AIGA: a flood warning system for the entire hydrographic network

Abstract

Presently, new flood forecasting schemes are being developed. On the one hand, there are streams for which real-time information on ground-level rainfall and flow rates are available, and on the other hand, there are the streams for which no real-time information on the flow rates is either actionable or available. Cemagref and Météo France have combined their skills to fill this gap and develop a tool to determine the amount of rain and the stream flow rate in real time on the entire French hydrographical network. AIGA produces a map of rain-related risks and a map of the hydrological risk, on a grid of 1 km2, every hour. This is produced even over geographical areas and streams with no specific instrumentation. We describe here the principles of operation of AIGA and we give examples of his capacity of forecast by supporting us on real events.