A Comprehensive Database of Flood Events in the Contiguous United States from 2002 to 2013

AbstractNotwithstanding the rich record of hydrometric observations compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) across the contiguous United States (CONUS), flood event catalogs are sparse and incomplete. Available databases or inventories are mostly survey- or report-based, impact oriented, or limited to flash floods. These data do not represent the full range of flood events occurring in CONUS in terms of geographical locations, severity, triggering weather, or basin morphometry. This study describes a comprehensive dataset consisting of more than half a million flood events extracted from 6,301 USGS flow records and radar-rainfall fields from 2002 to 2013, using the characteristic point method. The database features event duration; first- (mass center) and second- (spreading) order moments of both precipitation and flow, flow peak and percentile, event runoff coefficient, base flow, and information on the basin geomorphology. It can support flood modeling, geomorphological and geophysical impact stud...

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