Tanzania floods, pluvial, fluvial defended and fluvial undefended for various
return periods
_Please click the layers icon in the map area to select the type of flood and
return period._
The data presented here show the modelled water depth for flood events of
different return periods. Both fluvial flooding (flooding from rivers) and
pluvial flooding (local surface water flooding from extreme rainfall) have
been simulated and can be displayed. Depths are shown in meters. Note that
one would not expect all the displayed flooding to happen _at the same time_ ;
rather, the data show the maximum water depth that would be expected if a
flood event of the specified return period were occurring at that location.
Another way of expressing this is to say that the data show the probability of
experiencing a given water depth within a single year; i.e. depths shown by
the '1-in-100 year' layer have a 1-in-100 (or 1%) chance of occurrence in any
given year.
The data has been produced using the Fathom global flood hazard modelling
framework (a development of Sampson et al., 2015 and Smith et al., 2015). The
model uses the MERIT global DEM and hydrography for elevation and river
network data sources respectively (Yamazaki et al., 2017; Yamazaki et al.,
2019). The framework automatically constructs flood models across a specified
region, using the two-dimensional shallow water equations to simulate the
behavior of floodwaters during the modelled flood events. The framework
produces maps of flood depths at 3 arcsecond (~90m) spatial resolution for a
specified range of return periods. For a detailed technical description of
the methods, please see the open-access academic papers listed below.
Given that the modelling framework used to create this data is semi-autonomous
and uses data available at the regional to global scale, its accuracy is
limited by the quality of this input data and the simplified range of
processes it can represent. While the data is suitable for providing guidance
at the regional scale, it is not recommended to use the data for detailed
local scale assessments or engineering purposes. More details around
appropriate use can be found in the user training documentation (link here).
Open access journal hyperlinks:
Sampson et al 2015
[**https://doi.org/10.1002/2015WR016954**](https://doi.org/10.1002/2015WR016954)
Smith et al 2015:
[**https://doi.org/10.1002/2014WR015814**](https://doi.org/10.1002/2014WR015814)
Yamazaki et al 2017: [
**https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL072874**](https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL072874)
Yamazaki et al 2019: [
**https://doi.org/10.1029/2019WR024873**](https://doi.org/10.1029/2019WR024873)
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