Monitoring & modelling fluvial hydrogeomorphic response to leaky wooden dams

Leaky wooden dams are structures built from wood that are being increasingly installed into the headwaters of river catchments in the UK to mitigate flood risk. They increase channel roughness, slowing and storing water during high flows to reduce downstream flood risk. Through changing the hydrological regime, leaky dams influence both sediment transport and local geomorphology. This increases the local geomorphic diversity, however often when evaluating the impacts of leaky dams on flood risk, sediment transport processes are not simulated numerically due to high uncertainties and required computing power.

To address the lack of sediment transport in large-scale leaky dam numerical modelling, the project:

1. Monitored the impact on fluvial geomorphology of two leaky dams in a small reach. in prep
2. Incorporated a simple method for representing leaky wooden dams into the landscape evolution model CAESAR-Lisflood. Preprint available here.
3. Evaluated the impact of leaky dams on hydrology and geomorphology at reach and catchment scales in response to a future climate scenario. Paper in prep