Probabilistic Downscaling for Flood Hazard Models

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Roth, Samantha, Sharma, Sanjib, Alipour, Atieh, Keller, Klaus, Haran, Murali
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Roth, Samantha
Sharma, Sanjib
Alipour, Atieh
Keller, Klaus
Haran, Murali
author_facet Roth, Samantha
Sharma, Sanjib
Alipour, Atieh
Keller, Klaus
Haran, Murali
contents Riverine flooding poses significant risks. Developing strategies to manage flood risks requires flood projections with decision-relevant scales and well-characterized uncertainties, often at high spatial resolutions. However, calibrating high-resolution flood models can be computationally prohibitive. To address this challenge, we propose a probabilistic downscaling approach that maps low-resolution model projections onto higher-resolution grids. The existing literature presents two distinct types of downscaling approaches: (1) probabilistic methods, which are versatile and applicable across various physics-based models, and (2) deterministic downscaling methods, specifically tailored for flood hazard models. Both types of downscaling approaches come with their own set of mutually exclusive advantages. Here we introduce a new approach, PDFlood, that combines the advantages of existing probabilistic and flood model-specific downscaling approaches, mainly (1) spatial flooding probabilities and (2) improved accuracy from approximating physical processes. Compared to the state of the art deterministic downscaling approach for flood hazard models, PDFlood allows users to consider previously neglected uncertainties while providing comparable accuracy, thereby better informing the design of risk management strategies. While we develop PDFlood for flood models, the general concepts translate to other applications such as wildfire models.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_20962
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Probabilistic Downscaling for Flood Hazard Models
Roth, Samantha
Sharma, Sanjib
Alipour, Atieh
Keller, Klaus
Haran, Murali
Methodology
Applications
Riverine flooding poses significant risks. Developing strategies to manage flood risks requires flood projections with decision-relevant scales and well-characterized uncertainties, often at high spatial resolutions. However, calibrating high-resolution flood models can be computationally prohibitive. To address this challenge, we propose a probabilistic downscaling approach that maps low-resolution model projections onto higher-resolution grids. The existing literature presents two distinct types of downscaling approaches: (1) probabilistic methods, which are versatile and applicable across various physics-based models, and (2) deterministic downscaling methods, specifically tailored for flood hazard models. Both types of downscaling approaches come with their own set of mutually exclusive advantages. Here we introduce a new approach, PDFlood, that combines the advantages of existing probabilistic and flood model-specific downscaling approaches, mainly (1) spatial flooding probabilities and (2) improved accuracy from approximating physical processes. Compared to the state of the art deterministic downscaling approach for flood hazard models, PDFlood allows users to consider previously neglected uncertainties while providing comparable accuracy, thereby better informing the design of risk management strategies. While we develop PDFlood for flood models, the general concepts translate to other applications such as wildfire models.
title Probabilistic Downscaling for Flood Hazard Models
topic Methodology
Applications
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.20962