H23L-07
A Satellite Driven Real-time Forecasting Platform in the Upper Zambezi Basin: A Multi-model Comparison
Tuesday, 15 December 2015: 15:10
3022 (Moscone West)
Juan B Valdes1, Sungwook Wi2, Aleix Serrat-Capdevila1, Eleonora M. Demaria3 and SERVIR Water Africa Arizona Team (SWAAT) Project , (1)University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States, (2)University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, United States, (3)Agricultural Research Service Tucson, Tucson, AZ, United States
Abstract:
In large basins such as the Upper Zambezi where concentration times are of many days or even weeks, satellite precipitation products available in real-time become a key component enabling – with the use of hydrologic models - streamflow forecasts for downstream locations with enough lead time to inform decision-making. We present a real-time streamflow forecasting application based on this concept, using the TMPA and CMORPH rainfall products (which we bias-correct using the CHIRPS product) to force four distributed hydrologic models (VIC, HyMod, HBV, Sacramento) covering a variety of levels of model complexity. This study aims at establishing a multi-model satellite-based streamflow forecasting platform as a tool that can inform water management in real-time. This work is part of the efforts of the SERVIR Applied Sciences Team to bring NASA Earth Observation Applications into decision support tools for managing water resources in the Upper Zambezi, in collaboration with the Southern African Development Community Climate Services Center and the Zambezi Watercourse Commission.
