Blanket Peat Restoration: Numerical Study of the Underlying Processes Delivering Natural Flood Management Benefits

Restoration of eroded blanket peatlands through revegetation and gully blocking is observed to also deliver significant natural flood management (NFM) benefits (reduce delay floodpeaks). But there a lack clear understanding regarding how different catchment processes interact/counteract under each intervention scenario. We seek provide more insight by rigorously calibrating TOPMODEL rainfall-runoff model experimental catchments representing an Through numerical experimentation with the calibrated parameters, we estimate impact-magnitude processes. Our findings confirm NFM these restoration-focused interventions. In both interventions in our largest storms, reduced floodpeaks are primarily due surface roughness reducing floodwave speed thus thickening overland flow; conceptualize this as increase “kinematic storage.” Impact increasing kinematic storage very comparable that alone. Interventions' impact on “static storage” (interception + ponding evapotranspiration) becomes important for smaller storms. Although always lag times, they can be less effective peak magnitude when maximum rainfall intensity sustained durations longer than mean delay. propose two approaches further catchment's static storage. Finally, while field-scale study contributes evidence-base NFM's effectiveness, it provides basis modeling future. Such catchment-scale studies necessary extend spatial scales where flooding cause socioeconomic damage, tool optimizing distributed configuration