Augmentation of WRF-Hydro to simulate overland-flow- and streamflow-generated debris flow susceptibility in burn scars

Li, Chuxuan; Handwerger, Alexander L.; Wang, Jiali; Yu, Wei; Li, Xiang; Finnegan, Noah J.; Xie, Yingying; Buscarnera, Giuseppe; Horton, Daniel E.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2317-2022

Articles | Volume 22, issue 7

https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2317-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2317-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 22, issue 7

Research article

|

27 Jul 2022

Research article |

| 27 Jul 2022

Augmentation of WRF-Hydro to simulate overland-flow- and streamflow-generated debris flow susceptibility in burn scars

Chuxuan Li, Alexander L. Handwerger, Jiali Wang, Wei Yu, Xiang Li, Noah J. Finnegan, Yingying Xie, Giuseppe Buscarnera, and Daniel E. Horton

Data sets

NCEP/EMC, NLDAS Primary Forcing Data L4 Hourly 0.125 x 0.125 degree V002 Y. Xia, K. Mitchell, M. Ek, B. Cosgrove, J, Sheffield, L. Luo, C. Alonge, H. Wei, J. Meng, B. Livneh, Q. Duan, and D. Lohmann https://doi.org/10.5067/6J5LHHOHZHN4

Multi-Radar/Multi-Sensor (MRMS) Precipitation Data National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) https://doi.org/10.26023/4WM5-Y4PF-8D03

Surface Meteorology and Physics Data NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory (PSL) https://psl.noaa.gov/data/obs/datadisplay/

WFIGS - Wildland Fire Perimeters Full History National Interagency Fire Center (NCEP) https://data-nifc.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/nifc::wfigs-wildland-fire-perimeters-full-history/explore?location=0.000000,0.000000,1.81

Use of WRF-Hydro in postfire debris-flow hazard simulation C. Li https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5544083

Model code and software

Modification of WRF-Hydro source code to output overland flow C. Li https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6766928

HazMapper: v1.0 source code (Version 1.0) Scheip, C., and Wegmann, K. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4103348

GEE_scripts_for_Handwerger_et_al_2022_NHESS M. Huang and A. L. Handwerger https://github.com/alhandwerger/GEE_scripts_for_Handwerger_et_al_2022_NHESS

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Short summary

In January 2021 a storm triggered numerous debris flows in a wildfire burn scar in California. We use a hydrologic model to assess debris flow susceptibility in pre-fire and postfire scenarios. Compared to pre-fire conditions, postfire conditions yield dramatic increases in peak water discharge, substantially increasing debris flow susceptibility. Our work highlights the hydrologic model's utility in investigating and potentially forecasting postfire debris flows at regional scales.