PhD defence: Donghua Zhang

Donghua Zhang defends his thesis,

Data Assimilation - in Integrated and Distributed Hydrological Models

Supervisors:
Professor Karsten Høgh Jensen, IGN
Affiliated Professor Henrik Madsen, IGN and DHI
Research Professor Jens Christian Refsgaard, GEUS

Assessment committee:
Professor Harrie-Jan Hendricks-Franssen, Research Center Jülich - Germany
Professor Arnold Heemink, TU Delft - The Netherlands
Associate Professor Majken C. L. Zibar (chairman), IGN

Summary:
Integrated hydrological models are frequently used in water-related environmental resource management. To observe the hydrological variables, recent developments in measurement and sensor technologies have significantly improved the coverage, quality, diversity of hydrological observations.
The present study investigates several challenges within the scope of data assimilation in integrated hydrological models. Data assimilation provides a great potential in relation to efficient use of observational data in integrated hydrological models. From the methodological point of view, different assimilation methodologies and techniques have been developed or customized to better serve hydrological assimilation. From the application point of view, real data and real-world complex catchments are used with the focus of investigating the models’ improvements with data assimilation. Overall, the study has documented a great potential for data assimilation in integrated hydrological modelling.

The thesis is available at the PhD administration office, 04.1.417