Hydrology BC ENV 3025
The Mississippi flood of 1993
- the Mississippi River (Fig)
is the sixth largest river in the world in terms of discharge, with a
freshwater
discharge onto the continental shelf of 580 km3 yr-1
- it is 2,320 miles (3712 km) long and drains 41% of the land area
of the
continental United States
History
- satellite pictures of the river at Glasgow, Missouri (The
Great Flood of 1993)
- flood of 1993 in the upper Mississippi River Basin was an
unprecedented
hydrometeorological event
- in June and July (and somewhat into the fall) of that year, the
Mississippi
River basin in the midwestern United States experienced anomalously
high
rainfall which produced record flooding.
- the cause of the high precipitation was a persistent atmospheric
weather
pattern consisting of a quasi-stationary jet stream positioned over the
central part of the nation. As a result, moist air flowing north from
the
Gulf of Mexico converged with unseasonably cool, dry air moving south
from
Canada
- in June and July, close to 14 inches of precipitation (averaged
over
the
upper Mississippi River Basin) was observed, significantly higher than
average (approximately 8 inches)
- the fall of 1992 and spring of 1993 were already quite wet as
well,
subsurface
was saturated
- at 45 USGS stations, the discharge rate exceeded the 100 year
flood
value
- flood lasted very long, many areas stayed flooded for weeks!
- estimates of total damages in the Midwest from weather events
during
1993
range between
$12 and $16 billion
- Over half of these were agricultural damages,
with the remaining
being
primarily to residences, businesses, public facilities, or
transportation
- 100,000 home were damaged, 50% of those due to groundwater or
sewer
backup
- thirty-eight deaths were attributed directly to the flood
- warm, nutrient rich water resulted in hypoxic conditions in the
Gulf of
Mexico
- many levees broke, as evident in the satellite pictures
The Mississippi River at St. Louis, Missouri
- location of St. Louis in the upper Mississippi
River
Basin
(Fig)
- discharge of the Mississippi at St Louis,
1934-94
(Fig), discharge in 1993 (Fig)
- Mississippi satellite images of the St
Louis
area
(Fig)(Fig)
- Student excercise: Flood
prediction
for the
Mississippi:
- download the data annual peak discharge
data of the
Mississippi at St Louis (Mississippi
River
At
St Louis Mo)
and convert the data into an EXCEL spreadsheet.
- determine minimum and maximum of the
annual
peak
discharge rate and make a histogram
- the data are skewed and are not
normally
distributed
- calculate the natural logarithm of the
annual peak
discharge and determine the basic statistics of those data (MIN,MAX,
AVERAGE,
STDEV)
- make a histogram of those data as well
- what is the discharge rate equivalent
to
the 100
year flood (P=0.01)? Use the NORMINV function to determine this value,
do not forget to reverse the transformation by using the EXP function
- do the same for the 1000 year flood
- how does the 1993 flood compare to
these
discharge
rates?
- what is the recurrence interval of the
1993
flood
at St. Louis? Use the NORMDIST function
- perform the calcluation for the 100 y
flood
again,
this time using a period of only 20 years from anywhere in the
record
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