Dr Yun Chen of CSIRO Land and Water

Abstract: This seminar presents a simple but efficient model that integrates time series daily flow data and the Landsat-derived Water Observation from Space (WOfS) dataset from Digital Earth Australia (DEA) to map the spatio-temporal flood inundation dynamics of the Murray-Darling Basin. A zone-gauge framework is adopted in order to reduce the hydrologic complexity of the large river basin. Under this framework, flood frequency analysis was conducted at each gauge station to identify historical peak flows and their annual exceedance probabilities. The results were then linked with the WOfS dataset through date to model the inundation probability in each zone. Inundation
frequency was derived by simply overlaying the yearly inundation extent from 1988 to 2015 and counting the inundation times. Both the resultant inundation frequency map and inundation probability map are of ecological significance for the survival and prosperity of riparian ecosystems. The assumptions of the model were validated carefully to enhance its theoretical basis. The WOfS dataset was also compared with another independent water observation dataset to cross-validate its reliability. With the development of more and more global high-resolution
surface water datasets, this work could inspire future studies that integrate surface water datasets with hydrological observations for flood inundation modelling.

Biography:

Dr Yun Chen is a Principal Research Scientist at CSIRO. She develops frameworks and methodologies for integrating multi-spatial, multi-temporal and multiscale data and models with trans-disciplinary knowledge to inform decision-making on the sustainable management of land and water resource and environment. She holds a PhD in GIS and Remote Sensing from the University of New South Wales, Australia. She has been working in the field of the Spatial Sciences for 10 years in China and over 20 years in Australia. Her research has been across a broad spectrum of Geoinformatics which incorporates big data, cutting-edge technology and computational models/platforms at various spatiotemporal scales with multidisciplinary knowledge in fields as diverse as water, landscape, urban, agriculture and ecosystems. Her current
research interests are remote-sensing based flood/drought modelling and multicriteria-decision-making based spatial vulnerability/risk assessment for sustainable development/hazard management under climate extremes. She has been invited to present several keynotes at UNESCO and international conferences. She has received several awards from CSIRO, including Julius Career Awards (2020), Impact from Science Award (2016), Strategic Excellence Award (2007) and Service from Science Award (2005). Her most recent publications since 2010 include over 100 SCI journal articles, with several being listed as top cited articles by the journals and top 1% in Geosciences, Computer Science and Environmental Sciences by Web of Science.

Address:CSIRO Land and Water, , Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia