Flood Forecasting with Merged Satellite Precipitation and Hydrologic Model

Abstract

Flood forecasting has been an effective way to reduce the potential flood hazards for a sustainable socio-economy. However, the lack of in-situ precipitation records has limited the applicability of flood forecasting with hydrologic models in poorly gauged basins. To address this problem, we aim to develop a flood forecasting framework based on the merged satellite precipitation and a hydrologic model. The framework was then applied to a small basin in the upper Lequan River Basin, Hainan, China for flood forecasting experiments. Results indicate that the combination of merged satellite precipitation and hydrologic model can generally well reproduce the past major flood events occurred in the basin. Our approaches are expected to provide new insights into the flood forecasting in small and poorly gauged basins and can be used to support the sustainable development of the socio-economy.