HEPEX 2014 achievements

Contributed by Andy Wood, Maria-Helena Ramos, Fredrik Wetterhall, Florian Pappenberger, Jan Verkade and Nathalie Voisin

2014 is (almost) over… Did you miss something?

• It all started with four people having something to say…: our 2014 HEPEX columnists did a great job and shared with us their thoughts, doubts, ideas and projects. You can read their columns again here. We expect they will keep on contributing to the website, while new ones are planned to 2015. Who are they??…. Keep following us and early 2015 you’ll meet the HEPEX new columnists!

• The 10 years of HEPEX were definitely well celebrated in the Maryland workshop in June. If you missed the workshop and its live twitees, you can always count on your colleagues’ memories (see the participants in our photo gallery), the summary blog post, or check the presentations here. The workshop was clearly focused on user’s applications, achievements and remaining challenges, marking the viability and success of ensemble predictions in operational contexts.

• Operational ensemble forecasting systems have, by the way, been increasingly described in our website. In 2014 only, we were introduced to several systems operating or being developed: for instance, the EDF (French producer of energy) HEPS system, the forecasting system in the Mekong River, the European Flood Awareness System (EFAS), the French Flood Forecasting Service (SCHAPI) and its partnership with Météo-France, the hydropower-focused HEPS in development for Três Marias in Brazil, the operational system and challenges in flood forecasting in Québec and Poland, the Scottish Flood Forecasting Service, the forecasting applications in Bangladesh, and the seasonal streamflow forecast systems in Australia and Sweden.

• Pathways for developments in coupling hydrology with new data sets were discussed during the H-SAF & HEPEX workshops in November in Reading. If you missed it, a summary and the presentations are available here. And our Webinar channel offer you the possibility to watch the presentations. Future workshops in HEPEX will also focus on coupling our activities with other initiatives: for instance, GEWEX, IAHS.

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  At the AGU HEPEX 2014 Splinter meeting, a small group of attendees from researchers to operational forecasters gathered to hear why HEPEX is the secret and essential ingredient of forecasting systems that not only operate, but provide excellent forecasts. HEPEX’s emphasis on the dark arts of hydrologic prediction — including parameter estimation, atmospheric forecast downscaling, data assimilation, post-processing, verification and forecast communication — was highlighted, as well as HEPEX’s unique make-up comprising members from research to practice, which has generated a valuable, pragmatic perspective on priorities in hydrologic forecasting science.  The next HEPEX gathering will be at the EGU, Vienna, in April 2015. Keep an eye on our announcements and don’t forget to submit abstracts and come to our meetings in 2015.

• During the workshop in Reading, HEPEX Portal proudly reached its 50,000 views! With 165 posts published, we have now almost 54,000 views and 307 comments posted. The award of most viewed post comes to ‘Gender balance in hydrology‘ by Bettina Schaefli, showing that the HEPEX community is interested in a large variety of topics!

• Today, HEPEX has over 330 members registered to its mailing list, spreading news on new projects, job positions, fellowship opportunities and upcoming meetings. The website has almost 90 guest authors and contributors, who have already co-authored one or several posts. If you want to join this group and write a post, you just need to follow the guidelines and contact us. Every contribution is welcome!

“Pour accomplir de grandes choses il ne suffit pas d’agir il faut rêver; il ne suffit pas de calculer, il faut croire” (To accomplish great things we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe), Anatole France.

HEPEX activites continue in 2015! Happy New Year to all!