Global projections of fluvial floods based on the ISIMIP3b ensemble of global hydrological models: flooded area fraction

This dataset includes global, gridded flooded area fractions at 0.25 degree horizontal resolution, derived from state-of-the-art climate, hydrological, and hydrodynamic model simulations, prepared in the context of CMIP6 and ISIMIP3b (www.isimip.org, Frieler et al., in prep.), respectively. They describe the flooded area fraction associated with annual maximum flood depth in each grid cell, under pre-industrial, historical, and future climatic conditions according to different scenarios of greenhouse gas concentrations; and under different assumptions about flood protection standards.<br>The flooded area fraction relates to the fraction of a unit catchment that is inundated. Each unit catchment corresponds to a 0.25° x 0.25° grid cell but is irregularly shaped, which means that the flood fraction does not exactly represent the inundated fraction of the grid cell; this should be kept in mind when analysing the data.<br>The data can be used for assessing the risks associated with flood hazard, such as risks to life, livelihoods, health, or economic assets. In the context of the EU Horizon project TipESM, they support the assessment of potential tipping dynamics in household recovery from climate-induced shocks and related poverty risks, as well as flood-induced human displacement risk (Schewe et al., 2025).