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Advancing Hydrological Forecasting and Flash Flood Early Warning: Establishing an Operational Testbed for Innovation in North America.

The study aims to establish an operational forecasting testbed for advanced hydrological forecasting and flash flood

early warning in North America. The testbed will likely be set up in the Squamish Nation near Vancouver, Canada, which

is a traditional territory vulnerable to snowmelt, rainfall, and coastal flood risk. The proposed work aligns with Deltares’

Mission Safe Deltas and involves collaboration with North American partners.

The two main areas of innovation in this project are Earth Observation snow data assimilation in hydrological

forecasting models and radar-based precipitation nowcasting for flash flood early warning in mountainous basins.

By operationalizing novel data sources and methodologies, this project represents a significant step forward in

operationalizing innovative techniques for flood forecasting, with the potential to improve early warning systems and

mitigate the impacts of snowmelt, rainfall, and coastal floods in vulnerable mountainous catchments.

We are looking for a highly motivated student who will work on an important research step in this work: improving

rainfall nowcasting techniques for mountainous river basins using AI techniques, such as the recent deep generative

model of Google’s DeepMind. Mountainous areas are still challenging when it comes to rainfall and flash flood

forecasting, due to the rapid development of localized, intense rainfall cells. Being able to better forecasts

rainfall on the short term, with so-called nowcasting techniques, will assist in enabling early warning in

these types of basins. At the end of the research project, the tested techniques can become part of

the operational testbed.

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Enrolled in a relevant MSc program software development, data science, earth observation,

or innovative technologies for modeling or monitoring.

To facilitate collaboration with Dutch universities for our internship program, we encourage students who are currently enrolled in a Dutch university and residing in the Netherlands to apply.

Arbeidsvoorwaarden

Program duration is 6 – 9 months starting September 2023.

Interning with Deltares means a monthly student allowance of €550 (depending on your

study points), flexible working hours, and the chance to work alongside top researchers from a Triple A institute.

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to make a difference!