NSERC Canadian Floodnet

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In Canada, floods are recognized as the most common, largely distributed natural hazard to life, property, economy, community/industry water systems, and the environment. The main objective of the proposed NSERC Canadian FloodNet is to create a vehicle for a concerted nation-wide effort to improve knowledge on flood processes and their impacts, and enhance flood forecasting and management capacity in Canada. This is a particularly challenging task because of the large diversity of geographical and hydro-climatic conditions in Canada, but feasible through the creation of a structured research network that brings together scientists/experts, users/operational forecasters, and the private sector to tackle the complex and fundamental research questions and the technological gaps that need to be addressed in order to significantly enhance flood forecasting and management in Canada. NSERC Strategic Network facilitating collaborative work between universities, federal/provincial agencies and private sector, is the best approach to optimize resources and expertise to address the growing issue of floods in Canada. Some of the key research tasks include (i) Analyzing and characterizing extreme events (floods and storms) across Canada; (ii) Quantifying and reducing predictive uncertainty of floods; (iii) Developing an advanced flood alert system for Canada; (iv) Assessing physical, socio-economic, and environmental impacts of floods to enhance flood management policies in Canada. Currently, no advanced flood alert system similar to the one in Europe (European Flood Awareness System) or in the US (Advanced Hydrologic Prediction System) is available for operational use in Canada. FloodNet will fill this gap by pooling together resources and best expertise from academia and industry to develop the Canadian advanced flood alert system. The direct benefits of enhanced flood forecasts and management are tremendous and include the reduced cost of damages, the protection of people and livestock, the reduction of socio-economic impacts and human distress, and the protection of community water systems and the environment.