CAREER: Characteristics of Rain-on-Snow Flooding in the Midwest

About This Grant

Rain falling on snow, known as rain-on-snow (ROS), can cause rapid snowmelt, which often leads to exceptional runoff causing flooding and destruction in the communities impacted. Due to their effects, ROS events are recognized as one of the 23 unsolved problems in hydrology. In the Midwest, the effects of ROS is significantly underexplored. In this research, the investigator will carry out a comprehensive assessment of rain-on-snow flood risk in the U.S. Midwest. They will use machine learning and other methods to investigate the factors that control ROS events, their characteristics, and how they vary in space and time. The investigator will integrate the research with Indigenous knowledge and education to create ROS education curricula, and address water issues in Nebraska and the Midwest. The scientists will produce readily available educational resources, and useful, interpretable ROS flood information for local communities. The outcomes will fill a gap in knowledge and generate information that will be relevant to other regions. In addition to the significant benefit to society in contributing to solutions that will improve flood resilience, save lives and mitigate costly damages, this researcher will train and mentor undergraduate and graduate students in research at the Nebraska Indian Community College and University of Nebraska. ROS flooding is significantly underexplored in the Midwest. To advance the fundamental understanding of these events in the region, this NSF CAREER project will conduct a comprehensive assessment of ROS structured around three research objectives closely tied to three educational objectives. First, estimate ROS flood risk in the Midwest by investigating its natural and anthropogenic drivers and integrating hazard, exposure, vulnerability, and response dimensions. Second, investigate how Midwest ROS events are teleconnected to large-scale climatic oscillations and how they relate to flood characteristics in the region. And third, research the intersection of climate and ROS flood risk. The research analyses will leverage data from different sources and employ machine learning, causal analysis, and land surface modeling. The education goals include creating ROS flood education curricula that incorporates Indigenous knowledge and promotes an understanding of water-related problems in the Midwest. In addition, the investigator will organize workshops and create Open Educational Resources to make ROS flood education more accessible and readily available to communities. Finally, the team will design and develop outreach activities to make ROS flood information more useful and interpretable for community leaders and city managers and foster a two-way interactions and sharing of ideas, between communities and the scientist to advance understanding of water challenges in the region. The researcher will also provide research mentoring opportunities and training to local community college students, and student at the University of Nebraska. This project is jointly funded by the Hydrologic Sciences program, and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.