Improving predictions and management of hydrological extremes

Hydrological forecasts of different lead times are needed by inland waterway transport to improve transport cost planning and the competitiveness of the inland navigation sector within the overall transport market.

Within IMPREX several pre-operational forecast products have been developed to support decision making in this sector:

• probabilistic 10-day water level forecast for waterway Rhine, the most important inland waterway in Europe, required to optimize transport management, short-term stock management and waterway maintenance;
• monthly to seasonal flow forecast products for the German waterways Rhine, Elbe and Danube required for medium- to long- term planning and optimization of the water-bound logistic chain (stock management, fleet composition, adjustment of the industrial production chain, connecting waterway transport with other transport modes / modal split planning), as well as for the sediment management of harbours and tidal influenced waterways.

Besides the forecasts products, which are the visible output for the stakeholders, the deliverable D9.4 in the report, describes the underlying forecasting systems, which have been set-up in the course of IMPREX at BfG. These forecasting systems form the backbone of future forecasting services providing users with specific forecast products.