dataset · Europe
River discharge and related forecasted data by the European Flood Awareness System
This dataset provides gridded modelled hydrological time series forced with medium-range meteorological forecasts. The data is a consistent representation of the most important hydrological variables across the European Flood Awareness System (EFAS) domain. The temporal resolution is sub-daily high-resolution and ensemble forecasts of: River discharge Volumetric soil moisture Snow water equivalent Soil wetness index (root zone) Runoff water equivalent (surface plus subsurface) Also provided are
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Licence: other
Evidence quality: 46.4
Listed in ewds public catalogue API on 2026-10-16; relevance/value screened (haiku).
Metadata checked: 2026-10-14T13:20:00.000Z
What's in it
- Data offered docs-verified
- river discharge (sub-daily, ensemble forecasts) · volumetric soil moisture · snow water equivalent · soil wetness index (root zone) · runoff water equivalent (surface plus subsurface) · auxiliary time-invariant: upstream area, elevation, soil depth, wilting capacity, field capacity
- Coverage docs-verified
- Europe (EFAS domain, from northern Africa to beyond northern Scandinavia, west into the Atlantic, east to the Caspian Sea) · 10 October 2018 to 19 September 2023 and 29 May 2024 to near real-time (30-day delay)
- Resolution docs-verified
- 1x1 arcminute (~1.5 km at EFAS latitudes) horizontal for version 5.0; 5x5 km for version 4.0 and older; sub-daily temporal (6- or 24-hourly time steps)
- Update frequency docs-verified
- Forecasts initialised twice daily (00 and 12 UTC); published at regular intervals with a minimum 1-month lag
- Formats docs-verified
- GRIB2 · NetCDF-4
- Access llm-inferred
- Licence: CEMS-FLOODS datasets licence (per citation). Accessed via the EWDS, which shows a Login/Register option. Real-time data is restricted to EFAS partners.
Useful for
- Use cases llm-inferred
- Flood risk assessment: ensemble river discharge forecasts for European reaches as context for FRA and flood warning · Drainage and catchment hydrology: upstream area and elevation as catchment characterisation inputs · Antecedent conditions: soil moisture and root-zone wetness index to inform runoff and flood-response assessments · Verification and climatology: pair forecasts with the companion EFAS historical simulations
- Audience llm-inferred
- flood risk consultants · hydrologists · drainage engineers · water resources engineers
Limitations
- Constraints llm-inferred
- Real-time data is only available to EFAS partners · Publication lag of at least 1 month; hydrological forecasts available with a 30-day delay · Modelled gridded output (LISFLOOD), not observed gauge data; validate against gauges · Grid projection and resolution differ between version 5.0 (lat-lon, 1 arcmin) and version 4.0 and older (ETRS-LAEA, 5 km), so version must be checked · Forecast lead times of 5 to 15 days depending on the forcing NWP model
Evidence
- https://ewds.climate.copernicus.eu/api/catalogue/v1/collections/efas-forecast
- https://ewds.climate.copernicus.eu/datasets/efas-forecast
Check upstream coverage, uncertainty and licence before use. Station observations are not forecasts or design levels.