Large-scale hydrological modeling using the ECHSE* framework - Test of computational concepts and verification of satellite-based precipitation estimates*) Eco-hydrological simulation environment

• Applicant: Dr. David Kneis
• Subject Area: Hydrogeology, Hydrology, Limnology, Urban Water Management, Water Chemistry, Integrated Water Resources Management
• Term: from 2012 to 2013
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 229163563

In the context of the PROGRESS project, the ECHSE hydrological modeling framework has been developed by the applicant. The ECHSE is a generic tool to efficiently create (eco)-hydrological simulation models. So far, the framework has been used to set up rainfall-runoff models for meso-scale river basins. In the proposed project, it is planned to test the usability of an ECHSE-based hydrological model for large-scale applications. Studies are to be conducted in the Mahanadi River Basin, India (approx. 130000 sqkm).The first goal of the proposed project is to gain experience with the application of ECHSE-based hydrological models at large spatial scales. In the focus of interest are the effects of spatial discretization and parallelization on computational efficiency. The planned experiments aim at the identification of possible limits of the ECHSE's generic model core. Another aim is the derivation of guidelines for future large-scale applications and computationally expensive applications in general.The second goal is to study the suitability of precipitation estimates created by merging rain gage information with satellite-based TRMM-3B42 data on a daily basis (TRMM: Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission). Precipitation estimates are to be verified by cross-validation as well as by analyzing their performance in hydrological modeling. Ideally, a spatially transferable solution for quantitative precipitation estimation in tropical regions with sparse rain gage networks is developed. Such a solution would be of interest to many other projects in practice and research. Rainfall regionalization using spatially continuous co-variables is currently an active field of research.It is envisaged to conduct this study in cooperation with the Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur. In particular, collaboration is planned with the group of Prof. R. Singh and C. Chatterjee (Department of Agricultural & Food Engineering). This group is specialized on hydrological modeling, including forecasting. They conducted several studies related to water management in the Mahanadi River basin. Members of the Indian group already visited the applicant's home institute for collaborative research and teaching in recent years.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: India
• Host: Professor Dr. Rajendra Singh