Characterizing the 2020 summer floods in South China and effects on croplands
Xi Chen,
Jinwei Dong,
Lin Huang,
Lajiao Chen,
Zhichao Li,
Nanshan You,
Mrinal Singha,
Fulu Tao
Affiliations
Xi Chen
Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Jinwei Dong
Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; Corresponding author
Lin Huang
Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Lajiao Chen
Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China
Zhichao Li
Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Nanshan You
Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Mrinal Singha
Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Fulu Tao
Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), 00790 Helsinki, Finland
Summary: Floods occur more frequently in the context of climate change; however, flood monitoring capacity has not been well established. Here, we used a synergic mapping framework to characterize summer floods in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Plain and the effects on croplands in 2020, from both flood extent and intensity perspectives. We found that the total flood extent was 4936 km2 from July to August, and for flood intensity, 1658, 1382, and 1896 km2 of areas experienced triple, double, and single floods. A total of 2282 km2 croplands (46% of the flooded area) were inundated mainly from Poyang and Dongting Lake Basins, containing a high ratio of moderate damage croplands (47%). The newly increased flooding extent in 2020 was 29% larger than the maximum ever-flooded extent in 2015–2019. This study is expected to provide a reference for rapid regional flood disaster assessment and serving mitigation.
