Asia Flood Network—A USAID Program for Flood Mitigation and Preparedness in

Asia

• Asia Flood Network Program Objective

– Identify and fill gaps in end-to-end flood forecasting and early warning to mitigate adverse impacts of extreme hydrometeorological events

• Benefit– Reduce vulnerability to

hydrometeorological hazards in Asia

Asia Flood Network—A Program for Flood Mitigation and Preparedness in Asia

• Develop partnerships between hydrometeorological entities in Asia and US counterparts, such as:

– US Agency for International Development Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA)

– US Geological Survey (USGS)

– National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

• Pre-program assistance to the Mekong River Commission (MRC) began in 2001 in the form of daily rainfall estimation and forecast

• Process– Asia Flood Network was

launched in 2003 by OFDA, with technical support from NOAA and USGS

– Initial dialogue is centered on the Mekong River basin and assisting MRC’s recently adopted Flood Management Program

– Other activities include the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) Basin and other basins in Asia

Asia Flood Network—A Program for Asian Flood Mitigation and Preparedness

• USGS and NOAA automated hydrometeorological data-collection

• GOES (and other meteorological) satellites for real-time data relay

• NOAA National Weather Service River Forecast System (NWSRFS)

• USGS GeoSpational Forecast Model

• Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission

• Distribution of data and warnings

Asia Flood Network—A Program for Asian Flood Mitigation and Preparedness

Operational and Developmental Technologies

National Hydrologic Information System

USGS Monitoring in the United States

Internet Graphical UserInterfaces

Courier Data Centers

Reports, bulletins, maps,…

National Hydrologic Information System Products

USGS Hydrologic Information System is demand driven through cooperative funding agreements with >1,600 State, county and local agencies and other Federal Agencies

National Hydrologic Information System—Demand Driven

Demand driven by data and analysis needs for:

• Forecasting and Warning• Water Planning and

Management• Navigation• Recreation• Environmental Protection

A System Where:

• Time is critical

• River forecasts becomes flood forecasts

• Products are forecasts and warnings

• Users have planned and are prepared

Flood Warning System, a Special-Case Hydrologic Information System

Data Communication

Forecast and Warning Dissemination

Planning and Coordination

Action

Flash-Flood Warning Systems

Community based protection via real-time Alert Systems

Alert systems:• Community based and operated• Small geographical areas• Rapid response• More monitoring and warning than

forecasting• Provide warnings to the public and

emergency response organizationsInformation at

http://www.udfcd.org/Nhwc/nhwc.htm

NWS Large River Forecasting

Multi-day river forecasts are prepared every six hours for 4,000 forecast points on large rivers from 13 River Forecast Centers, using a common NWS River Forecast System (NWSRFS)

NWSRFS contains >40 hydrologic and hydraulic models, includes Xinanjiang Soil Moisture Accounting Model

NWS Large River Forecasting

Products include short-term and ensemble forecasts

The forecasting system continues to be modernized and supported under the Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service Program

USGS GeoSFM

USGS GeoSFM

GeoSFM is being validated in Distributed Model Intercomparison Project (DMIP) basins with good results, using a standard NOAA-provided data set from a data-rich area in the United States

Integration of USGS-NOAA Tools

USGS and NOAA are integrating GeoSFM into the NWSRFS to provide:

• OFDA and potential Asian partners with a new tool for river and flood forecasting, that can be implemented promptly

• NOAA with a spatially based interface to NWSRFS• USGS with a system in which to operate GeoSFM

Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) (http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/)

A developmental US-Japanese mission that produces tropical rainfall estimates from satellite-based :

• Precipitation radar

• TRMM Microwave Imager

• Visible Infrared Scanner

• A lightening Imaging Sensor

• The Clouds and Earths Radiant Energy System

Data at http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/quicklook/last_2_cal.html

Provision of Flood Early Warning to Flood-Vulnerable Communities in the Lower Mekong River Basin

A joint project of the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) and the Mekong River Commission (MRC) to provide in Phase 1:

• MRC flood information that is responsive to the needs of—and promptly conveyed to—the most flood-vulnerable communities in Cambodia and Lao PDR; and

• Tools, methods and protocols to enable flood-vulnerable populations in Cambodia and Lao PDR

to effectively respond to MRC flood information.

Asia Flood Network—Summary

Flood mitigation and preparedness via the transfer flood-forecasting and warning technologies to:

• Mekong River Commission Flood Management Program

• Mekong River Basin Riparian Countries, through the MRC FMM Capacity Building and Technology Transfer Role

• South Asian Counterparts in the Hindu Kush Himalayan Region

Short-term activities focus on proposal preparation and include:

• USGS, NOAA, and MRC consultative visits to riparian countries

• Riparian visits to the United States