Flooding and agent-based modeling (ABM)

When we talk about computer modeling, the language used is so tough to understand and full of jargons. If you are beginner, it’s almost impossible to get through it. This is what I felt when I tried to understand about hydrological modeling, in particular, flood modeling. The flooding events around the globe often come with message that the related information are not efficiently communicated during and after the event.

 

While discussing these issues I found one interesting paper about agent-based flood modeling by Dawson et. al. 2011 entitled “An agent based model for risk-based flood incident management” published in Natural Hazards. The more interesting stuff is this 4:19 minute long YouTube video which explains how this model works. To my knowledge this kind of video is not common explaining about how it works. If you are interested about the model itself, you can follow this link to Newcastle University page.

 

 

 

Full citation of paper: Dawson, R.J., Peppe, R. and Wang, M. 2011. An Agent-based Model for Risk-based Flood Incident Management. Natural Hazards, 59(1): 167-189



 

Report about 'The Arab Spring and Climate Change'

It is always interesting to learn about the connection between natural sciences and social sciences. And for me, it is even more exciting to learn the impact of the greatest challenge of human kind 'Climate Change' with historic political movement the 'Arab Spring' happened in the Arab world. In this connection, I found one report which tries to establish a link between the Arab Spring and Climate Change.

 

In 2012, Troy Sternberg, a scholar of Oxford University, published an article in Applied Geography Volume 34 (519-524) entitled “Chinese drought, bread and the Arab Spring” in which he argues that the Arab spring was a result of increased wheat price in the international market due to winter drought in eastern china which might be caused by climate change. 

 

 Photo: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/security/report/2013/02/28/54579/the-arab-spring-and-climate-change/

 

Another report published in February 2013 by Centre for American Progress and Centre for Climate and Security entitled “The Arab Spring and Climate Change: A Climate and Security Correlations Series” is a collection of five different articles in climate change, conflict, and economy that are edited by Caitlin E. Werrell and Francesco Femia. The report highlights Climate Change as a stressor  and indirectly argue that the Arab Spring was caused by Climate Change. In addition, the essays compiled in this report give a clear sense of relation between climate change in terms of record winter drought in China and its subsequent global wheat shortages, and civil unrest in Egypt stimulated by increased price of wheat in the market.