title | GloFAS v3.4 Pre-operational release on Stage Platform |
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title | Description of GloFAS v3.4 (pre-operational release) |
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The following is a description of GloFAS
v3.4.v4.1, available as fully operational GloFAS from 28 February 2024.
For an overview of other GloFAS releases, please see : GloFAS versioning system
The forecasts of GloFAS version 3.4 are available in pre-release mode from 16 November 2022 on the GloFAS Stage Platform: https://stage.globalfloods.eu/glofas-forecasting/. To access the GloFAS stage website, visit https://stage.globalfloods.eu/accounts/signup/ to create your account.
Summary
GloFAS
version 3v4.
4 introduces some important enhancements1 introduces several minor changes to the
web products, including methodological, visual, and technical changes. The changes aim to aid user experience when interpreting the forecasts on the GloFAS map viewer. All changes implemented are summarised here:system, including:
- Increased offering of forecast variables made available through the Climate Data Store. See Model Output page for details. The data will also be made available for the reanalysis:
- Runoff Water Equivalent (surface plus subsurface),
- Snow Depth Water Equivalent,
- and Soil Wetness Index (root-zone).
- Improved reporting point layer, with additional metadata available for 'dynamic reporting points'.
- Improved information on the GloFAS map viewer (updated legends and layer titles).
- GloFAS Flood thresholds available for various return periods, see Auxiliary Data pages for GloFAS v4.0 flood threshold files.
This upgrade of GloFAS has no impacts on the GloFAS modelling results
STATIC tab
- The 'Upstream Area' static layer has been replaced by the 'LISFLOOD Drainage Network'. This layer now shows the rivers as vectors, with the thickness and colour of the lines indicating the drainage (or upstream) area.
HYDROLOGICAL tab
- 'Flood summary for days 1-3', 'Flood summary for days 4-10', 'Flood summary for days 11-30':
- Flood summary maps are coloured according to the probabilities of exceeding 2- (yellow), 5- (red), and 20-year (purple) return period flood threshold within the given period, with the colour tone defined according to three probability of exceedance classes (30-50%, 50-75% and 75-100%).
- New 'Flood summary for days 1-30' layer, showing the flood summary over the full 30-day forecast horizon.
- '5 Year Return Period Exceedance' and '20 Year Return Period Exceedance'
- Colour tone defined according to six probability of exceedance classes, defined by increments of 20% (instead of increments of 10%) to improve visibility.
- Major upgrade of the methodology used to generate the 'Reporting Point' layer :
- Improved algorithm to generate the dynamic reporting points, resulting in more homogeneous coverage of the flooded river sections by the reporting points.
- Dynamic reporting points remaining at the same location over consecutive forecasts and only removed when the flood signal disappears, allowing the user to trace the evolution of the forecast over the same river catchment.
- Reporting point colours now only show the flood severity category (yellow, red or purple). This improves visibility and avoids the repetition of information already provided in the flood summary maps with the three probability-based subcategories.
- Peak timing indicated on the reporting points as black border (within first 3 days) or greyed colours (beyond 10 days). This allows to quickly identify areas with flood expected in a short range (i.e. requiring more immediate action), or floods expected in more than 10 days.
- Forecast tendency and peak date algorithms are defined according to the ensemble median, consistently with the reporting point flood categories, with a downward tendency highlighted if the discharge drops by at least 10% compared with the reference initial discharge value.
- Discharge hydrograph vertical axis scale is defined according to the interquartile range of the ensemble forecast. This change avoids outliers dominating the hydrograph plots, thus improving visibility of the forecast especially in very dry areas. Maximum ensemble forecast values shown as a numerical value if they fall outside of the displayed range.
- Forecast overview table simplified to show the combined flood signal of the three severity levels (2-, 5-, and 20-year), colour-coded according to the flood summary maps probability levels.
FLOOD RISK tab
- Upgraded methodology used to generate the 'Rapid Flood Mapping' layer
- Flood extent defined according to the probability of exceedance of the ensemble median (instead of the ensemble mean), consistently with the way flood severity is defined in the reporting points.
Map viewer features:
- Multi-tab feature which allows users to see pop-out windows for several queryable products in a single window.
- Improved functionalities in the pop-out windows for better user experience (dragging, closing and resizing).
- Revised web layer legends.
- Introduction of a stage Information System open to all following registration so that users can access new developments ahead of a release for monitoring.
Wiki
- Updated GloFAS -IS products documentation on the GloFAS wiki.
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Technical details
Pre-release date (available on stage platform) |
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n/a |
Release date |
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2023-02-28 |
In test suite |
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n/a |
GloFAS internal number |
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005 | |
Archiving of data | ECFS, MARS, |
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GloFAS: 1999-01-03 to 2018-12-30.
GloFAS Seasonal: 1981-01-01 to 2016-01-01
The following is a description of GloFAS v3.3. For an overview of other GloFAS releases, please see: GloFAS versioning system
Summary
GloFAS version 3.3 is associated with a change in ECMWF IT infrastructure and the necessary modifications to a number of software. Here is a summary of the main changes:
1. New version of LISFLOOD
LISFLOOD version 3.2.0 is used in this GloFAS 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 GloFAS release.
For more information, please visit the dedicated GitHub space: https://github.com/ec-jrc/lisflood-code/releases
2. Enhancement of the web reporting points layer
- Introducing over 400 new river stations (grey symbols, for monitoring the hydrological forecast) in the reporting point layer
- 279 in Africa
- 45 in Mozambique, 29 in Cote d'Ivoire, 23 in Togo, 22 in Guinea, 19 in Cameroon, 16 in Chad, 14 in Namibia, 11 in Benin and Nigeria, 10 in Sudan and Zambia, 9 in Republic of Congo, 7 in Malawi and Rwanda, 6 in Senegal and Tanzania, 5 in Burkina Faso and Mali, 4 in Gabon and South Africa, 3 in Congo and Guinea Bissau, 2 in Algeria, Morocco and Zimbabwe and finally 1 new station in Botswana, Central African Republic, Ethiopia and Lesotho
- 73 in Central America
- 64 In Guatemala and 9 in Honduras
- 65 in South America
- all 65 in Argentina
- 28 in Asia
- 23 in China and 5 in Bangladesh
- 279 in Africa
Technical details
CDS | |
Reference climatology (for thresholds/ anomalies) | 1980-01-01 to 2022-07-31 |
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GloFAS historical | 1980 |
2022-10-12
GloFAS internal number
ECFS, MARS, CDS
-01-01 to near |
present |
Reforecasts |
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GloFAS: 1999-01-03 to 2018-12-30.
from 2003-03-27 to 2024-02-26 | |
Horizontal projection | EPSG4326 |
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Horizontal resolution | 0. |
05 x 0. |
05° | |
Temporal resolution | Daily |
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