CHPS FEWS Pilot

In October 2005, at the invitation of the OHD Senior Scientist, representatives from the Dutch hydraulics engineering company WL | Delft traveled to the NOAA NWS headquarters and provided the OHD staff with a demonstration of Delft's open source software framework called the Delft Flood Early Warning System (Delft-FEWS). Not only did the system appear to be an ideal ready-made solution for CHPS, but the system was also in operational use within Europe.

Then in September 2006, at the request of the recently formed CHPS Acceleration Team (CAT), the OHD requested that Delft Hydraulics develop a sample configuration to demonstrate the Delft-FEWS in an NWS RFC environment, rather than a European environment.

CAT membership includes the following:

Rob Hartman, Hydrologist In Charge, CNRFC
John Halquist, Development & Operations Hydrologist, NCRFC
Harold Opitz, Hydrologist In Charge, NWRFC
Billy Olsen, Hydrologist In Charge, ABRFC
Pedro Restrepo, OHD Senior Scientist

This demonstration system was named the "CHPS FEWS Pilot". It was initially configured for, and deployed at, the NWRFC and the NCRFC.

With the CHPS FEWS Pilot system in place, the CAT became responsible for evaluating the capabilities of Delft-FEWS, and for determining whether the system is a viable replacement for the NWSRFS.

The Pilot system included the following basic functionality:

• Unit Hydrograph model
• Snow model
• Sac-SMA model
• Routing model
• Reservoir model
• Workflows that mimic existing HCL
• Basic time series transformations
• Ability to conduct ‘what-if’ scenarios
• Estimation of missing data and computation of basin area averages from point values

After an intense 4 month period, the system was completed and a demonstration of the CHPS FEWS Pilot system took place at the Northwest RFC (NWRFC) in Portland, Oregon on April 17-18 2007.

Documentation describing the Pilot design is available here (in PDF).

One outcome of the demonstration was the recognition that certain key capabilities, currently in widespread use via NWSRFS, are essential if Delft-FEWS is to be a viable solution for CHPS. These included:

• Provision of a MODS-like capability
• Inclusion of the SNOW-17 model (replacing the Snowmelt model used in the Pilot)
• Implementation of a distributed architecture (currently standalone)
• Additional training

Furthermore, the ABRFC indicated a desire to install and evaluate the CHPS FEWS Pilot.

The OHD has initiated new tasking through existing contracts to implement these enhancements. The conversion of SNOW-17 to FEWS will be implemented by the OHD.

Meanwhile the OHD has engaged Apex Digital Systems to first determine success (evaluation) criteria for the CHPS FEWS Pilot, and then assist the CAT members in evaluating the system based on these criteria. Throughout the summer of 2007, Apex will analyze results from the Pilot system to ultimately help the OHD determine whether Delft-FEWS is a viable solution for CHPS.

The evaluation will also identify a set of prioritized requirements that must be included in a CHPS Initial Operating Capability (IOC).

For updates concerning activities on this project, visit the CHPS News & Activities page.

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