AWCI Projects and Activities
The AWCI implements a number of projects and activities that encompass:
• General AWCI projects and activities focusing on observation convergence, data integration, and information sharing with an intention to facilitate bridging
among scientific, engineering, and decision- and policy- making communities in the arena of water cycle and resources management.
• Demonstration Projects in the nominated demonstration basins in participating countries.
• Specific activities devoted to the Capacity Building.
• Projects and activities implemented by individual AWCI working groups including Flood WG, Drought WG, Water Quality WG, and Climate Change WG as specified below on this page.
• General AWCI Projects •
• River Management System Project •
--> Project Description
Project Full Name:
River Management System Development in Asia Based on Data Integration and Analysis System (DIAS) under the GEOSS.
Project Duration:
2010 - 2012
Project Reference:
The project is being undertaken under the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN)
Annual Regional Call for Proposals programme (ARCP) with the reference name ARCP2010-10NMY.
Brief Summary:
The Project is designed under the GEOSS/AWCI framework and aims to develop an advanced river management system in member countries by exploiting the DIAS data and data
integration capabilities. The system is based on integration of data from earth observation satellites and in-situ networks with other types of data, including numerical
weather prediction model outputs, climate model outputs, geographical information, and socio-economic data to generate information for making sound water resources management
decisions while taking global climate change into account. The system development thus includes:
- To develop a distributed hydrological model in each basin by integrated in-site and satellite data and model outputs.
- To predict river discharge by using observed and/or model prediction data.
- To develop optimization schemes for IWRM practices in each river basin.
- To evaluate impacts of climate change on water resources management of each river basin.
- To make design of measures for climate change adaptations.
The specified tasks will be undertaken through cooperation among the countries and participating organizations providing expertise in hydrological and weather prediction modeling,
satellite data use, climate change impact assessment, water resources management, etc.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
• GEOSS/AWCI/OCDI Project •
--> Project Description
Project Full Name:
The Global Earth Observation System of Systems Asian Water Cycle Initiative Observation Convergence and Data Integration Project
Project Duration:
2008 - 2010
Project Reference:
The project is being undertaken under the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN)
Scientific Capacity Building/Enhancement for Sustainable Development in Developing Countries programme (CAPaBLE) with the reference name CBA2008-12NMY.
Brief Summary:
Recognizing the commonality in water-related issues and socio-economic needs of the Asia-Pacific region, a well coordinated regional challenge, GEOSS/AWCI/OCDI
has been organised in cooperation among the 18 countries in Asia. This project aims to protect life and property from damages of the water-related issues in Asia,
develop integrated water management approaches for addressing the various water-related issues comprehensively and effectively, and to share timely, quality,
long-term information on water quantity and quality and their variation as a basis for sound decision-making of national water policies and management strategies.
It will also promote regional approaches which can lead to coordinated efforts for observation and prediction, based on common ideas on the water-related issues in Asia.
--> Project Activities, Documents, Results
• Project Proposal
• Project Interim Report for APN (2009)
• Project Progress Report for APN (2009)
• Project Interim Report for APN (2010)
• Information on the related meeting events is available at the Meeting Page of this site.
These include the 3rd Meeting of the GEOSS/AWCI International Coordination Group (Beijing, Nov 2008), the 3rd GEOSS Asia Pacific Symposium (Kyoto, Feb 2009),
the 4th Meeting of the GEOSS/AWCI International Coordination Group (Kyoto, Feb 2009), the 5th Meeting of the GEOSS/AWCI International Coordination Group
(Tokyo, Dec 2009), the 4th GEOSS Asia Pacific Symposium (Bali, Mar 2010), and the 5th Meeting of the GEOSS/AWCI International Coordination Group (Bali, Mar 2010).
Top of this page
Home
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
• IIWaDATA Project •
--> Project Description
Project Full Name:
The International Integrated Water Data Access and Transfer in Asia Project
Project Duration:
2006 - 2008
Project Reference:
The project was undertaken under the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN)
Annual Regional Call for Proposals programme (ARCP) with the reference name ARCP2007-02CMY.
Brief Summary:
In recognition of the need for accurate, timely, long-term, water cycle information as a basis for sound and effective water resources and risk management
and with regards to the ongoing initiatives pursuing to meet this need, the IIWaDATA project initiated and contributed to the development of a sustainable
scheme for water cycle data collecting, sharing, exchanging, and management at the regional level in Asia in cooperation with national governments, institutes and
research communities and also international organizations that is consistent with the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), especially its Water theme component.
Through a series of meetings, the IIWaDATA project established a mutual consensus among the participating countries and international organizations that defines data sharing and
exchanging policy and responsibilities for data processing, management and archiving. This strong cooperative framework has evolved into a large regional initiative recognized
by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) as a GEOSS activity: GEOSS Asian Water Cycle Initiative (AWCI). The IIWaDATA project further significantly contributed to the Data
Integration and Analysis System (DIAS) that was launched in 2006 as part of the Earth Observation and Ocean Exploration System, which is one of five National Key Technologies
defined by the 3rd Basic Program for Science and Technology of Japan.
--> Project Activities, Documents, Results
• Project Proposal
• Project Interim Report for APN (2007)
• Project Progress Report for APN (2007)
• Project Final Report for APN (2008)
• Information on the related meeting events is available at the Meeting Page of this site.
These include the 2nd Asian Water Cycle Symposium (Tokyo, Jan 2007), the 1st GEOSS Asia Pacific Symposium (Tokyo, Jan 2007), The 1st Meeting of the
GEOSS/AWCI International Coordination Group (Bali, Sep 2007), the 3rd Asian Water Cycle Symposium (Beppu, Japan, Dec 2007), The 2nd GEOSS Asia Pacific Symposium
(Tokyo, Apr 2008), and the 1stAWCI/APN Joint Workshop and 2nd Meeting of the GEOSS/AWCI International Coordination Group (Tokyo, Apr 2008).
Top of this page
Home
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
• Flood Working Group •
The goal of the flood WG is to build up a scientific basis for sound decision-making and developing policy options for most suitable flood risk management for each country and region in Asia, through
the full utilization of new opportunities on global, regional and in-situ dataset under the scheme of th GEOSS/AWCI.
To attain the goal, we need to provide methodologies, tools and basic datasets to derive such required information to improve real-time flood forecasting system for short-term crisis management
(objective #1) and to assess flood risk and vulnerability and then to make flood scenarios for long-term integrated flood risk management (objective #2).
From technological point of view, it has been becoming possible for us to set those objectives, based on recent scientific achievements on climatology, meteorology and hydrology in the Asian monsoon
regions such as those of GAME (GEWEX Asian Monsoon Experiments, WCRP) and on satellite-based observation of rainfall, physical & socioeconomic quantities of earth surfaces and numerical weather reanalysis,
downscaling & prediction.
• FRM/AWCI/GEOSS Project •
--> Project Description
Project Full Name:
Flood Risk Management Demonstration Project (phase 1) under the Asian Water Cycle Initiative for the Global Earth Observation System of Systems
Project Duration:
2008 - 2010
Project Reference:
The project is being undertaken under the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN)
Annual Regional Call for Proposals programme (ARCP) with the reference name ARCP2008-13NMY.
Brief Summary:
This project will contribute to GEOSS within the context of the GEOSS Work Plan for 2007–2009: (i) WA-06-07: Capacity Building Program for Water Resource Management. It will
support the work of flood risk reduction research of AWCI, which will assess regional vulnerability of natural and human systems from floods under changing environmental
conditions and will contribute to the development of policy options for appropriate local and regional responses. The project will also contribute directly to enhancing
regional cooperation, strengthen interactions between scientists and policy- makers and improve scientific and technical capabilities of Asian region nations, fitting very
well with the APN activity framework. Training programs on the use of tools and data will form the basis for capacity development activities.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
• Drought Working Group •
GEOSS/AWCI is collaborating among 18 Asian countries in sharing the ground observational data, and trying to support the information exchange and improve the technology of drought monitoring and
studying among these Asian countries. The main objectives of this project are:
- To share and improve the drought monitoring capability in various Asian countries such as China, Pakistan, Thailand, Nepal and Philippines.
- To set up a drought monitoring and research network in related Asian countries.
- To help developing the early warning system of drought hazard in related countries
Drought indices are widely used in monitoring and studying the drought, such as Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), Crop Moisture
Index (CMI), Surface Water Supply Index (SWSI). These indices are mainly based on the ground observations of precipitation, temperature and soil moisture. But the standards of definition of
these indices differ in different countries and regions. In addition, the capability of monitoring the drought is variable according to the spatial and temporal resolution of observation
stations in different countries and regions.
Because of the complexity of a soil type, vegetation type, ground water deposit, and irrigation in the area, soil moisture is a key indicator of drought monitoring besides precipitation
and temperature in the GEOSS AWCI Drought WG activities. JAXA and University of Tokyo are helping to develop a set of soil moisture dataset in specific regions targeted by the WG
activities in participating countries. Optical and microwave remote sensing datasets are being used. In many studies, microwave products have many advantages in case of bare soil
surfaces, especially in dry area. Optical products, such as NDVI and LAI are usually used for full cover vegetation area to understand the vegetation and soil processes. For partial
vegetation cover area, optical and microwave products are being both used in getting the high resolution soil moisture data. The University of Tokyo and JAXA are leading activities in
retrieving the remote sensing data. The Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand, proposed a drought index called Temperature Vegetation Dryness Index (TVDI) that is calculated from
satellite derived vegetation index (NDVI) and surface temperature. TVDI index is will be used to monitor the drought in various countries of Asia.
• Drought Monitoring System •
--> Project Description
Project Full Name:
Drought monitoring system development by integrating in-situ data, satellite data and numerical model output
Project Duration:
2010 - 2012
Project Reference:
The project was undertaken under the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN)
Scientific Capacity Building/Enhancement for Sustainable Development in Developing Countries programme (CAPaBLE) with the reference name CBA2010-14NMY.
Brief Summary:
Droughts have happened unexpectedly and been creeping into us in Asia and world wide. Drought has directly an influence on agriculture, energy production, transportation, tourism
and recreation, forest and wild land fires, urban water supply, environment and human health. In order to take precaution against a drought, we have to urgently establish
and develop of an integrating system of in-situ data, satellite ones and numerical model outputs. The integrating system brings us to greatly improve the techniques and knowledge
of drought study. Drought, related to the water issue in AWCI/GEOSS implementation plan, is getting more and more concern from the publics and policy maker.
The ground-based routine data in each country, satellite products and numerical model ones for drought studies have not been widely used since lack of capacity building in many Asian
countries. The retrieved soil moisture dataset from satellite remote sensing (RS) products has been gradually providing for the AWCI drought working group, and the related countries
collaborators will validate this data set by using the in-situ observation data. Furthermore, we are preparing to provide numerical model products to the related countries for
drought studies. Scientists and operators in the related countries will be able to learn and acquire the analysis techniques of satellite data and numerical products and methods
of monitoring and an early warning system of drought.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
• CB for Drought Monitoring •
--> Project Description
Project Full Name:
The Capacity Building for Drought Monitoring and Studying in Monsoon Asia under the Framework of Asian Water Cycle Initiative
Project Duration:
2008 - 2010
Project Reference:
The project is being undertaken under the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN)
Scientific Capacity Building/Enhancement for Sustainable Development in Developing Countries programme (CAPaBLE) with the reference name CBA2008-05NMY.
Brief Summary:
The drought study is mainly based on the observation of precipitation, temperature and soil moisture, such as various drought index and moisture index. The satellite products have
not been widely used because of lack of capacity building in many Asian countries. Under the support of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Tokyo University, the retrieved
soil moisture dataset from satellite remote sensing products will be used in this project, and the respective collaborators will validate this data set by using the in-situ observation
of soil moisture, precipitation and temperature. The AWCI/GEOSS will coordinate this regional activity, along with the flood and water quality groups.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
• Water Quality Working Group •
The overall goal of the Water Quality WG is to contribute towards sustainable management and development of water and health. The main objective
is to conduct a phased research on the scopes of institutions to develop appropriate water quality monitoring program for domestic water in
developing countries in Asia and disseminate the results. The specific objectives during the first phase include:
- Analysis of the roles, capacities, practices, policies, methods (and indicators), synergies, and needs in monitoring WQ by main water
concerned institutions in participating countries.
- Identification and comparison of the common and specific problems as well as the related best approaches in water quality monitoring and
conducting of a formative/indicative research to investigate preliminary appropriate water quality monitoring options for domestic water
by in-situ and satellite measurements based on selected specified indicators.
- Develop policy recommendations on how the institutions and countries can make attempts for appropriate water quality monitoring.
- Identification of proper hydrological models for coupling with water quality models and application of such coupled system for addressing
water quality issues during various flow regimes.
- Exploring possibilities to use remote sensing data for water quality issues and an access to such data for watershed management monitoring.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
• Climate Change Working Group •
Although several countries have developed their own methods for climate change impact assessment and provided local hydrologic impacts, their
results include high uncertainties due to the inconsistent methodologies used and lack of model calibration/verification. From these reasons,
sharing the common method and observation/simulation data for both climatology and hydrology is very important for climate change impact
assessment on water resources including flood/drought over the Asia-Pacific regions. One of the best ways to minimize model uncertainties is
the use of Multi Model Ensemble (MME) approach. The obtained results of such analyses can then be provided to decision-makers for their
future water resources planning and management.
The group's agenda include two main focuses:
- Historical observation data analysis for finding the evidence of climate change.
- Future projections by GCM outputs from specific greenhouse gas emission scenarios, downscaling and hydrological model applications.
• Climate Change Impact Assessment •
--> Project Description
Project Full Name:
Climate Change Impact Assessment on the Asia-Pacific Water Resources under GEOSS/AWCI.
Project Duration:
2010 - 2012
Project Reference:
The project is being undertaken under the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN)
Annual Regional Call for Proposals programme (ARCP) with the reference name ARCP2010-13NMY.
Brief Summary:
The objectives of this study are to evaluate the climate change impact assessments on water resources over the Asia-Pacific regions joining the
Asian Water Cycle Initiative for the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS/AWCI) and to promote the capacity building for climate change impact assessment
technology. Two basic approaches are performed in this study: one is the analysis of past historical observation data to detect some climate change trends over more than
18 country regions; the other is the simulations of climate and water resources under the future greenhouse gas emission scenarios. A non-parametric Mann-Kendall’s test
and regression analysis are used for the former, while the GCM output with downscaling schemes and hydrologic models are used for the latter.
In general, climate change impact assessments on water resources are conducted on two ways: One is the analysis of past historical hydrologic and meteorological observation
data to detect some climate change trends; the other is the use of GCM outputs with downscaling and hydrologic models under the future greenhouse gas emission scenarios.
The reasons for the necessity of this activity are: although several countries have developed their own methods for this impact assessment and provided local hydrologic
impacts of climate change, their results include high uncertainties due to the inconsistent methodologies used and lack of model calibration/verification. From these reasons,
sharing the common method and observation/simulation data for both climatology and hydrology is very important for climate change impact assessment on water resources including
flood/drought over the Asia-Pacific regions. In line with these project objectives, we will work with both approaches.
