Private sensors and crowdsourced rainfall data: Accuracy and potential for modelling pluvial flooding in urban areas of Oslo, Norway

Cloudbursts and extreme rainstorms pose a growing threat to urban areas. Accurate rainfall data is essential for predicting inundations and urban flooding. Private weather stations are becoming increasingly common, and their spatial distribution roughly follows population density. This makes them a...

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Main Authors: Kay Khaing Kyaw, Emma Baietti, Cristian Lussana, Valerio Luzzi, Paolo Mazzoli, Stefano Bagli, Attilio Castellarin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-12-01
Series:Journal of Hydrology X
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S258991552400021X
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author Kay Khaing Kyaw
Emma Baietti
Cristian Lussana
Valerio Luzzi
Paolo Mazzoli
Stefano Bagli
Attilio Castellarin
author_facet Kay Khaing Kyaw
Emma Baietti
Cristian Lussana
Valerio Luzzi
Paolo Mazzoli
Stefano Bagli
Attilio Castellarin
author_sort Kay Khaing Kyaw
collection DOAJ
description Cloudbursts and extreme rainstorms pose a growing threat to urban areas. Accurate rainfall data is essential for predicting inundations and urban flooding. Private weather stations are becoming increasingly common, and their spatial distribution roughly follows population density. This makes them a valuable source of crowdsourced data for high-resolution rainfall fields in urban areas. We evaluated the performance of private rain gauges in two recent pluvial flood events in Oslo. We also explored the potential use of private rain gauge data in inundation models. Our results indicate that private sensors have excellent rain detection capabilities, but they tend to underestimate the reference value on average by approximately 25%. However, bias-corrected crowdsourced rainfall data can produce significantly more accurate inundation maps than those generated from official rain gauges, if compared with maps resulting from bias-corrected weather radar. Overall, our study highlights the potential of utilizing crowdsourced rainfall data from private sensors for accurately representing pluvial flooding in urban areas. These findings have significant implications for improving flood prediction and mitigation strategies in vulnerable urban settings.
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institution Kabale University
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publishDate 2024-12-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Journal of Hydrology X
spelling doaj-art-c918f8a012694f6b9c3d5b0494bf254f2024-11-23T06:31:32ZengElsevierJournal of Hydrology X2589-91552024-12-0125100191Private sensors and crowdsourced rainfall data: Accuracy and potential for modelling pluvial flooding in urban areas of Oslo, NorwayKay Khaing Kyaw0Emma Baietti1Cristian Lussana2Valerio Luzzi3Paolo Mazzoli4Stefano Bagli5Attilio Castellarin6Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering, University of Bologna, Italy; Corresponding author.Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering, University of Bologna, ItalyNorwegian Meteorological Institute, Oslo, NorwayGECOsistema Srl, 47923 Rimini, ItalyGECOsistema Srl, 47923 Rimini, ItalyGECOsistema Srl, 47923 Rimini, ItalyDepartment of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering, University of Bologna, ItalyCloudbursts and extreme rainstorms pose a growing threat to urban areas. Accurate rainfall data is essential for predicting inundations and urban flooding. Private weather stations are becoming increasingly common, and their spatial distribution roughly follows population density. This makes them a valuable source of crowdsourced data for high-resolution rainfall fields in urban areas. We evaluated the performance of private rain gauges in two recent pluvial flood events in Oslo. We also explored the potential use of private rain gauge data in inundation models. Our results indicate that private sensors have excellent rain detection capabilities, but they tend to underestimate the reference value on average by approximately 25%. However, bias-corrected crowdsourced rainfall data can produce significantly more accurate inundation maps than those generated from official rain gauges, if compared with maps resulting from bias-corrected weather radar. Overall, our study highlights the potential of utilizing crowdsourced rainfall data from private sensors for accurately representing pluvial flooding in urban areas. These findings have significant implications for improving flood prediction and mitigation strategies in vulnerable urban settings.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S258991552400021XCrowdsourcingInundation modelsOfficial rain gaugesPluvial floodingPrivate sensorsWeather radar
spellingShingle Kay Khaing Kyaw
Emma Baietti
Cristian Lussana
Valerio Luzzi
Paolo Mazzoli
Stefano Bagli
Attilio Castellarin
Private sensors and crowdsourced rainfall data: Accuracy and potential for modelling pluvial flooding in urban areas of Oslo, Norway
Journal of Hydrology X
Crowdsourcing
Inundation models
Official rain gauges
Pluvial flooding
Private sensors
Weather radar
title Private sensors and crowdsourced rainfall data: Accuracy and potential for modelling pluvial flooding in urban areas of Oslo, Norway
title_full Private sensors and crowdsourced rainfall data: Accuracy and potential for modelling pluvial flooding in urban areas of Oslo, Norway
title_fullStr Private sensors and crowdsourced rainfall data: Accuracy and potential for modelling pluvial flooding in urban areas of Oslo, Norway
title_full_unstemmed Private sensors and crowdsourced rainfall data: Accuracy and potential for modelling pluvial flooding in urban areas of Oslo, Norway
title_short Private sensors and crowdsourced rainfall data: Accuracy and potential for modelling pluvial flooding in urban areas of Oslo, Norway
title_sort private sensors and crowdsourced rainfall data accuracy and potential for modelling pluvial flooding in urban areas of oslo norway
topic Crowdsourcing
Inundation models
Official rain gauges
Pluvial flooding
Private sensors
Weather radar
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S258991552400021X
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