Advances in flash flood modelling in urbanized and data scarce-areas

Abstract

To Mama and Kikila i patient throughout this Ph.D. time. Next, I acknowledge a group of people who supported and helped me on this Ph.D. research and shared social life with me during these four years in Enschede.Starting from the beginning, my deepest gratitude goes to my supervisor, Prof. dr. Victor Jetten and dr.ir. Janneke Ettema, for their support, insight, and expertise throughout all these years. Not only have they introduced me to the scientific world, but they also have contributed to educating me to be a better researcher over these years. Indeed, their patience and unlimited advice are what lead to unfolding this thesis.My gratitude also goes to Dr.Gert-Jan Steeneveld from Wageningen University, Meteorology, and Air Quality Section. His expertise and support helped me to further my knowledge of the WRF model. I must also acknowledge Dr.Ronda Reinder from Wageningen Unversity for showing me the WRF software programming and diagnosis to adjust the urban fraction in the WRF model I have used throughout this Ph.D. I want to thank also Dr.Gemechu Fanta Garum from the University of Quebec, Canada, for his assistance in managing static data in the WRF model.My acknowledgment also goes to Dr.Eduardo Perez Molina, a colleague from the PGM department, for developing the land cover fraction of Kampala that I have used throughout this dissertation. I must also thank my co-author Dr. Luigi Lumbardo, for his expertise, insightful comments, and recommendations. I must also thank Dr.Bastian van der Bout for his support and experience sharing on the openLISEM model. My thanks also go to Dr. Harald van der Werff and Dr. Islam Fadel for their technical support on computational facilities. I would like to describe my sincere gratitude to also Professor Cees for editing my thesis.I would like to thank all members of the ESA department and colleagues for their help and support when needed. I always remember the warm discussions we had on social and other issues during tea break. A big thanks to all my wonderful friends and Ph.D. community at ITC, and it's always lovely to be in such an environment. Oscar, thanks for your friendship and also for your help with the Dutch summary. Hakan, Kartika, Yan, and Tunde, it was great to share the office with you guys. Especial thanks to all my current and former Ph.