Disentangling the Sources of Uncertainties in the Projection of Flood Risk Across the Central United States (Iowa)

We explore the projected changes in flood impacts across Iowa (central United States) and the associated uncertainties by forcing a hydrologic model with downscaled global climate model outputs and four Shared Socioeconomic Pathways. Our results point to projected increasing magnitude and variability in flooding across the state, especially for high-emission scenarios. Next, we partition the flood impacts' projections into: (a) the response of the global climate models to anthropogenic forcing, (b) scenario uncertainty due to emissions, and (c) internal climate variability. We find scenario uncertainty plays a small role, while climate model uncertainty and internal climate variability dominate the flood impacts' projections, with the contribution of model uncertainty increasing toward the end of this century. Insights from our work can be utilized by stakeholders to understand the current limitations of flood impact projections and provide suggestions about where modelers should focus efforts to reduce uncertainty. This study looks at how climate change is projected to affect floods in Iowa (central United States). The results suggest that flooding is projected to worsen and become more unpredictable, especially with higher greenhouse gas emissions. The main sources of uncertainty in these projections are the differences in climate models' response to forcings and natural climate variability. Understanding these uncertainties can help improve future climate change assessments for flood risk stakeholders such as agencies working toward climate adaptation and water management and improve related risk assessments and planning analysis. Climate models producing larger increases in flood peak magnitude typically produce larger changes in varianceClimate model uncertainty is dominant in the early 21st century, while internal climate variability dominates the later part of the 21st centuryUncertainty in flood peaks directly translates to flood risk across Iowa

Automated summary

This study explores the projected changes in flood impacts in Iowa, central United States, and examines the associated uncertainties. The results suggest that flooding is expected to increase in magnitude and variability, particularly under high-emission scenarios. Uncertainty in climate models and internal climate variability dominate the projections of flood impacts, with the contribution of model uncertainty increasing towards the end of the century. Stakeholders can utilize these insights to understand the current limitations of flood impact projections and provide suggestions for reducing uncertainty.