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Flooding in Buenos Aires

Organization(s):Colegio French

Country:Argentina

Student(s):Sol María Britos

Grade Level:Upper Primary (grades 3-5, ages 8-11)

GLOBE Teacher:Emiliano Basic

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Date Submitted:04/26/2013

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The aim of this research is to determine the causes of the severe flooding in Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina. In order to do that, I took into account the amount of precipitation fallen on April 2nd over the city, the historical average of precipitations for the same period and the urban conditions of the city as regards water drainage. My conclusion is that floods in Buenos Aires are due to excessive population and lack of public works.

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Comments

What variables did you measure? Did you seek out the help of any scientists or engineers who know about the city infrastructure? What was the most interesting thing you learned from your project?

Hi, I´m Sol, the variables I took into account were the amount of precipitations and the urban conditions as regards drainage. I couldn´t speak with engineers or scientists due to the lack of time, but I consider doing so for future investigations on this topic.
Finally, the most interesting thing I could learn is how the amount of populations can affect their lives if something like this happens again.
Thank you for your comments!
Sol

Thank you for your repsonse! What type of urban conditions did you look into?

Hi Jessica, I´ve taken into account public works related to drainage.

I am very interested in your studies. Is the mass amounts of rainfall annual for Buenos Aires? Does the Rio de la Plata have a significance to the amount of moisture and precipitation that effects Buenos Aires? Once you have these massive floods, does it empty and drain out to the Rio de la Plata?

Hi, I´m Sol. The amount of annual rainfall in Buenos Aires is of 600mm. Yes, the Rio de la Plata has a significance in the amount of moisture and precipitation that affects Buenos Aires. The basin of this river is very importatn for our country, it originates in Brazil and leads to the Argentinean Sea. There is a local wind called Sudestada, that affects the region of the Rio de la PLata, producing rainfall of diverse intensity.
The floods drain out to the Rio de la PLata.

Thank you for sharing your project, Sol. Where did you get the precipitation data you used? Do you think precipitation rates prior to the one day you investigated may have had any affect on the flooding?