Copernicus

GloFAS available data

A number of GloFAS simulated discharge products are available to access. For more information please refer to the GloFAS wiki pages.

There are three ways to access GloFAS Data, all being subject to the terms and conditions of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service – flood forecasting and monitoring systems. They are all detailed in the GloFAS wiki pages

1. Web Map Service Time (WMS-T)

A Web Map Service with time (WMS-T) is available for selected GloFAS geospatial products. A Web Map Service (WMS) is a standard protocol for serving over the Internet geo-referenced map images that are generated by a map server using data from a Geographic Information System GIS database. The specification was developed and first published by the Open Geospatial Consortium OGC in 1999. A WMS server can provide support to temporal requests (WMS-T). This is done by providing a TIME parameter with a time value in the request.

The GloFAS WMS-T gives access to the www.globalfloods.eu layers in a GIS environment. You can access those layers using any WMS viewer, such as e.g. QGIS or ArcMap. Further details are available in the specific documentation.

2. Tailored ftp service

Access to real-time river flow forecasts and forecast reruns from GloFAS (both GloFAS 30-days and GloFAS Seasonal) is possible through a dedicated ftp service set-up by the GloFAS team upon request. Data is provided either as point time series or 2D grid series, both in netCDF format.

Request of real-time forecasts or forecast reruns, or any other inquiry and feedback on the service can be made to info@globalfloods.eu. The team endeavours to respond to all requests as soon as possible within 10 working days. Please provide the following information when sending a request for data, including the period of simulation requested (real time or forecast reruns):

• Requesting data for stations/points (only for river sections with upstream area larger than 1000 km²):
  • Station ID(s)
  • Name of station(s)
  • Name of River(s)
  • Name of country
  • Station latitude(s)/longitude(s)
  • Station upstream area(s) from provider (if available)
• Requesting data for areas:
  • Latitudes/longitudes of the bounding box region

3. Data download

From autumn 2019, real-time river flow forecasts and forecast reruns from GloFAS will be made available through ECMWF Meteorological Archival and Retrieval System (MARS) and Copernicus Climate Change Service Climate Data Store. For specific data for manipulation, it is recommended that you access the data through the CDS.

• MARS is the main repository of meteorological data at ECMWF. It contains petabytes of operational and research data, discoverable through the Archive catalogue (describing archive data that ECMWF can distribute) or from the complete MARS catalogue (authorization required)
• The CDS is an easy-access archive for all kinds of climate data. All archived GloFAS data will be made available as raw output. Data can the easily be manipulated using the CDS toolbox to retrieve the specific information e.g. temporal aggregations

Share your data with EFAS/GloFAS?

GloFAS relies on hydro-meteorological observations, numerical weather predictions and satellite images in order to produce, enrich and validate its products, resulting in improved accuracy and reliability.

In-situ monitoring of hydrological variables are crucial for GloFAS model input, calibration, validation and post-processing. We greatly acknowledge the contributions of all data providers and their effort to GloFAS, the Copernicus EMS and the Copernicus program.

To know more about collaboration and data exchange, please contact the technical GloFAS team info@globalfloods.eu or through the Contact Us. They will aim to respond to all queries within 10 working days.