Increasing Early Warning Lead Time Through Improved Transboundary Flood Forecasting in the Gash River Basin, Horn of Africa
Historically, flooding is the most common environmental hazard worldwide, and also one of the most threatening to communities. Hydrological modeling of large river catchments has become a challenging task for water resources engineers due to the complexity of collecting and handling both spatial and...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Book Chapter |
| Language: | Inglés |
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Elsevier
2016
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/77128 |
| _version_ | 1855516290026831872 |
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| author | Amarnath, Giriraj Alahacoon, Niranga Gismalla, Y. Mohammed, Y. Sharma, Bharat R. Smakhtin, Vladimir U. |
| author_browse | Alahacoon, Niranga Amarnath, Giriraj Gismalla, Y. Mohammed, Y. Sharma, Bharat R. Smakhtin, Vladimir U. |
| author_facet | Amarnath, Giriraj Alahacoon, Niranga Gismalla, Y. Mohammed, Y. Sharma, Bharat R. Smakhtin, Vladimir U. |
| author_sort | Amarnath, Giriraj |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Historically, flooding is the most common environmental hazard worldwide, and also one of the most threatening to communities. Hydrological modeling of large river catchments has become a challenging task for water resources engineers due to the complexity of collecting and handling both spatial and nonspatial data, such as rainfall, gauge-discharge data, and topographic and hydraulic parameters. The Gash is a transboundary river which originates from the Eritrean Highlands and Ethiopian Plateau, and ends up in Sudan. It is unique in its discharge flows with torrential rain between Jul. and Oct., while being dry for the rest of the year. Despite this characteristic, the river is the main source of water for domestic and agricultural use in Kassala City, Sudan.
In this chapter, we briefly present the potential application of satellite-based rainfall estimates, and develop a flood forecasting model for the Gash River Basin, Sudan, through a distributed modeling approach using remote sensing data. The approach includes rainfall-runoff modeling, hydrodynamic flow routing, and calibration and validation of the model with field discharge data. The study area is divided into 25 subbasins to improve model accuracy. To generate relevant parameters for modeling, GlobCover land cover data (1000 m), Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) Digital Elevation Model (DEM) at 90 m, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) soil grid data using freely available datasets were used for the Gash River in Eastern Sudan. Based on several studies in Eastern Africa on the choice of satellite-based rainfall estimates, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) was used to represent the actual rainfall pattern and intensity of the basin. Model simulations were carried out using the HEC-HMS model. From 6 years (2007–12) of available discharge data for five stations, the period 2008–11 was considered for calibration with 2008 as the warming-up period, and data from 2007 and 2012 were used for validation. The model was tested during the 2013 floods at real-time, 3-h intervals. The accuracy of the estimated peak flood discharge and lag time was found to be good with reference to field observation data. Flood forecasting lead time is increased by 12 h compared to conventional methods of forecasting. |
| format | Book Chapter |
| id | CGSpace77128 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publishDateRange | 2016 |
| publishDateSort | 2016 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| publisherStr | Elsevier |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace771282025-03-11T09:50:20Z Increasing Early Warning Lead Time Through Improved Transboundary Flood Forecasting in the Gash River Basin, Horn of Africa Amarnath, Giriraj Alahacoon, Niranga Gismalla, Y. Mohammed, Y. Sharma, Bharat R. Smakhtin, Vladimir U. flood forecast distributed hydrological modeling digital elevation model flood routing gash river eastern sudan Historically, flooding is the most common environmental hazard worldwide, and also one of the most threatening to communities. Hydrological modeling of large river catchments has become a challenging task for water resources engineers due to the complexity of collecting and handling both spatial and nonspatial data, such as rainfall, gauge-discharge data, and topographic and hydraulic parameters. The Gash is a transboundary river which originates from the Eritrean Highlands and Ethiopian Plateau, and ends up in Sudan. It is unique in its discharge flows with torrential rain between Jul. and Oct., while being dry for the rest of the year. Despite this characteristic, the river is the main source of water for domestic and agricultural use in Kassala City, Sudan. In this chapter, we briefly present the potential application of satellite-based rainfall estimates, and develop a flood forecasting model for the Gash River Basin, Sudan, through a distributed modeling approach using remote sensing data. The approach includes rainfall-runoff modeling, hydrodynamic flow routing, and calibration and validation of the model with field discharge data. The study area is divided into 25 subbasins to improve model accuracy. To generate relevant parameters for modeling, GlobCover land cover data (1000 m), Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) Digital Elevation Model (DEM) at 90 m, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) soil grid data using freely available datasets were used for the Gash River in Eastern Sudan. Based on several studies in Eastern Africa on the choice of satellite-based rainfall estimates, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) was used to represent the actual rainfall pattern and intensity of the basin. Model simulations were carried out using the HEC-HMS model. From 6 years (2007–12) of available discharge data for five stations, the period 2008–11 was considered for calibration with 2008 as the warming-up period, and data from 2007 and 2012 were used for validation. The model was tested during the 2013 floods at real-time, 3-h intervals. The accuracy of the estimated peak flood discharge and lag time was found to be good with reference to field observation data. Flood forecasting lead time is increased by 12 h compared to conventional methods of forecasting. 2016 2016-09-24T17:11:22Z 2016-09-24T17:11:22Z Book Chapter https://hdl.handle.net/10568/77128 en Limited Access Elsevier Amarnath, Giriraj [IWMI]; Alahacoon, Niranga [IWMI]; Gismalla, Y. [NARS]; Mohammed, Y. [NARS]; Sharma, Bharat R. [IWMI]; Smakhtin, Vladimir [IWMI] 2016. Increasing early warning lead time through improved transboundary flood forecasting in the Gash River Basin, Horn of Africa. In Adams, T. E. III; Pagano, T. C. (Eds.). Flood forecasting: a global perspective. London, UK: Academic Press. pp.183-200. |
| spellingShingle | flood forecast distributed hydrological modeling digital elevation model flood routing gash river eastern sudan Amarnath, Giriraj Alahacoon, Niranga Gismalla, Y. Mohammed, Y. Sharma, Bharat R. Smakhtin, Vladimir U. Increasing Early Warning Lead Time Through Improved Transboundary Flood Forecasting in the Gash River Basin, Horn of Africa |
| title | Increasing Early Warning Lead Time Through Improved Transboundary Flood Forecasting in the Gash River Basin, Horn of Africa |
| title_full | Increasing Early Warning Lead Time Through Improved Transboundary Flood Forecasting in the Gash River Basin, Horn of Africa |
| title_fullStr | Increasing Early Warning Lead Time Through Improved Transboundary Flood Forecasting in the Gash River Basin, Horn of Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | Increasing Early Warning Lead Time Through Improved Transboundary Flood Forecasting in the Gash River Basin, Horn of Africa |
| title_short | Increasing Early Warning Lead Time Through Improved Transboundary Flood Forecasting in the Gash River Basin, Horn of Africa |
| title_sort | increasing early warning lead time through improved transboundary flood forecasting in the gash river basin horn of africa |
| topic | flood forecast distributed hydrological modeling digital elevation model flood routing gash river eastern sudan |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/77128 |
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