CE 394K.2 Surface Water Hydrology Project Proposal
Introduction ~ The Model ~ Data Sources ~ References
In the response to severe droughts and floods in Africa, several international organizations have united in an effort to devise a method of predicting these events to warn people prior to the occurrence of such disasters. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) along with other organizations established the Famine Early Warning System (FEWS) . The goal of FEWS is to lower the incidence of drought-induced famine by providing timely and accurate information regarding potential famine conditions. Following El Nino flooding in 1997, USAID along with other international organizations formed the FEWS Flood Risk Monitoring project. Similar to the Famine Early Warning System, the Flood Risk Monitoring project was developed to provide up-to-date information about the risk and extent of flooding in East Africa. Part of this project included the development of the FEWS Flood Risk Monitoring Model by the USGS Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS) Data Center to provide a continuous daily simulation of stream flow for approximately 3,000 basins on the African continent. This model is still under development, and is currently being tested in Mozambique. For my project I plan to use this model to simulate similar results in the Limpopo Basin of Mozambique.
Mozambique is located on the southeastern coast of Africa.
The FEWS Flood Risk Monitoring Model consists of a GIS-based rainfall-runoff simulation model. This model calculates runoff by considering two zones: an active soil layer where soil-vegetation-atmospheric interactions occur, and a groundwater zone. In the active layer evaporation, transpiration, and percolation take place; in the lower layer only transpiration and percolation are considered. Runoff is calculated as surface runoff due to precipitation excess, rapid subsurface flow and baseflow (dry-weather flow).
The Mozambique Stream Flow Model (SFM) is a flood model currently under development at the USGS. The Limpopo Basin in Mozambique is being used as a study area for testing the model and its predictions. A hydrologic model is also being developed or a pilot basin in Kenya ( Nzoia River ) that flows into Lake Victoria ( http://edcsnw3.cr.usgs.gov/ip/fewsfloodrisk/index.html ). The results from the Nzoia River model will be used to develop a flood risk model for other important river basins and key monitoring locations in the region.
Important datasets required by the model include:
The USGS/EROS Data Center provides technical support services to FEWS in the use of remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) technologies.
*Special thanks to Gulied A. Artan (USGS)*
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