Bangladesh
"...fills the critical need of forecasting transboundary flows with greater lead time"
-Saiful Hossain, Superintendent Engineer FFWC
Background Information
Bangladesh has three large rivers flowing into the country, Brahmaputra, Padma, and Teesta, and because of that experiences frequent flooding due to the topography of the flood plain. In order to improve the decision making process, Bangladesh needs real-time and forecasted data. The lack of information on streamflow forecasts makes it difficult to predict floods accurately. The challenges faced by Bangladesh due to repeated floods caused by upstream flows from the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers, account for 92% of the entire drainage area.
Bangladesh has three large rivers flowing into the country, Brahmaputra, Padma, and Teesta, and because of that experiences frequent flooding due to the topography of the flood plain. In order to improve the decision making process, Bangladesh needs real-time and forecasted data. The lack of information on streamflow forecasts makes it difficult to predict floods accurately. The challenges faced by Bangladesh due to repeated floods caused by upstream flows from the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers, account for 92% of the entire drainage area.
Source: Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, 2022
Using GEOGLOWS to gather data
In Bangladesh, GEOGLOWS can be used to monitor and model streamflow and water quality in the major rivers, including the Brahmaputra, Ganges, and Meghna rivers. To address this, the Bangladesh Flood Forecast and Warning Center (FFWC) developed an application that uses the ECMWF ensemble forecasts through a streamflow prediction tool API. The Tethys application displays the forecasts at each of the transboundary rivers, providing a probabilistic forecast with a lead time of 15 days.