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| Titel |
SMAP observes flooding from land to sea: The Texas event of 2015 |
| VerfasserIn |
Severine Fournier, John Reager, Tong Lee, Jorge Vazquez-Cuervo, Cedric David, Michelle Gierach |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2017
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
en
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 19 (2017) |
| Datensatznummer |
250154326
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2017-19407.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Floods can have damaging impacts on both land and sea, yet studies of flooding events tend to focus on only one side of the land/sea continuum. Here we present the first two-sided analysis, focusing on the May 2015 severe flood in Texas. Our investigation benefits from simultaneous measurements of land-surface soil moisture and sea surface salinity from NASA’s recent Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission as well as ancillary data. We report the comprehensive chronology of the flood event: above average rainfall preceding the flood caused soils to saturate; record rainfall then generated record river discharge; subsequently, an unusual freshwater plume associated with anomalous ocean currents formed in the north-central Gulf of Mexico. Together with the Mississippi River plume further east, the Texas plume created a rare “horseshoe” pattern that have potential biogeochemical implications. Such integrated land/sea analysis of flood evolution can improve impact assessments of future extreme flooding events. |
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