HEPEX is an international initiative bringing together hydrologists, meteorologists, researchers and endusers to develop advanced probabilistic hydrological forecast techniques for improved flood, drought and water management. HEPEX was launched in 2004 as an independent, cooperative international scientific activity. During the first meeting, the overarching goal was defined as
''to develop and test procedures to produce reliable hydrological ensemble forecasts, and to demonstrate their utility in decision making related to the water, environmental and emergency management sectors''
Key questions of HEPEX are:
* What adaptations are required for meteorological ensemble systems to be coupled with hydrological ensemble systems?
* How should the existing hydrological ensemble prediction systems be modified to account for all sources of uncertainty within a forecast?
* What is the best way for the user community to take advantage of ensemble forecasts and to make better decisions based on them?
The applications of Hydrological Ensemble Predictions span across large spatio-temporal scales ranging from short-term and very localized predictions to global climate change modeling.
HEPEX is organised around six major themes:
* Input and pre-processing
* Ensemble techniques and process modelling
* Data assimilation
* Post-processing
* Verification
* Communication and use in decision making
Organisation of HEPEX
HEPEX is currently co-chaired by
NOAA
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...
, the
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast and the
European Commission Joint Research Centre
The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is the European Commission's science and knowledge service which employs scientists to carry out research in order to provide independent scientific advice and support to European Union (EU) policy. The JRC is ...
. Co-chairs are elected during plenary HEPEX meetings.
There is no formal membership for HEPEX. The HEPEX community is established through active participation of scientists, end users and decision makers in research, discussions and exchange of information on topics related to probabilistic hydrological predictions for floods, droughts, water management or related topics.
The community has been very active with growing importance. Information on the initiative and the possibility to actively contribute to ongoing discussions can be found on th
HEPEX website HEPEX webinars can be followed online with the possibility to participate in the discussion. They are then transferred for online viewin
here.
See also
*
European Flood Alert System
The European Flood Awareness System is a European Commission initiative to increase preparedness for riverine floods across Europe.
The disastrous floods in Elbe and Danube rivers in 2002 confronted the European Commission with non-coherent fl ...
- Probabilistic flood forecasting on European Scale
HEPEX webinarsEuropean Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast*
NOAA
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...
External links
HEPEX webpageFloods Portal of the EC Joint Research Centre
Hydrology