SATELLITE DATA OPENS NEW ERA FOR HYDROLOGICAL MODELLING

As many of our clients’ projects are located in remote, data sparse regions, we have developed a suite of tools to merge the available information from station data, gridded hydro-meteorological fields and satellite-based rainfall measurements. We use these data streams to thoroughly calibrate and test the hydrological model simulations before operational application.In the last years the advent of satellite-based rainfall products have opened new possibilities for setting up flow forecasting systems with reduced costs especially in countries where there is no existing dense rainfall station network. The satellite data serve as a near real-time source for updating the soil moisture and flood routing simulations in our operational flow forecasting systems, thereby enhancing the accuracy of the flow forecasts.

SEASONAL INFLOW FORECASTS

Standard weather forecasts have a range of a few days, after which the skill and accuracy of the forecast diminishes rapidly. Especially in large river basins, seasonal forecasts with hydrological models can extend the skill in the flow forecast to a few weeks or even months due to the added memory in system states such as soil moisture and flow routing processes. This means – depending on the basin – we can provide skillful inflow forecasts based on hydrological models with a lead time of up to several months.Such seasonal flow forecasts are crucial for efficient planning of water resources management, as they provide the required information to address the typical questions of “How fast shall I draw down the reservoir during the next dry season?”, “When shall I start to refill the reservoir?”, “What electricity generation can I expect in the next few months?”.