The College of Engineering in partnership with CGRER and the CASE colloquium series presents a series of 4 webinars by world-renowned scientists who will explain the latest scientific findings, discuss measures to mitigate the impacts of climate change, adaptation to the effects on extreme weather, and natural systems, and ideas on engineering infrastructure for resilience in the face of change.

The third webinar in the series will be presented by Dr. Gabriele Villarini, Director of IIHR – Hydroscience and Engineering, and a leading climate scientist with expertise in hyrdrometeorology, extreme events, water resources, hurricanes, and climate predictions and projections. The topic for this third webinar is an important aspect of climate change that is related to precipitation patterns and flooding, and has immediate relevance to the state of Iowa. The title of the talk is: “Iowa’s Flood Future”

Abstract

During a 30-year period from 1989-2019, property and crop losses from flooding in Iowa cost nearly $20 billion. The Fourth National Climate Assessment predicts the annual cost of addressing flood-related climate change impacts on urban stormwater systems will exceed $500 million annually for the Midwest by the end of the century. Climate warming will continue to intensify extreme events, including heavy rainfall and flooding. 

This presentation will provide an overview of the IPCC AR6 report from the perspective of flooding; it will also highlight ongoing efforts to understand the major drivers responsible for the observed increases in the frequency of flood events across the Midwest and discuss the projected changes based on state-of-the-art science climate models.