bank erosion
The erosion of material from the side of a river channel. Hooke (1979) J. Hydrology 42 identifies corrasion and slumping as the major processes, and these appear to be associated with river flow ...
bankfull flow
Maximum amount of discharge (usually measured in m3/s) that a stream channel can carry without overflowing. Its frequency of occurrence varies between streams, from a few times each year to once ...
flash flood
A brief but powerful surge of water either over a surface (‘sheet flood’) or down a normally dry stream channel (‘stream flood’). Usually it is caused by heavy convectional rainfall of short ...
flood frequency analysis
Analysis of hydrograph records of river flow to determine the flood frequency at a particular location within a river system, based on either the annual maximum series or the partial duration series.
floodplain
The part of a river valley that is made of unconsolidated river-borne sediment, and periodically flooded. It is built up of relatively coarse debris left behind as a stream channel migrates ...
jökulhlaup
‘A “catastrophic” flood, often generated by an ice-dammed lake outburst’, for example the volcanic eruption and concomitant catastrophic flooding from Grímsvötn, Iceland, in November 1996 (Tweed and ...
levée
1 Raised embankment of a river, showing a gentle slope away from the channel. It results from periodic overbank flooding, when coarser sediment is immediately deposited due to a reduction in ...
playa
A dry, flat‐floored lake bed in a desert, which may flood from time to time, during ephemeral flows after storms. Many playas have a white, crusty layer of salts, formed by salinization.
Satellite Instrumentation and Imagery
It was not until astronauts on the way to the Moon in 1968 looked back and saw the Earth as a “big blue marble” that humans first literally viewed the ...
