Shao et al. (2025) Varying flood exposure due to uncertain data of flood hazard and population distribution

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Environmental Research Letters
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-10-06
• Authors: Wendi Shao, Jingwei Li, Mengmeng Li, Ju Shen, Yijing Wu, Shiqiang Du
• DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ae0fae

Research Groups

Information not available from the abstract.

Short Summary

This study comparatively assessed flood exposure in China using 25 combinations of five population and five flood hazard datasets, revealing substantial variations in exposure estimates primarily driven by flood hazard data differences, while consistently showing a disproportionately high population share in floodplains.

Objective

• To conduct a comparative assessment of 100-year return period flood exposure in China using multiple population and flood hazard datasets.
• To explore the absolute and relative impacts of data uncertainties on flood exposure and discuss their underlying causes.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: China (national scale, with spatial differences discussed)
• Temporal Scale: 100-year return period flood exposure (representing a long-term hazard probability).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Flood exposure assessment (combining population and hazard data).
• Data sources: Five gridded population datasets and five gridded flood hazard datasets (specific names not provided in abstract).

Main Results

• Substantial variations in flood exposure estimates were observed across different data combinations.
• A significant difference of 333 million individuals was found within the exposure range, with the highest estimate being 2.82 times the lowest.
• Exposure variation was primarily attributed to differences in flood hazard data rather than population patterns.
• The relative importance of flood hazard versus population data differences varied spatially, influenced by factors such as slope, altitude, and artificial surface coverage.
• All 25 data combinations consistently revealed a disproportionately larger share of the population residing in floodplains, specifically 2.28–3.49 times the share of floodplains themselves.

Contributions

• Provides a comprehensive understanding of uncertainties in flood exposure assessments stemming from subjective data selection.
• Quantifies the absolute and relative impacts of population and flood hazard data uncertainties on exposure estimates.
• Highlights the spatial variability of uncertainty sources, linking them to geographical and land-use factors.
• Offers insights for developing informed policies for flood risk management by acknowledging data-related uncertainties.

Funding

Information not available from the abstract.

Citation

@article{Shao2025Varying,
  author = {Shao, Wendi and Dong, Jiaqi and Li, Jingwei and Li, Mengmeng and Shen, Ju and Wu, Yijing and Du, Shiqiang},
  title = {Varying flood exposure due to uncertain data of flood hazard and population distribution},
  journal = {Environmental Research Letters},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1088/1748-9326/ae0fae},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae0fae}
}