Response of Floods to the Underlying Surface Changes in the Taojiang River Basin Using the Hydrologic Engineering Center’s Hydrologic Modeling System

Abstract

Due to underlying surface changes (USCs), the changes in the Taojiang River Basin’s flood generation conditions could impact the flooding process in the basin. However, most studies have typically focused on either land-use changes (LUCs) or soil and water conservation measures (SWCMs) to assess the impact of the USCs on floods, which may not provide a more comprehensive understanding of the response of floods to the USCs. To investigate how the USCs have altered the floods in the Taojiang River Basin, located upstream of Poyang Lake, China, the HEC-HMS model, which incorporates the influence of the USCs into the parameter calibration, is established in this study to investigate the flood processes on an hourly scale. The flood peak and the maximum 72 h flood volume are selected as two indexes and are applied to analyze the changes in floods caused by the USCs. The 1981–2020 period is divided into three sub-periods (i.e., 1981–1992, 1993–2007, and 2008–2020) based on the conditions of the USCs. It is found that the two indexes have exhibited decreasing trends, mainly due to the USCs during 1981–2020. Benchmarked against the baseline period of 1981–1992, the two indexes decreased by 3.06% (the flood peak) and 4.00% (the maximum 72 h flood volume) during 1993–2007 and by 5.92% and 7.58% during 2008–2020. Moreover, the impacts of the LUCs and SWCMs are separated through parameter adjustments in the model, revealing that the SWCMs played a dominant role in the USCs in the Taojiang River Basin. The quantification and assessment of the impact of the USCs on floods of different magnitudes revealed that the influence decreases with increasing flood magnitude. The results of this study improve our understanding of how USCs affect the flooding process and therefore provide support for flood control management under changing environments.