Hydrometdss

WaterNet Danubian Hydrologic Forecasting Paper

AGU FAll Assembly Paper: 

24^th Conference of the Danubian Countries on Hydrologic Forecasting and Basis of Water Management in Bled, Slovenia 2-4 June 2008

We presented a paper on WaterNet showing applications from GLDAS in the DanubianBasin including daily SWE, QPE, Runoff, and Soil Moisture; and invited members of the Danubian research and water management decision-making community to join our WaterNet Community of Practice and partner in developing the European Candidate Solution Report.Over 220 representatives from 21 countries from Germany in the headwaters to Bulgaria at the mouth of the Danube including the UK and US participated in the meetings (CDCHFBWM).Many university students and professors, research and management agencies presented papers on topics from climate change impacts on the Danube to flash flood prediction, drought forecasting, and ecological aspects of Danube flows.Many of these topics fell into the 12 National Applications themes of NASA.

Our paper entitled “WaterNet: the NASA water cycle solutions network – Danubian Regional Applications” by Matthews, Brilly, Kobold, Zagar, and Houser reviewed the philosophy behind WaterNet and NASA’s solutions networks, and then presented results from GLDAS over the region focusing on the Alps, Carpathian Mountains and Hungarian Plain, and the mountains of Montenagro.Results from the Weather Research Forecasting (WRF) model simulations of the 18 September 2007 flash flood in Slovenia were compared with GLDAS and observations indicating the need for high resolution GLDAS modeling.The value of GLDAS soil moisture analyses for drought monitoring was demonstrated.This 15 page paper is available on the conference proceedings CD, from the FGG, University of Ljubljanaand on line in Topic 6: Developments in Hydrology.

New potential collaborators for WaterNet include the Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service(DHMZ), Zagreb;University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences(BOKU), Vienna; Bavarian Environmental Agency (BEA), Munich; University of Belgrade, Serbia; VITAKU Consult, Hungary; Academy of Sciences and Arts of Vojvodina (VANU), Serbia; Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Research Institute (HRI), Kiev; Research Institute for Fisheries, Aquaculture and Irrigation, Hungary; University of Worcester (ASGA), UK.

WaterNet EU Demo Fall 2008

9/30/2008 10:16:24

WaterNet EU Demonstration Project Meetings in Ljubljana and Wien

Drs. Gregor Gregoric and Mark Zagar, ARSO drought management and numerical modeling leaders met to discuss progress in the demonstration project and specific needs for GLDAS products over the area.These products are produced by the HSB, GSFC, NASA about 5 weeks behind real-time.Dr. Paul Houser’s CREW team may be able to provide real-time simulations and provide those to an anonymous FTP site where ARSO and others may retrieve the files and process them using the GrADS analysis software. This information will be especially useful for the DMCSEE project over SE Europe.

Dr. Thomas Haiden, Head of the Modeling Division, ZAMG met on 26 September to discuss WaterNet and his INCA real-time data assimilation and nowcasting system.This very high resolution (dx=1km) system provides valuable 15 minute QPE and QPF data over the region of the Danube, Drava, Mura, and SavaRivers.We will explore various aspects of the GLDAS and other remote sensing information from NASA for QPE estimation and nowcasting that may be useful to INCA in Austria and Slovenia.

Drs. Mitja Brilly and Matjaz Mikos met to discuss future Waternet plans and the NASA DECISIONS 08 proposal at FGG on 30 September. They are quite interested in how INCA products may enhance hydrologic modeling and surface energy budgets that control erosion in heavy precipitation events.

Return to Slovenia and the EU WaterNet Demonstration Project Fall 2008

Upon return to Slovenia September 18, 2008, we began work on the EU demonstration project and coordination with additional Community of Practice experts in hydrometeorology and water management. Initial efforts included meetings at the Environmental Agency of the Republic of Slovenia (EARS-ARSO) in Ljubljana, and with ZAMG in Vienna. This project demonstration is designed to show the value of Land Surface Models and data assimilation systems in the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) developed by the Hydrologic Science Branch, GSFC, NASA.

CSR Proposal to NSPIRES

Summer CSR Proposal to NSPIRES Call, CoP Development and AGU Paper for Fall 2008 Assembly

The summer in Colorado passed quickly as we concluded year 2 of our 3-year WaterNet project. WE completed our annual report to WaterNet and submitted a multi-author collaborative proposal to NASA entitled:

Enhanced Water Resources and Disaster Management Decision Support Systems in Europe

By

Improved Analysis and Forecasting of Snowpack, Avalanches, Runoff, Floods, Debris Flows and Drought using High Resolution Multi-Sensor Data Assimilation, Atmospheric and Land Surface Models in the Alps of Europe and Region of Southeastern Europe

Investigators:Mitja Brilly2, Gregor Gregoric3, Janez Polajnar3, Mira Kobold3, Mark Zagar3, 

Helmut Knoblauch4, Michael Staudinger5, Susanne Mecklenburg7, Michael Lehning9, Juerg Schweizer9, 

Gabor Balint10 , Ivan Cacic11, George Huffman, Paul Houser1, Debbie Belvedere1, and Dave Matthews6

Proposal Summary

European hydrometeorological services and research centers are faced with increasing challenges from extremes of weather and climate that require significant investments in new technology and better utilization of existing human and natural resources to provide improved forecasts.Major advances in remote sensing, observation networks, data assimilation, numerical modeling, and communications continue to improve our ability to disseminate information to decision-makers and stake holders. This proposal addresses the Water Management and Disaster Management applications areas and identifies: 1) NASA Earth Science Results (ESRs) that will be used to fill gaps in current technologies, and 2) key research and decision-maker teams; and then develops a set of solutions through focused applied research and integration of ESRs into decision support tools (DSTs).These DSTs have many years of baseline data that quantify their accuracy and reliability.The end-user water and emergency management entities also have extensive records of their decisions and impacts.

Our approach to meeting the DECISIONS objective of demonstrating value added to decision-making is to engage the responsible agencies and stake holders at the initiation of the project.Our relationship with these agencies was established in NASA’s WaterNet – NASA Water Cycle Solutions Network Community of Practice in Europe, which has evolved over the past 2 years. One leading partner is the Environmental Agency of the Republic of Slovenia (EARS[MM1]) which has the responsibility of issuing flood alerts, along with issuing seasonal water supply forecasts and snowmelt runoff forecasts.Other agencies like Central Austrian Meteorological Agancy (ZAMG), Croatian Meteorological Agency DHMZ, Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Vituki Consult, and other European forecast centers provide similar services. EARS coordinates the Drought Management Center for Southeastern Europe (DMCSEE).DMCSEE is a cooperative World Meteorological Organization effort of 11 southeastern European countries from Slovenia to Turkey that is developing drought management capabilities for the region.The primary NASA ESRs used here are products from the Hydrologic Sciences Branch, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA, Land Information System’s (LIS) Land Surface Models (LSM), the SPoRT,CREW , and European Space Agency (ESA) results will drive decision support tools (DSTs) and systems. Remote sensing data from MODIS, SMOS, SMAP and related WRF-LIS data assimilation and land surface modeling outputs of soil moisture, snow water equivalent, temperature and rates of temperature change, snow melting and resulting runoff will be used as inputs for the avalanche and debris flow models including ALPINE-3D.They will be integrated into the European Commission’s Joint Research Center’s (JRC) natural hazards DSTs, and Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research’s (SLF) public warning systems for avalanches and debris flows and alpine floods.These ESRs will be used in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Commission sponsored water management projects to provide solutions for improved prediction of water supplies and stream flow, and droughts and floods, and snow avalanches in the major river basins serviced by EARS, ZAMG, SLF, Vituki Consult, and other Danubian Basin forecast centers. Results from this project will be of mutual benefit to European and American decision-makers and scientists.This proposal stems from Candidate Solution Report (CSR) entitled “Improved Analysis and Forecasting of Snowpack, Avalanches, Runoff, Floods, Debris Flows and Drought using High Resolution Multi-Sensor Data Assimilation, Atmospheric and Land Surface Models in the Alps of Europe and Region of Southeastern Europe” that evolved through the WaterNet – NASA Water Cycle Solutions Network Community of Practice in Europe.

Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Davos

11/13/2008 19:36:50

Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Davos

At the end of October we met with Drs. Michael Lehning and Jurg Schweizer at the SLF in Davos to discuss WaterNet and including the snow and avalanche experts in our Community of Practice.Their experience in the Alps will provide an outstanding contribution to the NASA land surface modeling teamwork.They are partners and Co-investigators on our DECISIONS08 proposal that follows ourWaterNet EU Candidate Solution Report.SLF research involves many fundamental aspects of alpine hydrology and snow and ice physics. Alpine observatories like Hohler Sonnblick below left are very important monitors of climate variability and change as well as avalanche research.The SLF in Davos has a staff of over 130 scientists and engineers who study Alpine environmental research topics ranging from integrated risk management to the snow metamorphism of ice crystals and the formation of avalanches, and forecasting.

Read more: Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Davos