Crossing the “Valley of Death”: Lessons Learned from Implementing an Operational Satellite-Based Flood Forecasting System

Hossain, Faisal; Siddique-E-Akbor, A.H.M.; Yigzaw, Wondmagegn; Shah-Newaz, S. M.; Hossain, Monowar; Mazumder, Liton Chandra; Ahmed, Tanvir; Shum, C. K.; Lee, Hyongki; Biancamaria, Sylvain; Turk, F. Joseph; Limaye, Ashutosh

doi:10.1175/bams-d-13-00176.1

Cited by 31 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 10 publications

(8 reference statements)

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“…It may also be due to a lack of resources, knowledge, or contingency plans [3,4,7,[10][11][12][13][14]]. Yet, most of the FEWS-related literature either focus on purely technical aspects of FEWS (i.e., risk knowledge and flood forecasting components) [15][16][17][18] or describe the entire FEWS with limited attention to communication and preparedness components [4,19,20]. Accordingly, the focus and objectives of this paper are to:…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying societal challenges in flood early warning systems

Perera

Agnihotri

Seidou

et al. 2020

International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction

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Flood Early Warning Systems (FEWS) are implemented in many parts of the world, but early warnings do not always translate into an emergency response from all individuals at risk. This article examines challenges such as warning communication and community response capabilities. Literature review, global online survey results, and experiential knowledge helped identify cross-cutting issues such as failure to use participatory approaches involving communities and addressing their concerns in warning, insufficient preparedness and response levels of FEWS, inadequate translation of disaster risk reduction (DRR) policies into action at the community level, lack of DRR knowledge and practices among key stakeholders, insufficient gender and social inclusion in all stages of FEWS, gaps in institutional communication and collaboration, and, finally, technical and financial constraints. The paper also discusses the contribution of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in addressing the identified challenges and eventually strengthening FEWS locally. CSOs were found to act positively at local level challenges and significantly contribute to addressing them through tailored solutions to community concerns. Such solutions include DRR awareness campaigns to educate the communities and key officials; enhanced communication between vulnerable communities and local authorities; transforming reactive community response that relied on government officials to a risk-informed and self-prepared community response; gender inclusion and diversity in various stages of FEWS; and advocacy campaigns to build resilience to disasters. Eventually, policy-based recommendations that can help to root out the challenges discussed in this study are presented.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying societal challenges in flood early warning systems

Perera

Agnihotri

Seidou

et al. 2020

International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction

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“…For example, Yoon and Beighley (2014) have explored how SWOT measurements could aid in flood routing of a system of reservoirs in the developing world where there is virtually no ground data. Hossain et al (2014aHossain et al ( , 2014b have explored the use of nadir altimetry for extending the range of operational flood forecasting for the Bangladesh Government. More recent studies, such as Maswood and Hossain (2015) demonstrate how the dual availability of river width and height can reduce the error of river level simulations in hydrodynamic models up to 300% for downstream nations.…”

Section: Applications Imperativesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…So far, nadir altimetry applications for flood forecasting or river modeling have been reasonably successful and have provided good justification for the potential value of SWOT data in similar applications. A nadir altimetry (Jason-2) satellite-based flood forecasting system (Hossain et al, 2014) that has been implemented in Bangladesh, accurately detected the monsoonal flood wave swelling from the north in the upstream Indian region of the Brahmaputra basin and tributaries during the 2014 flood season. Heavy rains engorged the Brahmaputra, Jamuna, and Teesta rivers in India and Bangladesh.…”

Section: Flood Forecastingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Engaging the Applications Community of the future Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) Mission

Srinivasan

Andral

Dejus

et al. 2015

Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci.

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NASA and the French space agency, CNES, with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and United Kingdom Space Agency (UKSA) are developing new wide swath altimetry technology that will cover most of the world’s ocean and surface freshwater bodies. The proposed Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission will have the capability to make observations of surface water (lakes, rivers, wetland) heights and measurements of ocean surface topography with unprecedented spatial coverage, temporal sampling, and spatial resolution compared to existing technologies. These data will be useful for monitoring the hydrologic cycle, flooding, and characterizing human impacts on a changing environment. <br><br> The applied science community is a key element in the success of the SWOT mission, demonstrating the high value of the science and data products in addressing societal issues and needs. The SWOT applications framework includes a working group made up of applications specialists, SWOT science team members, academics and SWOT Project members to promote applications research and engage a broad community of potential SWOT data users. A defined plan and a guide describing a program to engage early adopters in using proxies for SWOT data, including sophisticated ocean and hydrology simulators, an airborne analogue for SWOT (AirSWOT), and existing satellite datasets, are cornerstones for the program. A user survey is in development and the first user workshop was held in 2015, with annual workshops planned. <br><br> The anticipated science and engineering advances that SWOT will provide can be transformed into valuable services to decision makers and civic organizations focused on addressing global disaster risk reduction initiatives and potential science-based mitigation activities for water resources challenges of the future. With the surface water measurements anticipated from SWOT, a broad range of applications can inform inland and coastal managers and marine operators of terrestrial and oceanic phenomena relevant to their work.

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“…According to Noji (2000), floods are one of the most dangerous natural hazards in the world. Jonkman (2005) estimated that more than 100 000 deaths in the last century were caused by floods. From 1940 to 2018 the number of deaths related to flood events (8138) is only surpassed by lightning fatalities (9386) in the US (https://www.weather.gov/hazstat/, last access: September 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards an automatic early warning system of flood hazards based on precipitation forecast: the case of the Miño River (NW Spain)

González-Cao

García-Feal

Fernández-Nóvoa

et al. 2019

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. An early warning system for flood prediction based on precipitation forecast is presented. The system uses rainfall forecast provided by MeteoGalicia in combination with a hydrologic (Hydrologic Modeling System, HEC-HMS) and a hydraulic (Iber+) model. The upper reach of the Miño River and the city of Lugo (NW Spain) are used as a study area. Starting from rainfall forecast, HEC-HMS calculates the streamflow and Iber+ is automatically executed for some previously defined risk areas when a certain threshold is exceeded. The analysis based on historical extreme events shows that the system can provide accurate results in less than 1 h for a forecast horizon of 3 d and report an alert situation to decision makers.

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Crossing the “Valley of Death”: Lessons Learned from Implementing an Operational Satellite-Based Flood Forecasting System

Cited by 31 publications

References 10 publications

Identifying societal challenges in flood early warning systems

Identifying societal challenges in flood early warning systems

Engaging the Applications Community of the future Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) Mission

Towards an automatic early warning system of flood hazards based on precipitation forecast: the case of the Miño River (NW Spain)

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