HEPEX workshop 2023 – Forecasting across spatial scales and time horizons

Keynote talks 

Forecasting socio-hydrological extremes

by Giuliano Di Baldassarre, Uppsala University, Sweden

“This presentation discusses how the interplay between technical, social and physical processes is influenced by the availability of climate services, with a focus on the benefits and unintended consequences of forecasting socio-hydrological extremes, i.e. floods and droughts, across spatial and temporal scales.“

Giuliano Di Baldassarre is a professor of surface water hydrology and environmental analysis at the Department of Earth Sciences of Uppsala University, as well as the director of the Centre of Natural Hazards and Disaster Science (CNDS). His research deals with risks, crises or disasters resulting from the interplay between water, environment and society with a focus on human impacts on (and responses to) hydroclimatic extremes, i.e. droughts and floods. He aims to both advance fundamental science and inform policy in the context of disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and sustainability. Giuliano has been the recipient of international honours, including the Plinius Medal by the European Geosciences Union (EGU), the Witherspoon Lecture Award by the American Geophysical Union (AGU), and the Consolidator Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). He was one of the leaders (also serving as the Chair between 2017-2019) of Panta Rhei, the global research initiative on water-society interactions of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS). Giuliano published more than 150 papers in peer-reviewed journals, including multidisciplinary ones such as Nature Sustainability, Science Advances and Nature.

Energiforsk – Coordinating the hydropower industry’s hydrological research needs

by Emma Hagner, Energiforsk, Sweden

“We’ll dive into how Energiforsk works with R&D in hydro as well as look into the challenges our research programme Hydrological development in the hydropower industry, HUVA, is facing at the moment.“

Emma Hagner is the research area director for hydro at Energiforsk and she is responsible for their R&D portfolio in the area. Energiforsk is a research and knowledge institute that advances and coordinates energy research and continually strive to remain a natural hub for energy research – impartially working for the benefit of future energy systems.
One of her most important roles at Energiforsk is being the centre manager for the Swedish Centre of Sustainable Hydropower (SVC), where she coordinates and leads centre activities. She is also a member of the Scientific committee in HydroCen (Norwegian hydropower centre) which gives her a good overview of Nordic research in the hydropower area. Background as a technical consultant at SWECO in hydropower turbines but has also worked with projects concerning hydropower’s role in the energy system.

Progress and perspectives in hydrometeorological modelling and forecasting

by Antara Dasgupta, RWTH Aachen University, Germany

“There has been unprecedented progress in ensemble hydro-meteorological modelling and forecasting on a range of spatiotemporal scales, leading to a variety of new challenges. These were discussed during the Joint Virtual Workshop “Connecting global to local hydrological modelling and forecasting: challenges and scientific advances” (29 June – 1 July 2021) and reviewed by the early career HEPEX community in 2023. This talk will highlight recent advances and ongoing challenges in hydrological modelling and forecasting, as well as on the use of forecasts for decision-making from global to local scales, presenting the way forward for the community from an early career perspective.“

Antara Dasgupta is currently a Tenure Track Juniorprofessor of Data Driven Computing in Civil Engineering at the RWTH Aachen University in Germany, where she tries to solve the grand challenges in hydrology using Earth Observation, data assimilation and deep learning. Previously as a Research and Technology Associate at the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, she led the assimilation of EO data and physics-based models for the development of digital twins for improved hazard forecasting and estimation. As a postdoc at the University of Osnabrück, Germany, she also explored the role of deep learning in hydroinformatics and remote sensing to bolster global flood forecasting capabilities. Earlier she evaluated commercial radar satellites for flood monitoring and developed radar-based flood mapping algorithms in the industry, as the Senior Radar Scientist at Floodbase, US. AD has won numerous awards and published a number of scientific as well as popular science articles, and was recently recognized as a Rising Star in the Geospatial sector by the Geospatial World Forum. Antara is a strong advocate of EDI in the geospatial sector and co-leads the Sisters of SAR Twitter initiative, and also volunteers her time as a member of the steering committee of the Global Flood Partnership.

The rise of machine learning in forecasting – HEPEXAI?

Florian Pappenberger is Deputy-Director General and leader of the Forecast Department at the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts. He is an expert in the operational delivery of weather forecasts and the forecasting of weather driven natural hazards such as floods, droughts, windstorms, forest fires and impacts on human health. He is the author of over 350 scientific publications. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Meteorological Society as well as member of several other professional bodies.

20 July 2023

See: Workshop_Agenda_Final

05 September 2023

(due to high on site participation, you can only follow the workshop online)