University Of New South Wales

How does the vegetation surface type affect the amount of runoff? Speculate why this happens.

|collapsed in the Buffalo Creek Valley. Over 130 million gallons of water and waste material devastated Buffalo Creek's sixteen |

During the Autumn/Winter of 2013/14, an unusually high frequency of depressions moved across the Somerset Levels, causing both fluvial and pluvial flooding on a prodigious scale. The two main rivers which flow through the Levels (River Tone/Parrett), burst their banks, spilling into the already heavily saturated flood plain. An emergency was declared and subsequently allowed the Somerset council to request financial and physical aid to the region. This essay highlights the key reasons the Somerset Levels flooded, as well evaluating the main management solutions that were put forward during the peak of the flooding.

In the Queensland floods of 2010-11 they were caused by a rare combination of events. The

The Queensland floods were a devastating natural disaster which occurred mainly in Brisbane and surrounding areas from 2010 around mid december to early 2011 in January. The Queensland floods lasted for around 1 month and created a lot of damage leaving many people with nothing including no home and nowhere to go. Many areas were affected but the main areas were those around the banks of the Burnett River as well as the Fitzroy river. Unfortunately as time moved on the flood spread to many neighbouring cities affecting hundreds of thousands of people. A flood is “an overflow of a large amount of water beyond its normal limits, especially over what is normally dry land”, therefore being classified as hydrochloric process being part of the branch

Brisbane was not new to flooding, as the banks had broken before in 1974. The main cause this time around was Cyclone Tasha, a tropical storm which hit the area, combined with the La Niña, a phenomenon where wet weather comes to Australia every year. There was a sharp increase in rainfall, heavier than any year since 1973, and by December 2010 the weather was the wettest on record. The average rainfall was measured at 8.25 inches. Climate change was also blamed, as the temperature of the ocean surrounding Australia was said to have risen by half a degree, producing more vapour.

The loss of freshwater comes from The Basin’s flow level it is dangerously reduced by extreme and persistent drought conditions. The hand of man makes these conditions much worse. The major upstream tributaries

Professor Pisces' recently published research paper 'The hydrology of flood plains: a Victorian example' detailed six months of computer modelling that had resulted in a conclusion that the concreting of the lower reaches of the Newstown River would not entirely remove the risk of flooding upstream.This concreting project, funded by the state government.

Across England there has been eight flood warnings which is also to be expected very high water level at the River Ouse in Northern Yorkshire and the Severn at Shrewsbury, however there are fifty flood alerts been placed. In Wales, the M48 Severn Bridge was closed for many hours due to an overturning lorry which was caused by Storm Gertrude. 80mph winds have been recorded in Wales and seven flood alerts have been placed, meaning flooding is possible in areas of

The weather on the day the data was collected was less than desirable. There were areas of the river that had flooded due to heavy rainfall overnight. An increase in the amount of water in the river could influence the data and skew the results. In addition, this is an El Niño year meaning there have been record breaking amounts of rainfall. So, data collected in a year like this may not be applicable to other years where the river levels are lower.

Unusually heavy, prolonged, and sometimes torrential rains fell over northeastern Australia for several months in late 2010 and early 2011, the result of a combination of factors. Spring rains that began in September segued into an extremely wet November and December, when the seasonal wet monsoon coincided with an

In January 2011, the Queensland town of Toowoomba experienced flash flooding leading to the death of several people and large damage. The flood waters surged through the city centre as an “inland tsunami”. Describe the cause and developments of the flash flooding event and critically review Toowoomba’s urban hydraulic structures at the time of the flood event. Use a maximum of 400 words for your answer (excluding Figures) (3 marks)

Runoff is defined as excess water that soil does not absorb after a storm. Runoff collects various particles on its way downhill, such as pesticides and nutrients, from the surrounding area, and moves them into the nearby bodies of water. Some nutrients carried by runoff include: nitrate, ammonium, and phosphate; all of which are found in golf course turf fertilizer (experiment). When these excess chemicals enter the water, they create an imbalance in the ecosystem. This imbalance can be harmful to inhabitants both in, and around the body of water. Those affected in the water may be subjected to a decrease in dissolved oxygen levels, making it harder for the animals to breath. The levels of acidity in the water may increase, causing

Runoff comes from many places such as snow, rain, glaciers, and any human activity. Enormous amounts of precipitation in areas where the ground cannot absorb any excess

This image highlights that some regions in Sydney were suffering the flooding after the low pressure system swept down the east coast, Queensland, NSW, the ACT and Tasmania. Also the heavy raining and pale force wind leads numerous trees came down over the roads in Sydney. This circumstance has long-term impacts to the environment and the agriculture. Flooding in key agricultural production areas can lead to widespread damage to crops and fencing and loss of livestock. However, flooding has both negative and positive impacts. Positive impact is to increase fish production and recharge ground water. The negative impacts flooding leads too much sediment and nutrient, destroy habitat and impact the water