Surface stacking the is art of using multiple flood surfaces concurrently to tell a story.
Simply, a stacked surface is one or more surfaces displayed, in order, and treated as though they are a single surface.
For example, a stacked surface may simply consist of the peak water levels for all design floods (eg 5yr through to PMF as shown below).
It provides the capability to understand and visualise the full range of flooding across a catchment in a single view.
The clear benefit of a stacked surface over multiple GIS polygons is that with a surface, the value of the stacked parameter can be interrogated.
Simple Stacked Surface - Flood Extents From 5yr to PMF
Where things become interesting is that the rules for stacking a surface can be defined by any parameter available in each surface exceeding a threshold value.
For example, you could look to define areas where hazards are quite high by stacking against a VxD value of > 1.0, as shown in the image below.
Stacked Surface Using VxD > 1.0
The end result is an image showing the most frequent flood that meets the specified threshold.
In the above image, the floodplain is exposed to the high VxD values for the PMF and 100yr, whilst in the more frequent events high VxD values are confined to the channel.
This tool is similar to the Statistical Analysis tool, although it does not interpolate between surfaces, providing a means of comprehending the impacts of multiple "as modelled" outputs in a single graphic.
It also operates on any surface which could be used to assess the impacts of various flood mitigation options for a given probability in a way that might be too cumbersome to do with multiple differences maps (eg 5 mitigation scenarios alongside the base case).
This stacked surfaces tool was released with waterRIDE 10.99.
Those with active annual maintenance plans should receive an email with download links for the latest release of waterRIDE.
Release notes are available at: https://waterride.net/Resources-VersionHistory.html
Hosted waterRIDE CLOUD users have already been upgraded to this version.
If you have not received an email but believe your maintenance plan is active, please contact us.
The next lot of group training for 2024 is on in the second half of June.
Continuing with inobtrusive half-day sessions spread over 2 weeks, the sessions provide an excellent way for new users to quickly come up to speed, and for experienced users to extend their skillsets.
Please register early as places are limited 18th - 27th June, 2024
• Viewer - 18th
• Essentials - 19th
• Flood Intelligence - 20th
• Working with Model Data - 25th
• waterRIDE in the Enterprise - 26th
• Automated Flood Certificates - 27th
To register or view session outlines/content, please head to our training page.
We will be hosting a waterRIDE booth at the upcoming Floodplain Management Australia conference in Brisbane in just under 2 weeks.
Please feel free to drop by for a chat, grab some in person support, find out about waterRIDE 11, or play with interactive projects we've cooked up.
We look forward to catching up with you at the conference.