LISFLOOD-OS is a spatially distributed physically based hydrological model which has been developed by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission since 1997 (De Roo et al., 2000). LISFLOOD OS is particularly suited for the modelling of rainfall-runoff processes in large catchments.
LISFLOOD OS has been used for operational flood forecasting at the pan-European scale since the beginning of EFAS, and as main hydrological model in GloFAS from version 3.1
LISFLOOD OS is able to represent all the main hydrological processes: partition of precipitation into rain and snow, snow melting, canopy interception of rain, water infiltration into the soil, groundwater storage, surface runoff, lakes, dams, irrigation, and other human water uses, flow in the rivers and in the floodplains. The numerical simulation is driven by meteorological forcing data (precipitation, temperature, and evapotranspiration). A set of raster maps showing the terrain morphology, soil properties, land cover and land use features, water demand, enables the modelling of runoff processes in different climates and socio-economic contexts. LISFLOOD OS solves the water balance at each time step and for each grid cell.
Driven by meteorological forcing data (of precipitation, temperature, potential evapotranspiration, and evaporation rates for open water and bare soil surfaces), LISFLOOD calculates a complete water balance (for GloFAS at a daily time step, for EFAS at a 6-hourly time step) for every grid cell of the domain. The runoff produced at every grid cell is routed through the river network using a kinematic wave approach. The model also includes options to simulate lakes, reservoirs and water abstraction. LISFLOOD is coded using the Python programming language and a PCRaster Python extension. LISFLOOD and its associated tools are all open-source. The LISFLOOD source code, model documentation, test catchments and tools can be found at the LISFLOOD OS page.
