The Copernicus Emergency Management Service has rolled out a major upgrade to the Global Flood Awareness System (GloFAS) with the introduction of version 4.0. This advancement aims to improve flood prediction and management, supporting the work of civil protection professionals, decision makers in national authorities, and international aid organisations.
The new GloFAS 4.0 operates at a 0.05 degrees resolution (~5km), doubling the precision from its predecessor's 0.1 degrees (~10km).
By incorporating the latest research, remote sensing techniques, and in-situ datasets, the revamped system keeps providing registered users with increasingly accurate and timely insights that raise awareness in regions likely to experience a flood event.
This is particularly relevant for areas where national or regional flood early warning systems are unavailable or provide limited information only. The GloFAS forecasts complement national and on‑the‑ground information, and provides a broader basis for decision-making before a flood event strikes
The open-source hydrological model LISFLOOD (a cornerstone of GloFAS) has undergone significant upgrades, too. A hydrologic model calibration using nearly 2 000 in‑situ gauging stations was performed to improve the simulation and prediction capacities.
The model also went through a regionalisation of model parameters that transferred knowledge from gauged catchments to ungauged catchments. As a result, GloFAS 4.0 ensures regions without direct in‑situ discharge observations can also benefit from the improved modelling.
In addition, based on this improved model, a new hydrological reanalysis spanning from 1980–2022 was created. This reanalysis enables users to analyse past floods, low-flow events or hydrological trends.
The hydrological reanalysis data was used to generate global flood hazard maps for different flood return periods at 90m resolution. These maps are not only an important feature to estimate the impacts of a predicted flood, but they are also highly relevant for long-term flood management strategies.
Users can now access the enhanced GloFAS 4.0 via the GloFAS Map Viewer. In the meantime, GloFAS v3.5 will be maintained until April 2024 to serve users who need more time to adapt to GloFAS v4.0.
Feedback on the new version is encouraged, emphasising the collaborative spirit of enhancing disaster management tools. Users that are interested in further technical details about GloFAS v4.0, and in general about GloFAS, can find more information in the GloFAS Wiki.
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