RESEARCH ON THE USES OF POTENTIAL STORAGE CURVES TO IDENTIFY BIG FLOOD PATTERN ON THE RED RIVER BASIN

Abstract

In the Red River basin, small and medium rain events are mostly involved in forming water storage in the basin but could not generate flood. This process forms the potential water storage curve of the basin. The curve will have an increasing trend from June to Aug and then decreasing which creates an annual border between extreme flood and nomal flood events. Flood pattern in upstream Red River could be preliminarily identified based on the basin’s water storage curve combined with the the sufficient weather condition causing heavy rainfall in the Northern areas. The availability of flood prediction plays a key role for reservoir operation, managing disater risks, flood control on the Red River delta, increasing power generation and increasing the water level of reservoir for water use efficiency. The methodology adopted in this paper is suitable for big flood pattern indentification in main flood season, as well as the formulation of the causal relationship in terms of precipitation, water storge and weather pattern as input factors in the Red River during main flood season.