Global Terrestrial Network for River Discharge (GTN-R)

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Global Terrestrial Network for River Discharge
(GTN-R)
sponsored by the Global Climate Observing System
(GCOS), the Global Terrestrial Observing System
(GTOS) and the Hydrology and Water Resources
Programme (HWRP) of the World Meteorological
Organization (WMO) GTN-R is conducted by the
Global Runoff Data Centre (GRDC) GRDC operates
under the auspices of the World Meteorological
Organization with the support of the Federal
Republic of Germany within the Federal Institute
of Hydrology (BfG) Ulrich Looser, Irina
Dornblut, GRDC, e-mail grdc_at_bafg.de, web
http//grdc.bafg.de
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Global Terrestrial Network for River Discharge
(GTN-R)

• Background information to the project realisation
  since 2005
• Status and next steps
• Action Item T4 of GCOS-IP
  Designation of the GCOS Baseline River Discharge
  Network
• GTN-H project 1.3
  Definition of an ISO 19115/19139-conform metadata
  profile and a web-based infrastructure for the
  metadata management
• GTN-H project 2.2
  Development of the GRDC NRT Monitor as a pilot
  web application for retrieval, integration and
  presentation of real-time hydrologic data

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Background information to GTN-R realisation

• 2. NOKIS/NOKIS (http//nokis.baw.de/)
• information infrastructure for the North and
  Baltic Sea Coast as contribution to an Integrated
  Coastal Zone Management (German)
• brings together the metadata of several
  institutions to a network of metadata, hurdling
  their sectoral views by the joint use of a
  standardised web-based environment and metadata
  profiles conform to ISO 19115
• BfG (GRDCs hosting institution) is one of
  currently 16 German federal or state authorities
  who participate in the project
• benefit is expected from new developments
  regarding the standardised metadata collection,
  processing and management
• ISO 19115-conform profiles for geo-data, time
  series, measurements, ...
• web-based environment for metadata collection,
  processing and management
• ?developed and commercially distributed by a
  German software company

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Background information to GTN-R realisation

• 3. European Terrestrial Network for River
  Discharge ETN-R
• (http//etn-r.bafg.de) under development
  (2006-2008)
• service for the automated near real-time data
  collection of river gauging data as contribution
  to the European Flood Alert System (EFAS) of the
  EC-JRC
• metadata about the data providers, stations and
  the data transfer schemes
• real-time river discharge and water level data
  with a high temporal resolution
• historic data as long time series to check the
  plausibility of the NRT data
• synergies are expected by the use of
• valid contact information and reliable station
  selection for European countries
• software system for the automated transfer of
  real-time data, their harmonisation and
  processing
• mapping application to display actual and
  forecasted river discharges in relation to
  long-term thresholds

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European Terrestrial Network for River Discharge
(ETN-R)

• Synergies between both projects are evident, but
  limited due to the different focus
• GTN-R focuses on the outlet stations
• ETN-R focuses on the complete river basins
• ? 18 of the 36 countries contacted within the
  ETN-R project are of interest to the GTN-R

River basins covered by the GTN-R (red outlined)
and the ETN-R (blue coloured)
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A. GCOS Baseline River Discharge Network
(GCOS-IP T4 Establishment of the GTN-R)

• Objective
• Confirm locations of GTN-R sites, determine
  operational status of gauges at all GTN-R sites,
  ensure that the GRDC receives daily river
  discharge data from all 380 sites within one year
  of their observation.
• Output/deliverable
• Identification and establishment of reliable
  contacts to the NHS
• Identification of gauging stations suitable to
  capture the global freshwater flux to the oceans
  and their operational status
• Designation of the GCOS Baseline River Discharge
  Network
• Initial reporting of historical records of the
  confirmed reference stations
• Submission of daily discharge data of confirmed
  stations within one year of their observation

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A. GCOS Baseline River Discharge Network
(GCOS-IP T4 Establishment of the GTN-R)

• Progress to date
• 2004 Initial selection of 380 gauging stations
  by the GRDC (finished)
• 2005 Support letter signed by the WMO Secretary
  General to identified contacts (PR and HA of 82
  countries)
• 2006 Response to the support letter from 21
  countries (25), no general denial was
  communicated
• Initial provision of historical river discharge
  data (in process, until now by the NHS of 10
  countries)
• Start of the regular transfer of real-time data
  (in process, 3 countries)
• Definition of the Development of the GRDC NRT
  data exchange format (finished within the ETN-R
  project)
• 2007 Confirmation of reference stations (in
  process, currently 185 gauging stations in 20
  countries)

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A. GCOS Baseline River Discharge Network
(GCOS-IP T4 Establishment of the GTN-R)
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A. GCOS Baseline River Discharge Network
(GCOS-IP T4 Establishment of the GTN-R)

• To-Do
• Evaluation of known contacts to the NHS,
  identification of new contacts using
• publicly available information (e.g.
  publications and websites of the NHS or
• other national bodies in charge of operational
  hydrology)
• provider information of the ETN-R project (for
  Europe)
• Confirmation of the 265 remaining, initially
  proposed stations
• in 62 countries based on
• newly established provider contacts
• publicly available inventories of hydrometric
  stations
• station selection of the ETN-R project (for
  Europe)

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B. Demonstration of metadata (GTN-H project 1.3)

• Objective
• ... propose a standardised detailed metadata
  format for selected GTN-H data types and
  demonstrate their use in enabling the user to
  discover and access data and related information
  (e.g. data quality).
• Output/deliverable
• Background knowledge Report on metadata Need
  and current practices (finished)
• Metadata profile for GTN-H conform to ISO 19115
  GRDC proposal to describe the river discharge
  component in the WMO Core Metadata Profile (in
  process)
• Provide infrastructure Web-based ISO
  19115/19119/19139 compatible metadata management
  application allowing the standardised metadata
  collection, processing and management by various
  data providers (still outstanding)
• Filling of metadata infrastructure with real data
  (still outstanding)

WMO19115 WMO Core Metadata Profile
(http//www.wmo.int/pages/prog/www/wisweb_newstyle
/metadata/profiles_en.html)
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B. Definition of a ISO 19115 conform metadata
profile

• Progress to date
• 2005 Example of metadata set according to WMO
  191151
• 2006 GRDC proposal to describe the river
  discharge component (as of summer 2006)
• considering element definitions of
• WMO 19115 core metadata profile
• CUAHSI2 and HydroML3
• ISO 639 (language code list), ISO 3166 (country
  code list), ISO 4217 (currency code list)
• ISO 8601 (date and time representations)
• ISO 11404 (IT - Programming languages, ...
  Languageindependent datatypes)
• ISO 19107 (GI - Spatial schema)
• ISO 19108 (GI - Temporal schema)
• ISO 19109 (GI - Rules for application schema,
  GeneralFeatureModel)
• ISO 19111 (GI - Spatial referencing by
  coordinates)
• ISO 19115 (GI - Metadata),
• OGC OM 05-087r4 (OGC Best Practice Doc on
  Observations and Measurement)
• 2007 Metadata profiles for geo-data, time
  series, projects and services developed
• within the framework of the German
  NOKIS4 project

1 WMO19115 WMO Core Metadata Profile 2 CUAHSI
Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of
the Hydrologic Sciences (United States) 3
HydroML Hydrologic Markup Language developed by
NWIS of USGS and CUAHSI 4 NOKIS project which
investigates the implementation of information
infrastructures as part of the Integrated Coastal
Zone Management
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B. Definition of a ISO 19115 conform metadata
profile

• To-Do
• Discussion / revision of the proposed metadata
  profile considering the recent developments of
  other metadata profiles for hydrologic/hydrometric
  data (e.g. HydroML, NOKIS, WMO 19115, ...)
• Translation of the GRDC metadata profile to XML
  (at present in XLS tables)
• Integration in WMO Core Metadata Profile

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B. Web-based infrastructure for the metadata
management

• Progress to date
• 2005 Engagement in the German NOKIS , a
  project which investigates the implementation of
  information infrastructures as part of the
  Integrated Coastal Zone Management for the North
  and Baltic Sea
• 2006 No active participation in NOKIS by the
  GRDC
• Web-based environment for the standardised
  metadata collection, processing and management
  (originally developed for NOKIS) became a
  stand-alone software product, commercially
  distributed
• Start of the ETN-R project at the GRDC (re-use
  of envisaged infrastructure for the metadata
  management intended at that time)
• 2007 Exclusion of the development of the
  metadata management tool from the ETN-R project
• ? no re-usable product internally
  available at time

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B. Web-based infrastructure for the metadata
management

• GRDC proposes to
• buy a completed software product which provides a
  web-based environment for the standardised
  metadata collection, processing and management,
  e.g. the web-based environment which was
  originally developed for NOKIS and today is
  commercially distributed by a German software
  company
• customise this software product for the special
  needs of the GTN-R (GTN-H) project and for future
  data management projects of GRDC
• adjust to the WMO 19115 metadata profile
• Needs
• Funding (license fee/s and costs for the
  customisation of software and the adjustment to
  the WMO Core Metadata Profile)
• Technical specification and supervision

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C. GRDC NRT Monitor (GTN-H project 2.2)

• Objective
• Development of ... a pilot web application that
  demonstrates the retrieval, integration and
  presentation of real-time hydrometric data.
• Output/deliverable
• Development of standards for the near real-time
  transfer of river discharge observations taken by
  the NHS to the GRDC
• Development of a software to collect real-time
  discharge data from distributed servers, check
  the plausibility of the data, harmonise them, and
  make them available in a standardised format
• Map application to graphically display the
  stations of the GTN-R network in an interactive,
  scaleable map indicating the actual hydrologic
  situation
• Data acquisition
• Annually submission of daily discharge data to
  the GRDC within one year of their observation
• Regular submission of near real-time discharge
  data to the GRDC with a one-day delay

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C. GRDC NRT Monitor

• Progress to date
• 2004 First prototype of an operative engine that
  continuously monitors online active data sources
• 2005 Prototype of a map application using the
  ArcReader software to display the stations of the
  initially proposed GTN-R network
• 2006 Definition of the version 3.0 of the GRDC
  NRT Data Format
• 2007 Development of a software system that draws
  together near real-time river water level and
  discharge data provided by individual NHS via
  Internet protocols, checks the plausibility of
  the data, harmonises them and re-distributes them
  in the GRDC NRT format to EC-JRC (under
  development within the ETN-R project)

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C. GRDC NRT Monitor

• To-Do
• Adaptation of the ETN-R software system to the
  data collecting and processing needs of the GTN-R
• Negotiation and establishment of data transfer
  procedures with the contributing National
  Hydrological Services or the national
  institutions in charge

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Global Terrestrial Network for River Discharge
(GTN-R)

• Designation of the GCOS Baseline River Discharge
  Network (Action Item T4 of GCOS-IP)
• under revision, coordination with the HARON
  project needed
• Definition of a ISO 19115 conform metadata
  profile and a web-based infrastructure for the
  metadata management
• (GTN-H project 1.3)
• in process (development of the metadata profile)
  funds needed (license fee/s,
  customisation of a software product)
• Development of the GRDC NRT Monitor, a pilot web
  application that demonstrates the retrieval,
  integration and presentation of real-time
  hydrometric data (GTN-H project 2.2)
• still outstanding, re-use of the ETN-R software
  system intended

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The Global Terrestrial Network for River
Discharge (GTN-R) Real-time Access to River
Discharge Data on a Global Scale. 1st Interim
Report / U. Looser, I. Dornblut, T. de Couet. -
Koblenz, 2007. - (GRDC Report 36)
Thank you for your attention! Irina Dornblut,
GRDC, BfG, e-mail dornblut_at_bafg.de