Flood Forecasting
Flood forecasting that is cost-effective and easy to sustain by an operational agency has always been a challenge. This is particularly critical for transboundary floods that account for more damage and destruction than other types of flooding due to lack of information sharing among riparian nations. Happy Earth Solutions has developed satellite remote sensing-based forecasting solutions that are rapid and easily deployable by an agency to improve the prediction of propagation and arrival time of flood peak downstream. Such solutions are currently employed in Bangladesh, Vietnam and other Mekong nations.
Water Supply Forecasting
By combining hydrologic, hydraulic and numerical weather prediction systems in an overarching and open source framework, Happy Earth Solutions have developed comprehensive solution for complete monitoring and forecasting of surface water in large international river basins. Leveraging conventional methods of in-situ gauging and citizen science, such solutions can be further improved with more grass roots participation. Currently, Happy Earth Solutions have such systems in operation in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Egypt.
Hacking Transboundary Reservoirs
Reservoirs impact water, food and energy availability and also damage ecosystems. Due to lack of ground data or agreements between nations, we have traditionally had very little knowledge of how these reservoirs are being operated to quantify their impact, particularly in the vast regions of Africa, Asia and South America. Consequently, management of water for food, energy, ecosystem services and negotiating water sharing treaties have become a challenge for many nations and stakeholders due to lack of basin wide and near real-time information on reservoir operations.
By piecing together vast amounts of satellite remote sensing data from earth observing missions, we can now unlock how reservoirs in Asia, Africa and South America are being operated in terms of storage change, inflow, outflow and rule curves. The Reservoir Assessment Tool (RAT) provides this synopsis every month for reservoirs around the world. RAT levels the playing field for management of water, food and energy, and empowers an individual stakeholder or a nation to build its tailored version of RAT for economic development. Click here for an illustration of the Happy Earth Solution
Water Intelligence
Due to newer dams being built by many upstream nations, downstream nations now urgently requires capability to monitor reservoir operations by upstream nations to adapt and maintain food production. Using satellites and models, Happy Earth Solutions has developed a freely available system for monitoring historically opaque upstream reservoir operations. One such system called the Nile Basin Reservoir Advisory System, or NiBRAS, can now monitor reservoirs upstream of Egypt and forecast water availability inside Egypt to adapt to new challenges posed by Sudan and Ethiopia. Click here for an illustration of the solution.