A turnkey low-cost solution to improve operational hydrology: 
‘OPEN-PROFILE’ selected as the winning research proposal in support of the WMO Hydrological Research Strategy 2022-2030

The project proposal titled ‘OPEN-PROFILE’ submitted by a consortium consisting of Delft University of Technology, Rainbow Sensing, University of Zambia and OpenDroneMap.org was chosen as the winning research proposal to receive funding and extend its research for improved operational hydrology. The call for research proposals which was open from July to September 2022 received 43 proposals for improved operational hydrological technologies and approaches. Proposals were then evaluated by a Technical Evaluation Board (TEB) composed by representatives of WMO, IAHS and UNESCO-IHP.

In July last year, WMO through its Hydrological Co-ordination Panel issued a call  to fund research proposals that address one or more of three priority research areas identified by the WMO Hydrological Research Strategy, contributing to build the capacity of WMO Members in the hydrological value chain. Single research entities or a consortium were encouraged to submit their proposals.

OPEN-PROFILE was selected for its affordable, entirely open source and user-friendly application to better enable river and reservoirs observations by NHMSs and service providers. The working name of the solution called OPEN-PROFILE provides a turnkey low-cost bathymetry-topography survey kit based on simple drones, fish finders and free open-source software to produce 1D or 2D bathymetry of river sections and reservoirs. 

The derived data from OPEN-PROFILE will be used by NHMSs to keep hydraulic models up to date, better manage sedimentation processes in rivers and reservoirs and effectively monitor flows with non-contact methods using optical cameras. These data are highly needed in applications such as monitoring river flows including floods, assessing dam safety and monitoring erosion and sedimentation and, consequently, contribute to the sustainable management of water resources. The proposed project will be scalable across Zambia, Africa and worldwide. 

The call for research proposals which was open from July to September 2022 received 43 proposals for improved operational hydrological technologies and approaches. Proposals were then evaluated by a Technical Evaluation Board (TEB) composed by representatives of WMO, IAHS and UNESCO-IHP.

The primary goal for the announcement of the call for research proposals was to cultivate research needed for improved hydrological services and build capacity of WMO Member National Meteorological Services (NMSs) and National Hydrological Services (NHSs) to use innovative technologies and approaches for operational hydrology. 

Dr. Hessel Winsemius, Director of Rainbow Sensing elaborated that OPEN-PROFILE is a turnkey low-cost solution co-designed by local people with local devices that aims to fill gaps in hydrological observations. It brings for the first time, abilities to acquire full bathymetric profiles of the entire river and floodplain system to local people. These data are critical for understanding river flows, morphological changes, and impacts of climate change on river systems. 

A right mix of parties within the consortium benefited the establishment of this project proposal. The Water Resources Management department of the Delft University of Technology (PI) is well known for developing sensors and sensor networks designed for conditions in Africa, resulting in key spinoffs such as the Trans-African Hydrometeorological Observatory. Rainbow Sensing, a social enterprise originating from Delft University, was established to create free and open-source methods to observe rivers and their surrounding environment and is main developer of the OpenRiverCam suite that is currently already being used by hundreds of users worldwide to measure river flows with simple camera systems. OpenDroneMap.org creates, maintains, and improves the OpenDroneMap ecosystem, a toolkit for free and open-source photogrammetry with affordable drones, used by thousands of users world-wide. 

All partners have a long-standing relationship with Zambia, particularly with the IWRM department of the University of Zambia through many past projects. The Water Resources Management Authority (WARMA) based in Zambia is also a key stakeholder that benefits partners to pilot the proposed methods of OPEN-PROFILE on a site with results immediately relevant to WARMA.

Recently, all partners of the Consortium started an EU project called “EU-TEMBO” which aims to close the environmental in-situ data gaps in Africa through cost-effective innovative sensor networks. The EU project will work in Zambia as well as in Ghana. Through EU-TEMBO, partners will have the possibility to develop value added services, co-designed with end users that can leverage the knowledge gained through the proposed project and look for scalability in business opportunities. As EU-TEMBO is implemented over 4 years, partners can leverage knowledge, methods, hardware designs and software gained through OPEN-PROFILE as well as on the ongoing developments on OpenRiverCam and OpenDroneMap so that these end up in value added services, run by local people. 

Past and present projects of the Consortium facilitated long term international collaboration between European and African scientists that strongly benefited the establishment of EU TEMBO and OPEN-PROFILE. 

Next steps for the proposal include the development of a field survey to collect underwater and above water terrain data points with low-cost drones and fish finders which would be a working method to merge data from the two different platforms. A year from now, the aim is to have local users such as entrepreneurs, water managers or other users to start acquiring such datasets following proper documentation and codified methods.

Hearty congratulations to the consortium team of hydrologists and experts behind the creation and development of OPEN-PROFILE! 

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Image credit from left to right:
Images (except the extreme bottom right) are from the site visit within the ZAMSECUR project, a Dutch NWO STW funded project in which work on non-contact observations for river flow. 
Selfie: Hubert Samboko (PhD candidate, Delft University of Technology); right: Dr. Hessel Winsemius; 
Field site: Luangwa River near Mfuwe; 
Drone launch: Hubert Samboko (PhD Candidate Delft University of Technology) launching drone for floodplain terrain mapping;
Extreme bottom right, is a snap at the Msimbazi River Tanzania where the team worked with Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team and OpenMap Development Tanzania (OMDTZ), to acquire 1D cross-sections during low flow conditions their first setups of low-cost RTK GNSS devices.