A reach-integrated hydraulic modelling approach for large-scale and real-time inundation mapping

Abstract. Flooding is one of the world's most common and costly natural hazards, inflicting billions in damages each year. However, current hydraulic models to support flood mapping are not well suited for large-scale applications or frequent updates, either due to limited accuracy of simple methods or lack of scalability (i.e., large computational requirements) for more sophisticated hydrodynamic models. This results in flood maps being decades out of date or simply nonexistent in some areas. Recent advances in generating flood maps have been made seemingly in parallel between geospatial methods and hydrodynamic models, such as the Height Above Nearest Drainage (HAND) method, hybrid 1D-2D hydrodynamic models and more efficient computing of 2D models. This study presents the Geospatially Augmented Standard Step (GASS) method, which combines a novel improvement to the HAND method, Dynamic Height Above Nearest Drainage (DHAND), with a 1D hydraulic model for rapid flood inundation mapping at large scales while maintaining the accuracy of hydrodynamic models. This method is implemented into a new modelling software package called Blackbird, and is benchmarked in two case studies, including a verification of the code and a benchmark test comparing multiple approaches in the ability to approximate 2D model results. The Blackbird model vastly outperforms the simpler HAND-Manning method and also outperforms a traditional HEC-RAS 1D model when evaluated for accuracy of approximating a 2D model benchmark. This new method is shown to reduce the incidence of falsely predicting flooded areas through improved resolution of landscape connections over HAND-based or 1D hydraulic models. Blackbird also streamlines the model development effort relative to existing 1D or 2D models while maintaining a computational speed that was 10, 000 times less than a comparable 2D model in one case study. The method also allows for future integration of hydraulic structures, ice jams and other features that are unavailable in HAND-based models. Overall, the GASS method provides a viable option for large-scale and real-time fluvial flood mapping applications.