Science · 6 pages · 12 min
Why wetlands slow a flood
Wetlands spread floodwater, store some of it, and release it more slowly than a bare channel.
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From the opening
Wetlands slow a flood by spreading water out, holding some of it for a while, and making it travel through plants and uneven ground instead of a smooth channel. The peak downstream can be lower and later because part of the flow was stored and resisted. The opening covers storage on a wide shallow surface, roughness that stretches the release, and why a full wetland adds little.
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Inside
- Storage on a wide shallow surface
- Roughness that stretches the release
- Why a full wetland adds little
- Floodplain forest as storage too
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Flood-wave attenuation by wetland storage
- Roughness and temporary storage on floodplains