Author Results: C A.M.E Wilson
BackField-based monitoring of instream leaky barrier backwater and storage during storm events
Engineered leaky barriers are increasingly used as natural flood management methods providing ecosystem and water quality benefits in addition to flood attenuation, complementing hard engineering flood defences. Fieldbased monitoring of a natural flood management site, Wilde Brook in the Corvedale catchment, England (UK) studied the rainfall-runoff relationship for a 5.36 km reach with 105 leaky barriers over two years. Paired pressure transducers were placed upstream and downstream of three channel spanning leaky barriers, allowing evaluation of upstream backwater rise relative to rainfall intensity, storm magnitude, and frequency. By increasing backwater rise, the leaky barriers caused overbank flows, resulting in a reduction in the crosssectional area velocity after the event. The incidence of overbank flow depended on the local stream crosssectional profile, barrier properties, location in the reach, and storm magnitude.