OxTalks will soon move to the new Halo platform and will become 'Oxford Events.' There will be a need for an OxTalks freeze. This was previously planned for Friday 14th November – a new date will be shared as soon as it is available (full details will be available on the Staff Gateway).
In the meantime, the OxTalks site will remain active and events will continue to be published.
If staff have any questions about the Oxford Events launch, please contact halo@digital.ox.ac.uk
Surface water (or pluvial) flooding occurs when intense rainfall overwhelms drainage systems before entering rivers. With climate change and growing urban populations increasing the risk of such events, improving resilience to surface water flooding (SWF) is crucial. It is not possible to prevent all SWF therefore reliable and timely warnings are essential to support preparedness and recovery. SWF presents a unique challenge due to the high uncertainties around predicting and communicating the location, timing, and impact of localised events. In the UK responsible organisations are currently seeking to take bolder leadership in developing SWF forecasting and warning capabilities resulting in a number of recent initiatives. This talk will report on two of them:
1. Priority areas for research and development in SWF warning as identified during a workshop co-convened with the Environment Agency in January 2024 and attended by forecasters, responders, academics, and consultants.
2. Experiences from collaboration with the UK Met Office, Flood Forecasting Centre and University of Leeds to develop and test new approaches to SWF forecasting.
