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The following is a description of the latest operational release of EFAS v4 v5.61. For an overview of other EFAS releases, please see: EFAS versioning system. 

Summary

EFAS v4v5.6 1 introduces several minor changes to the system, as well as some general bug fixes. Here is a summary of the main changes: 

1. New version of LISFLOOD

LISFLOOD version 3.2.0 is used in this EFAS release. It includes important developments, such as:

• enhanced code capability to handle inputs;
• new netCDF readers based on xarray that allow for more flexibility and efficiency, dramatically decreasing the time required to load large inputs thus leading to improved computational performances;
• extensive use of unit tests to verify the functioning of the model and enhance collaborative development of the code;
• improvements of the management of latitude and longitude grids to allow maximum precision of the reference system;
• porting of the code to python3.

The modelling of the hydrological processes has not changed compared to the version of the model used in the previous EFAS release.

For more information, please visit the dedicated GitHub space: https://github.com/ec-jrc/lisflood-code/releases

2. Rapid Risk Assessment layers

• The code used to generate the rapid risk assessment layers has been rewritten using python 3 and was integrated to the general product generation framework.
• In the Rapid Impact Assessment layer, the information which appears in the pop out window when a shaded region is clicked has been reformatted:
  • Exposure information appears within a first table which summarises the population, road network and landcover potentially affected.
  • A second table summarises the flood event information, including the start and of the flooding based on the forecast median and mean exceedance probabilities for different return period thresholds.
• In the Rapid Flood Mapping layer, the inundation extent now corresponds to the unprotected scenario which does not consider the role of flood defences. Previously the layer showed the inundation extent when considering the role of flood defences.

3. COSMO-LEPS

• The EFAS suite has been modified to automatically detect an outage of the provision of the COSMO-LEPS forecasts
• In this situation the reporting points product and associated products will proceed without the COSMO-LEPS forecasts
• The ERIC flash flood forecasts will not be produced as they rely solely upon the provision of the COSMO-LEPS forecasts

Technical details

including:

• A new "Release News" pop-up that shows up on EFAS-IS when a new version of EFAS (minor and major) is released, including information on the release highlights and a link to the wiki for further information.
• Notification Feedback improvements, allowing EFAS partners to edit feedback they have submitted previously, allowing to specify the region for which the feedback was given (if the notification spans multiple), and a system for automatic notification reminders that will be rolled out shortly after the release day. See 4.4 How to provide feedback for details. 
• Updates to EFAS Hydrological post-processing
  • new calibration of all viable stations including 270 new stations (250 stations at 6-hourly and 20 stations at daily). Results are in obsolete EFAS v5.1 - Hydrological Post-Processing Calibration Evaluation page.
  • updates to post-processed hydrographs based on feedback from the 18th EFAS Annual Meeting. See EFAS Reporting Points for an example.
• Increased offering of monitoring and forecast variables for EFAS made available through the Climate Data Store. See Model Output page for details.
  • Runoff Water Equivalent (surface plus subsurface)
  • Soil Wetness Index (root zone)
  • Withdrawal of 'Volumetric Soil Moisture Content' variable from CDS (from EFAS v5.1 release onwards, 2024-03-20).

The data is available for the reanalysis (from 1992-01-01 to near real-time), the medium range forecasts (from EFAS v5.1 onwards), and the seasonal forecasts (from April 2024).The soil wetness index (root zone) and runoff water equivalent (surface plus subsurface) variables added with EFAS v5.1 on 2024-03-21 will only be available 30 days after the forecast date.

• EFAS flood thresholds
  • EFAS flood threshold made available on wiki at Auxiliary Data page.
  • Bug fixes to flood threshold calculation 
• New stations added to Reporting Points layer on EFAS-IS. EFAS-IS is now showing 3617 fixed reporting points (river gauges) for which the model drainage area is larger than 50 km2. This is an increase of 278 fixed reporting points compared to previous EFAS version. 
• Revised ERIC Reporting Points
  • The minimum upstream area for plotting a reporting point has been increased to 150 km² (up from 50 km² previously). This reduces the number of reporting points that are plotted.

• Retirement of ERICHA products

  • ERICHA Flash Flood products will be phased out in favour of the improved TAMIR products which include radar-nwp blended precipitation, ensemble-based hourly forecasts and flood impact products. More details can be found in TAMIR flash flood nowcasting wiki page.

This upgrade of EFAS has no impact on the EFAS modelling results.

Technical details