Wetropolis extreme rainfall and flood demonstrator:  from mathematical design to outreach

Bokhove, Onno; Hicks, Tiffany; Zweers, Wout; Kent, Thomas

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-2483-2020

Articles | Volume 24, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-2483-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-2483-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 24, issue 5

Education and communication

| Highlight paper

|

14 May 2020

Education and communication | Highlight paper |

| 14 May 2020

Wetropolis extreme rainfall and flood demonstrator: from mathematical design to outreach

Onno Bokhove, Tiffany Hicks, Wout Zweers, and Thomas Kent

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Final revised paper (published on 14 May 2020)
Preprint (discussion started on 27 May 2019)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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- Supplement

RC1: 'Re Wetropolis paper', Anonymous Referee #1, 22 Aug 2019
- AC1: 'Response to Reviewer 1', Onno Bokhove, 02 Jan 2020
- AC4: 'Update', Onno Bokhove, 03 Jan 2020
  - AC7: 'Update link', Onno Bokhove, 10 Jan 2020
RC2: 'Referee comment', Christopher Skinner, 06 Sep 2019
- AC2: 'Response to Reviewer 2', Onno Bokhove, 02 Jan 2020
- AC5: 'Update', Onno Bokhove, 03 Jan 2020
  - AC8: 'Update link', Onno Bokhove, 10 Jan 2020
RC3: 'review', Anonymous Referee #3, 06 Nov 2019
- AC3: 'Response to Reviewer 3', Onno Bokhove, 02 Jan 2020
- AC6: 'Update', Onno Bokhove, 03 Jan 2020
  - AC9: 'Update link', Onno Bokhove, 10 Jan 2020

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

ED: Publish subject to revisions (further review by editor and referees) (11 Jan 2020) by Matjaz Mikos

AR by Onno Bokhove on behalf of the Authors (12 Jan 2020) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (14 Jan 2020) by Matjaz Mikos

RR by Christopher Skinner (15 Feb 2020)

Suggestions for revision or reasons for rejection

I’d like to thank the authors for considering my feedback and providing a revised manuscript. I accept the authors’ point that the article is an Education and Communication paper rather than a Research paper, however, many of my points remain valid. The authors should note that the HESS guidelines about these types of manuscripts state – “These articles will be reviewed as normal research articles, and critical attention will be given to aspects of communicating science”. Reviewers are still asked to feedback on the scientific significance and quality of the manuscript.
I refute the authors accusations of not having read their manuscript carefully and seek to reassure them that I read their manuscript several times over a period of several weeks whilst carefully considering my review, like I would do for any review. I genuinely attempted to write my review in a helpful, supportive, way in order to help them create an improved manuscript and find the combative tone of the authors’ response unhelpful to this process.
That said, the clarifications made in the revised manuscript have improved it immensely and established the context of the work in a way that is more easily understandable. In particular, the clarification that the presentation of the mathematical model and its development is intended “to inspire and enable readers to redesign Wetropolis bespoke to their own local catchment characteristics” is particularly useful. It is much more apparent now why the mathematical model is presented alongside the description of the physical model, and its usefulness for the reader, and means the manuscript holds together as a single paper.
I asked the authors to discuss the inspirations for Wetropolis and in their response to me they state “OB and WZ are Dutch citizens and within the context of the Deltaworks, of which small-scale test versions were built in the Noord-Oost polder after the 1953 flood, conceptual modelling of river flood components like in Wetropolis is perhaps natural for Dutch engineers and designers? See also online literature of the “Waterloopkundig laboratorium” in the Noord-Oost polder” – this is really useful and interesting information for the reader to understand what has influenced the design of Wetropolis and should be included in the manuscript, alongside anything that might have inspired their design.
I also asked the authors to position Wetropolis in a theoretical framework. Even with “hands-on” problem solving, I would expect a certain element of theorising and appreciation of how others might have addressed the same or similar problems previously, which might be helpful for your solution. The inclusion of the wave tank produced for JBA Trust is a useful example. I do believe that Wetropolis is innovative, but there are other tabletop demonstrators around with potentially overlapping objectives and functions (e.g. the work by JBA Trust and EmRiver, the Augmented Reality Sand Box developed by University of California, or the Projected Augmented Reality Model of Nottingham University Business School, to name just a few).
My main concern from the initial submission was the lack of formal evaluation to support the claims made about the efficacy of Wetropolis in communicating its stated messages to the public. I think the authors do not appreciate what I mean by a formal evaluation – these methods ought to be conducted like any research project, with clearly defined aims, a presented methodology of how to assess those aims through data collection, and a presentation of those result before the discussion of what they mean. There should also be a consideration of the ethics around collecting such data. Was data collected from the “extensive discussions on Wetropolis in two workshops”? if so, how was it collected? Ideally, this data should be provided like any other research data. The feedback provided in the github folder is three messages solicited from event organisers, apparently referencing the reviews of the original manuscript – this is not data.
Consequently, I still consider this lacking – “The audience viewing Wetropolis and the organisers of events simply told us at the time and/or in retrospect” is not evidence, it is anecdote, and whilst this can be used to inform discussion it cannot be used to make firm conclusions. Claims like “Wetropolis aids in raising awareness of the probabilistic character and randomness of rainfall and flooding events” (Page 22, lines 23-24), and “Combining showcasing Wetropolis with a general public lecture on the science of flooding has proven to be particularly successful” (Page 22, Lines 24-25) cannot be made in lieu of the evidence of a formal evaluation, and need to be reworded so it is clear that this is view of the authors in response to their perceived response of the audience, and/or informal feedback received.
I will leave this to the Editor’s discretion as they will be more familiar with HESS’ requirements better than myself (I am being informed by my experiences with Geoscience Communication and the requirements may be different). A formal evaluation isn’t always required, yet the authors should make it clear that the information they use is anecdotal and based on informal feedback provided to them, and that the conclusions they make are based on this. If this is done, then this manuscript will be of interest and value to the HESS readership and would recommend it to be published – I have based my recommendation on this.

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RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (19 Mar 2020)

ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (22 Mar 2020) by Matjaz Mikos

Dear Authors,

after receiving another two reviews (Rejection & Minor revisions), and after a long thinking phase what is the best to do with the revised manuscript, whether to reject it on the basis of its weaknesses, as put forward by the reviewers (especially due to the lack of the validation among some other), or to give you another chance to stress the application/demonstration potential of the Wetropolis demonstrator, I have decided to accept the paper under the condition that you really explain how you have come to the conclusion with regard to the feedback by the users and stakeholders from different workshops. It is clear that this part was not done using formal ways of getting this positive feedback (questionnaires, statistical analysis, and so forth). A scientific paper (original paper) should have had that part based on scientific methods.

Please, take into account the suggestion from the end of the Report #1 (Christopher Skinner):

"A formal evaluation isn’t always required, yet the authors should make it clear that the information they use is anecdotal and based on informal feedback provided to them, and that the conclusions they make are based on this. If this is done, then this manuscript will be of interest and value to the HESS readership and would recommend it to be published – I have based my recommendation on this."

Such a "relativisation" of the positive feedback in this minor revision would give a free space for possible discussion in future on the use of such demonstrators, on pros and cons and possible misunderstandings how to apply them and what is their outreach potential. I see a possible way further and that is to apply such demonstrators in practice more in the domain of risk dialogue than working on strict mathematical validation - though, this is also needed, it may be done in future in a separate (original scientific) paper? This is a must for a wider acceptance of the Wetropolis demonstrator.

Sincerely Yours,

Matjaž Mikoš
Handling Editor

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AR by Onno Bokhove on behalf of the Authors (27 Mar 2020) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (31 Mar 2020) by Matjaz Mikos

AR by Onno Bokhove on behalf of the Authors (01 Apr 2020) Manuscript

Short summary

Wetropolis is a table-top demonstration model with extreme rainfall and flooding, including random rainfall, river flow, flood plains, an upland reservoir, a porous moor, and a city which can flood. It lets the viewer experience extreme rainfall and flood events in a physical model on reduced spatial and temporal scales with an event return period of 6.06 min rather than, say, 200 years. We disseminate its mathematical design and how it has been shown most prominently to over 500 flood victims.