TEXT_SIZE
Thursday, May 17, 2012

The HEPEX mission is to demonstrate the reliability of hydrological ensemble predictions (HEPS) that can be used with confidence by emergency management and water resources sectors to make decisions that have important consequences for economy, public health and safety.

Top Tab Content
Home :: Test beds

HEPEX Test Beds

Last Updated on Friday, 03 December 2010 15:35

General Overview

A HEPEX Test Bed is a setting for HEPEX-community experiments. A test bed could be a single basin (and its subbasins), a region containing multiple basins, or possibly a global collection of basins that facilitate experiments addressing questions over a range of scales and climates. Regardless of geographical domain, test beds focus on one or more clearly defined HEPEX science questions, have the potential to develop data resources needed for community experiments to address the questions, and are expected to include active user participation. Proposals for eight test bed projects were presented at the second HEPEX workshop.


Current HEPEX Testbeds

Site Specific Testbeds
Project Objectives Contact
Great Lakes, Canada/US Demonstrate the importance of relatively detailed atmospheric and hydrologic modeling for medium-range atmospheric and hydrologic forecasting on large basins. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Bangladesh Provide operational real-time forecasts of river discharge into Bangladesh at daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal time-scales. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Rio Grande Basin, Brazil
  1. Explore the use of ensembles produced by the CPTEC  model of global climate.
  2. Explore the use of forecasts produced by RAMS for lead-times extending up to a month and longer.
  3. Explore the use of short-term rainfall forecasts from the operational ETA model of CPTEC.
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Po Basin, Italy
  1. Test simplistic routines for bias removal in an area such as Northern Italy that is dominated by important orography (Alps).
  2. Test methods for flood forecasting based on threshold exceedances.
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Western Basins, U.S./B.C., Canada Develop hydrologic ensemble forecasting techniques that are particular to the orographically complex, snowmelt-driven basins of the Western US and British Columbia. Focus on monthly to seasonal lead times. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 
Southeast Basins, U.S. Address the following HEPEX science questions:
  1. How do we generate skillful and reliable meteorological forcing for seasonal hydrologic forecasting?
  2. How do we generate the hydrologic ensembles that reflect the total uncertainties?
  3. How can climate information, such as climate model forecasts or teleconnections, be used reliably in seasonal hydrologic forecasting?
  4. How do we validate hydrologic ensembles for extreme events?
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  

 

Cross Cutting Topics Testbeds
Project Objectives Contact
Statistical Downscaling
  1. Identify the space-time scales for which forecast skill is present for different variables and develop methods to extract and combine information at different space-time scales
  2. Identify the GFS output variables that can be used to provide sub-grid information that can be used in a statistical model to replicate precipitation processes
  3. Identify the sample size required to reliably forecast precipitation, temperature, and streamflow, for different thresholds
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Hydrologic Uncertainty Hydrologic uncertainty can be described in terms of uncertainties in model inputs, model parameters, and model structure; leading to uncertainties in model states and fluxes. What are the advantages and limitations of different methods for characterizing and reducing this uncertainty in hydrologic model simulations?  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Ensemble Representations of Rainfall Observation and Analysis Uncertainty To assess the utility of ensemble representations of rainfall uncertainty in operational hydrological modelling.

To facilitate the development of hybrid ensemble approaches by building a community of interested research groups.		 Tim Bellerby
University of Hull, UK
Verification Testbed The final goal of the test bed is to document a set of algorithms and code for verifying atmospheric and hydrological ensemble forecasts for hydrology and water resources applications.  Standard verification products would be proposed to effectively communicate verification information to modelers, forecasters, and end users. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it


Proposed HEPEX Testbeds

  • Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) use of weather forecasts (C. Howard)
  • Parameter uncertainty in conjunction with MOPEX, including DMIP2 (T. Hogue)
  • Rhine Catchment. Seasonal forecasts with climate change. An end-to-end process with end-users (T.Maurer)
  • Value and application of probabilistic forecasts for end-users in the Tuolumne and Cedar River watersheds (N. Crawford)
  • MAP D-PHASE (M.Rotach)
  • Hydrologic post-processor (P. Reggiani)
  • Ensemble and probabilistic product generation for customers and partners (M. Mullusky and K. Werner)
  • France, end-to-end ensembles prediction system (M. Ramos)

Instructions for interested participants

Participation in HEPEX is open to anyone. For information about how to propose a HEPEX testbed contact John Schaake. For more information about participation in individual test beds, see the test bed webpage or contact the test bed leader.

Bottom Tab Content
OverviewContact the Science Steering Committee
OverviewOverview of the
HEPEX website
documentDocuments and
Resources