Assessing climate change impacts on extreme rainfall and severe flooding during the summer monsoon season in the Ishikari River basin, Japan

Abstract

This study investigates the change in extreme rainfall and river flooding for a large river basin due to climate change during the summer monsoon using a large ensemble dataset (d4PDF) coupled with the Integrated Flood Analysis System (IFAS). Frequent severe flooding causes significant damage in Japan. Therefore, we aim to provide useful information to mitigate flood damage. The study area is the Ishikari River basin (IRB) in Hokkaido, Japan. We used the d4PDF 5-km downscaled rainfall data as input for the IFAS model. The results showed that, for a given increase in extreme rainfall, the discharges from the IRB and its main sub-basins increase to a greater extent. The differences between the time of peak discharge at the reference stations in each tributary and the time of peak water level at the confluence points in the main river are evaluated. Climate change effects are significant in the southern sub-basins, wherein the amount of extreme rainfall increases by 29%–35%, whereas the river discharge increases drastically (37%–56%). Additionally, the time difference decreases by 1.02–2.14 h. These findings will help policymakers develop future flood control measures in flood-prone areas.