Watershed Hydrology
The recent availability of Geographic Information Systems, digital terrain maps and digital meteorological radar observations calls for a reformulation of rainfall-runoff and flood forecasting models. We have developed a new distributed real-time flood forecasting model for continuous simulation of mid to large scale watersheds. It exploits digital elevation information at resolutions of tens of meters and can be coupled with radar based rainfall measurements. The model has been tested in several locations as an event based model, responding to given rainfall inputs. We recently updated the model to a continuous time formulation, accounting for moisture redistribution, evaporation and interception. The model fully couples the unsaturated and saturated zones through a dynamic water table and the land surface energy and water balance at the soil surface. Theultimate goal for the model is to utilize the system as a hydrometerological forecasting system for the quantitative prediction of the spatial and temporal hydrologic response in very large basins, on the order of hundreds of thousands square kilometers. The current model, known as tRIBS (TIN-based Real-time Integrated Basin Simulator), is the culmination of a decade or more of work with a raster-based version of the model as well as significant advances in TIN-based geomorphological modeling. Currently, we are working towards providing a robust model packaged with a user interface for a potential commercialization effort. Prof. Dara Entekhabi (MIT), Dr. Earle Williams (Lincoln Lab) and Dr. Ross Hoffman (AER) collaborate in this effort.
Current Projects
Title: A Framework for the Prediction of Soil Moisture Fusing Using Multiple Scale Data Sources
Funding Agency: Army Research Office
Duration: July 2004 - June 2007
Title: Climate Dynamics of Rainfall, Snow, and Vegetation Over Complex River Basins Fully Distributed Hydrological Modeling Approach
Funding Agency: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
Duration: January 2005 -January 2006