Sino-Dutch Cooperative Project on Establishment of a Satellite Based Water Monitoring and Flow Forecasting System in the Yellow River Basin

The project aims to establish an operational energy and water balance, drought monitoring and flow simulation and forecasting system for the Yellow River Basin in China.

The system is based on real time precipitation and evaporation information obtained from meteorological satellites, i.e. GMS and Feng Yun 2C, in combination with limited ground station observations via the WMO GTS network. The outputs of the satellite based energy and water balance and monitoring system (EWBMS) are daily and 10 daily spatially distributed image maps of rainfall and actual evapo-transpiration at approximately 5 by 5 km resolution. These outputs are used by the large scale hydrological modelling (LSHM) system for flow simulation and forecasting on daily and sub-daily time steps at various locations of the river basin. In addition the EWBMS also provides drought information over the basin. Overall, the system provides timely information about the water resources availability and flood and drought situation over various parts of the river basin, and thus provides crucial information for the operational water resources management in the Yellow River.

The Yellow River is the second largest river of China after the Yangtze River. Due to water intake from the river for industry, agriculture and domestic use, the flow tends to dry up in the lower reaches during the summer period, but has risk of flooding in case of high precipitation. While water availability in the Yellow River catchments is highly irregular, water demand is steadily increasing; more and more pressure is put on decision-making concerning the allocation and development of water resources. A detailed assessment of water resources is currently carried out every ten years but in view of the climatic variability, more frequent assessments are highly desirable. Monitoring (measuring time series) is currently restricted to precipitation and river flow at a limited number of locations. These limited measurements are not adequate to provide a good overview of water resources availability over the river basis, particularly in real-time.

China’s water problems were presented and discussed at the China Water Session of the Second World Water Forum, which was held 17-22 March 2000 in The Hague, the Netherlands. During the Forum, the first discussions took place between the Chinese delegation and the Dutch parties. In consultation with the Ministry of Water Resources, the Yellow River Conservancy Commission in Zhen Zhou was approached for cooperation, resulting in signing a memorandum of understanding and the subsequent project formulation.

This project is developing a system that provides water resources information that is continuous in both space and time, based on satellite remote sensing using data from the Chinese Feng Yun geo-stationary meteorological satellite. Feng Yun data, specifically visible and thermal infrared data, is received hourly, covering the entire basin. In addition, current rainfall point data is received from the WMO GTS network and the Yellow River commission network

The satellite-based energy and water balance monitoring system (EWBMS) developed by EARS, provides daily spatially-distributed images of precipitation, evaporation, and snowmelt quantities for the Yellow River basin, which are being used as atmospheric forcing fields by a distributed large scale hydrological modeling (LSHM) system developed at UNESCO-IHE. Two independent LSHM systems are being implemented.

One system is set up to monitor water resources in the upper reaches of the Yellow River located at the Qinghai-Tibet plateau with a drainage area of 120,000 square kilometers. A second LSHM is setup for the Weihe tributary basin of the Yellow River with an area of 135,000 square kilometers, with a particular focus on flow simulation and forecasting for the lower part of the Weihe, which is vulnerable to high water levels during the flood season from July to September. The entire system, capable of computing at spatial scales of five kilometers and sub-daily time scales, is implemented in an existing state-of-the-art operational flow monitoring, forecasting and visualization shell in use at the YRCC.

The major outputs/achievements are:

· Installation of the Feng Yun 2c Satellite data receiving and processing system

· Installation of the energy and water balance and monitoring system installation for rainfall and evaporation output.

· Installation of the large scale hydrological modelling system for flow simulation and prediction for the upper Yellow River basin.

· Installation of the large scale hydrological modelling system for flow simulation and forecasting for the Weihe sub-basin.

· Setup of the project website for information dissemination.

· Training and joint research and development work in the Netherlands for 16 YRCC staff (total of 32 man-month).

· A number of technical visits in the Netherlands by senior staff members of YRCC.

· More than 15 publications on international conferences proceedings.