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HYdraulic retrievals from Data assimilation: River Observation with SWOT (HYDROS)

Principle Investigator: Hind Oubanas (INRAE​)

Co-Investigator(s): Sophie Ricci

Collaborator(s): Pierre-Olivier Malaterre, Igor Gejadze, Ludovic Cassan, Andrea Piacentini

Following nearly a decade of rigorous preparations for the SWOT mission and its successful launch in December 2022, substantial methodological and algorithmic advancements have been made to enable the estimation of the SWOT discharge product and essential hydraulic properties of the river. The proposed project is a continuation of the previously funded project SWOT-DAHM (TOSCA 2020-2023), with wider scientific objectives, focusing on hydrological-hydraulics coupling and operational applications using the actual SWOT data. In this respect, the HYDROS project aims at leveraging the SWOT satellite's capabilities to provide comprehensive insights into hydraulic and hydrological systems, of different scales including global. Each work package (WP) within the project is tailored to specific objectives, ensuring a holistic approach to river system analyses. The project emphasizes the estimation and validation of hydraulic variables derived from the SWOT solely, concurrently assessing the statistical errors (WP 1 & 2). Following this foundational stage, we focus on refining SWOT products through integration of multiple data sources in order to enhance accuracy of hydraulic retrievals (WP 2 & 3). This step requires methodological advancements combining hydraulic modeling, data assimilation approaches as well as reanalysis (WP 4). A significant milestone involves the integration of hydrological and hydraulic systems. This coupling is essential to transfer information across different time and space scales, ensuring a complete understanding of the river network (WP 5). Culminating these rigorous developmental phases, the project transitions to an operational stage through applications on key basins targeting societal challenges and emphasizing the potential of SWOT mission. The main scientific objectives can be summarized into six intersecting objectives:

  • WP1: SWOT Discharge estimation and validation within the DAWG during the CalVal and nominal orbits in addition to discharge uncertainty assessment.
  • WP2: River FloodPlain Digital Elevation Model as well as its 2-dimensional dynamics using SWOT and muli-satellite data.
  • WP3: SWOT in a multi-mission framework through multi-satellite data assimilation for hydraulic retrievals as well as investigation of ‘what if’ scenarios for future missions design.
  • WP4: SWOT in a multi-satellite and reanalysis framework in order to recreate historical records.
  • WP5: Hydraulic and hydrological coupling at the catchment scale for improved discharge simulations in smaller tributaries as well as extending the forecast lead time.
  • WP6: SWOT applications and societal challenges in key basins with socio-economic
Complementarity and interactions between the proposed algorithms
Complementarity and interactions between the proposed algorithms : 1- SICFLOW, referring to “Sic Inverse problem Capabilities for river FLOW dynamics” is a multilevel structure that is under development and refinement to meet the global discharge requirements of the SWOT mission, structured to cater to various objectives. 2- T2DiSURFreferring to “Telemac 2D inverse problem capabilities for water SURFace elevation” is dedicated to 2D modeling over local areas of catchment of interest where the hypothesis of 1D modeling no longer holds.