Interpretable flash flood susceptibility mapping in Yarlung Tsangpo River Basin using H2O Auto-ML

Abstract Flash flood susceptibility mapping is essential for identifying areas prone to flooding events and aiding decision-makers in formulating effective prevention measures. This study aims to evaluate the flash flood susceptibility in the Yarlung Tsangpo River Basin (YTRB) using multiple machine...

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Main Authors: Fei He, Suxia Liu, Xingguo Mo, Zhonggen Wang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-01-01
Series:Scientific Reports
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-84655-y
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author Fei He
Suxia Liu
Xingguo Mo
Zhonggen Wang
author_facet Fei He
Suxia Liu
Xingguo Mo
Zhonggen Wang
author_sort Fei He
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Flash flood susceptibility mapping is essential for identifying areas prone to flooding events and aiding decision-makers in formulating effective prevention measures. This study aims to evaluate the flash flood susceptibility in the Yarlung Tsangpo River Basin (YTRB) using multiple machine learning (ML) models facilitated by the H2O automated ML platform. The best-performing model was used to generate a flash flood susceptibility map, and its interpretability was analyzed using the Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) tree interpretation method. The results revealed that the top four models, including both single and ensemble models, demonstrated high accuracy in the tests. The flash flood susceptibility map generated by the best-performing eXtreme Randomized Trees (XRT) model showed that 8.92%, 12.95%, 15.42%, 31.34%, and 31.37% of the study area exhibited very high, high, moderate, low, and very low flash flood susceptibility, respectively, with approximately 74.9% of the historical flash floods occurring in areas classified as moderate to very high susceptibility. The SHAP plot identified topographic factors as the primary drivers of flash floods, with the importance analysis ranking the most influential factors in such descending order as DEM, topographic wetness index, topographic position index, normalized difference vegetation index, and average multi-year precipitation. This study demonstrates the benefits of interpretable machine learning, which can provide guidance for flash flood mitigation.
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spelling doaj-art-5c8be6d77e6a4bf7b7702186fd3841952025-08-20T02:40:28ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-01-0115111610.1038/s41598-024-84655-yInterpretable flash flood susceptibility mapping in Yarlung Tsangpo River Basin using H2O Auto-MLFei He0Suxia Liu1Xingguo Mo2Zhonggen Wang3Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)Abstract Flash flood susceptibility mapping is essential for identifying areas prone to flooding events and aiding decision-makers in formulating effective prevention measures. This study aims to evaluate the flash flood susceptibility in the Yarlung Tsangpo River Basin (YTRB) using multiple machine learning (ML) models facilitated by the H2O automated ML platform. The best-performing model was used to generate a flash flood susceptibility map, and its interpretability was analyzed using the Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) tree interpretation method. The results revealed that the top four models, including both single and ensemble models, demonstrated high accuracy in the tests. The flash flood susceptibility map generated by the best-performing eXtreme Randomized Trees (XRT) model showed that 8.92%, 12.95%, 15.42%, 31.34%, and 31.37% of the study area exhibited very high, high, moderate, low, and very low flash flood susceptibility, respectively, with approximately 74.9% of the historical flash floods occurring in areas classified as moderate to very high susceptibility. The SHAP plot identified topographic factors as the primary drivers of flash floods, with the importance analysis ranking the most influential factors in such descending order as DEM, topographic wetness index, topographic position index, normalized difference vegetation index, and average multi-year precipitation. This study demonstrates the benefits of interpretable machine learning, which can provide guidance for flash flood mitigation.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-84655-yFlash flood susceptibilityYarlung Tsangpo River BasinMachine learningModel interpretability
spellingShingle Fei He
Suxia Liu
Xingguo Mo
Zhonggen Wang
Interpretable flash flood susceptibility mapping in Yarlung Tsangpo River Basin using H2O Auto-ML
Scientific Reports
Flash flood susceptibility
Yarlung Tsangpo River Basin
Machine learning
Model interpretability
title Interpretable flash flood susceptibility mapping in Yarlung Tsangpo River Basin using H2O Auto-ML
title_full Interpretable flash flood susceptibility mapping in Yarlung Tsangpo River Basin using H2O Auto-ML
title_fullStr Interpretable flash flood susceptibility mapping in Yarlung Tsangpo River Basin using H2O Auto-ML
title_full_unstemmed Interpretable flash flood susceptibility mapping in Yarlung Tsangpo River Basin using H2O Auto-ML
title_short Interpretable flash flood susceptibility mapping in Yarlung Tsangpo River Basin using H2O Auto-ML
title_sort interpretable flash flood susceptibility mapping in yarlung tsangpo river basin using h2o auto ml
topic Flash flood susceptibility
Yarlung Tsangpo River Basin
Machine learning
Model interpretability
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-84655-y
work_keys_str_mv AT feihe interpretableflashfloodsusceptibilitymappinginyarlungtsangporiverbasinusingh2oautoml
AT suxialiu interpretableflashfloodsusceptibilitymappinginyarlungtsangporiverbasinusingh2oautoml
AT xingguomo interpretableflashfloodsusceptibilitymappinginyarlungtsangporiverbasinusingh2oautoml
AT zhonggenwang interpretableflashfloodsusceptibilitymappinginyarlungtsangporiverbasinusingh2oautoml