in the project, I'll try to built some methods to quantify flood hazards. Dr. Urbano has uploaded a function to input raster file (ASCII, exported from ArcGIS) to python, while I don't think it works on my computer right now. I'll figure it out first.
Update
Due to the data problem of Wolf River (it is too large to input into Python, and it can not be resampled, interesting!), I'll switch the study area to the main campus of the University of Memphis. In the project, the basic assumption is that the study area is blocked and imprevious.
The basic assumption of my project:
- blocked boundary - no runoff
- all surface are impervious – no infiltration
- no drainage system – all the water will accumulate
- no evapotranpiration - because of the short time period of a storm event
Input:
- constant precipitation: 0.00000353 m/sc (6 inches in 12 hours,100-year heavy rain in Memphis)(NOAA)
- 10 m DEM of UM Main Campus (USGS)
The objective of my project is try to model the inundation of flood water after a storm event and to look up where is vulnerable to flash flood (where the cumulated flood water is deep). This information might be useful to decision-makers.
