Short- and long-term flow forecasting in the Rio Grande watershed (Brazil)

✍ Scribed by Carlos E. M. Tucci; Walter Collischonn; Robin T. Clarke; Adriano R. Paz; Daniel Allasia

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 404 KB
• Volume: 9
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1530-261X
• DOI: 10.1002/asl.165

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

As part of a research project to improve flow forecasts for the operation and planning of Brazilian hydroelectric reservoirs, a large‐scale distributed hydrological model has been used with quantitative precipitation forecasts and an empirical data assimilation procedure. This article summarizes some results obtained for the Rio Grande watershed (145 000 km^2^), one of the Hydrologic Ensemble Prediction Experiment (HEPEX) test beds. For the short‐term horizon (up to 12 days), results show that this methodology can clearly improve real‐time operation of reservoirs. However, longer‐term flow forecasts (time horizon up to 6 months) still require improvement in forecasts from climate models. Copyright © 2008 Royal Meteorological Society