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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Hayley Fowler
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2025 The Author(s). WIREs Water published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.In recent years, numerous flood events have caused loss of life, widespread disruption, and damage across the globe. These devastating impacts highlight the importance of a better understanding of flood generating processes, their impacts, and their variability under climate and landscape changes. Here, we argue that the ability to better model flooding is underpinned by the grand challenge of understanding flood generation mechanisms and potential impacts. To address this challenge, the World Meteorological Organization-Global Energy and Water Exchanges (GEWEX) Hydrometeorology Panel (GHP) aims to establish a Global Flood Crosscutting project to propagate flood modeling and research knowledge across regions and to synthesize results at the global scale. This paper outlines a framework for understanding the dynamics and impacts of runoff generation processes and a rationale for the role of a Global Flood Crosscutting project to address these challenges. Within this Global Flood Crosscutting project, we will establish a common terminology and methods to enable the global research community to exchange knowledge and experiences, and to design experiments toward developing actionable recommendations for more effective flood management practices and policies for improved resilience. This harmonization of rich perspectives across disciplines will foster the co-production of knowledge primed to advance flood research, particularly in the current period of heightened climate variability and rapid change. It will create a new transdisciplinary paradigm for flood science, wherein different dimensions of mechanistic understanding and processes are rigorously considered alongside socioeconomic impacts, early warning communications, and longer-term adaptation to alleviate flood risks in society.
Author(s): Samadi V, Fowler HJ, Lamond J, Wagener T, Brunner M, Gourley J, Moradkhani H, Popescu I, Wasko C, Wright D, Wu H, Zhang K, Arias PA, Duan Q, Nazemi A, van Oevelen PJ, Prein AF, Roundy JK, Saberian M, Umutoni L
Publication type: Review
Publication status: Published
Journal: Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water
Year: 2025
Volume: 12
Issue: 3
Print publication date: 22/05/2025
Online publication date: 22/05/2025
Acceptance date: 03/05/2025
ISSN (electronic): 2049-1948
Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Inc
URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.70026
DOI: 10.1002/wat2.70026
Data Access Statement: Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study.
