Tracing and visualisation of contributing water sources in a model of flood inundation

Abstract

We describe the formulation of a simple method of water source tracing for computational models of flood inundation and demonstrate its implementation within CAESAR-Lisflood. Water source tracing can provide additional insight into flood dynamics by accounting for flow pathways. The method developed is independent of the hydraulic formulation used, allowing it to be implemented in other model codes. In addition, we developed a method which allows up to three water sources to be visualised in RGB colour-space, while continuing to allow depth to be resolved. We show the application of the methods developed for the 2005 flood event at Carlisle, United Kingdom.