Leonardo Laipelt, Rodrigo C. D. de Paiva, Fernando M. Fan, Walter Collischonn, Fabrice Papa, Anderson Ruhoff
{"title":"SWOT Reveals How the 2024 Disastrous Flood in South Brazil Was Intensified by Increased Water Slope and Wind Forcing","authors":"Leonardo Laipelt, Rodrigo C. D. de Paiva, Fernando M. Fan, Walter Collischonn, Fabrice Papa, Anderson Ruhoff","doi":"10.1029/2024gl111287","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of flooding, emphasizing the need to better understand these events. Satellite observations provide essential information, and the recent launch of SWOT offers new opportunities to investigate flood dynamics. Here, we use SWOT observations to detect significant hydrologic changes during an unprecedented 2024 flood in southern Brazil. In the Jacuí and Guaíba Rivers, water slopes increased dramatically–up to 11 times (from 0.82 to 9.59 cm/km) and 21 times (0.31–6.58 cm/km) compared to stable conditions. SWOT-derived surface water elevations captured 99% of water level variability compared to in situ observations. Additionally, flooding in Patos Lagoon was intensified by NE–SW wind forcing, causing water levels to rise by up to 40 cm, worsening the flood event. SWOT proves a unique opportunity to understand extreme flooding events, providing new support for flood risk management in the context of climate change.","PeriodicalId":12523,"journal":{"name":"Geophysical Research Letters","volume":"74 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Geophysical Research Letters","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1029/2024gl111287","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of flooding, emphasizing the need to better understand these events. Satellite observations provide essential information, and the recent launch of SWOT offers new opportunities to investigate flood dynamics. Here, we use SWOT observations to detect significant hydrologic changes during an unprecedented 2024 flood in southern Brazil. In the Jacuí and Guaíba Rivers, water slopes increased dramatically–up to 11 times (from 0.82 to 9.59 cm/km) and 21 times (0.31–6.58 cm/km) compared to stable conditions. SWOT-derived surface water elevations captured 99% of water level variability compared to in situ observations. Additionally, flooding in Patos Lagoon was intensified by NE–SW wind forcing, causing water levels to rise by up to 40 cm, worsening the flood event. SWOT proves a unique opportunity to understand extreme flooding events, providing new support for flood risk management in the context of climate change.
期刊介绍:
Geophysical Research Letters (GRL) publishes high-impact, innovative, and timely research on major scientific advances in all the major geoscience disciplines. Papers are communications-length articles and should have broad and immediate implications in their discipline or across the geosciences. GRLmaintains the fastest turn-around of all high-impact publications in the geosciences and works closely with authors to ensure broad visibility of top papers.