Q-NFM: Quantifying the likely magnitude of nature-based flood mitigation effects across large catchments
Q-NFM investigators: Nick Chappell (lead), Keith Beven, John Quinton, Rob Lamb, Barry Hankin, Phil Haygarth, Trev Page, Ann Kretzschmar and Gareth McShane (Lancaster University), Steve Rose (JBA subcontract), David Johnson (Rivers Trust subcontract).
Focus on: Three large Cumbrian catchments of the Kent, Derwent and Eden, but with experimental work elsewhere in the UK.
NFM measures: including agricultural interventions such as sward lifting and leaky bunds, hedgerow and wall restoration, leaky dams in peatland gullies and headwater channels, tree planting and floodplain reconnection
Our focus is on the quantification of the likely effectiveness of NFM measures for mitigating flood risk at small to large catchment scales. We are addressing gaps in the evidence on how individual NFM measures work and the reductions in peakflow for communities at risk of flooding.
We will also consider the non-optimal performance and failure of NFM measures.
We are developing our computer modelling approaches to constrain the uncertainties in streamflow predictions arising from model structure uncertainty, uncertainty in rainfall and streamflow observations and in the magnitude of change in component catchment characteristics delivered by NFM interventions.
Throughout the project we will work closely with our 17 partner organisations that are delivering NFM interventions, drawing on their expertise and experience.
For more, see the Q-NFM website.
Twitter: @NERC_QNFM