Implemented by the European Commission as part of the Copernicus Programme
More than 200 participants gathered online to join the 4th CEMS Global Flood Forecasting and Monitoring Meeting that was held on 2nd and 3rd April 2025.
The event was completely online and it included 6 presentations by CEMS GloFAS and GFM developers on products and service evolutions, 5 keynotes and 10 short talks by GloFAS and GFM users on their experience and further developments, 4 interactive sessions to learn how to use products and data.
The 4th CEMS Global Flood Forecasting and Monitiring Meeting featured presentations about recent developments to CEMS GloFAS and GFM products and services. The first day focused mostly on GFM with presentations on ongoing and recent evolutions such as the integration of Sentinel 1C, improvements of the post-processing method, and an introduction to the new Spatio-Temporal Asset Catalogue (STAC) that allows for easy and efficient access of data. These presentations provided an overview of the improvements included in GFM operational release v4 (Q2 2025). Two interactive sessions in breakout rooms followed the presentations: One where participants could learn about the GFM layers that are available in the GloFAS Map viewer and one that demonstrated how to use the STAC to access and download GFM data.
The second day focused on developments of GloFAS such as the revamped seasonal outlook products and and the new sub-seasonal outlook products, which will be included in GloFAS operational release v4.3 (Q2 2025). Furthermore, the presentations explained; the improvements to the hydrological model (enhancements in model initialization, reservoirs, transmission losses etc.) and new calibration that will be incorporated in GloFAS operational release v5 (2025). Two interactive sessions in breakout rooms focused on GloFAS, one featuring tips and tricks on using the GloFAS Map viewer and interpreting the GloFAS forecasts, and one demonstrating how to access and download GloFAS data from the CEMS Early Warning Data Store.
Notably, the agenda included 5 keynote presentations. Two of them focused on the use and performance of GloFAS and GFM data in flooding events: the Alzette river flood (Luxembourg) in July 2021, and the Odra river flood (Germany) in 2024. In addition, there were presentations about the WMO pilot study of global riverine flood prediction products, the SEED-FD (Strengthening Extreme Events Detection for Floods and Droughts) project with objectives and preliminary results, and an overview on how GloFAS is used for the operations of the Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) of the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations.
As in the previous meetings, there was also a broad spectrum of user cases and applications presented by 10 short talks. These contributions are inspiring for both other users and the developers of the service.
As a global event, the GloFAS and GFM annual meeting brings together participants from around the world to share and discuss the latest advancements and insights within the GloFAS and GFM user community.
The map below highlights the countries represented over the two-day meeting—truly showcasing a global community! 
The recordings of the 4 presenations about CEMS GloFAS and GFM eveolutions, and of the 4 interactive sessions will be available from the CEMS playlist.
All the presentations are available for dowload below.
Day 1: 2 April 2025
|
Time (UTC) |
Topic |
Presenter |
|---|---|---|
|
13:00 – 13:05 |
Opening and welcome |
Peter Salamon (European Commission Joint Research Center) |
|
13:05 – 13:15 |
The Global Flood Awareness System (GloFAS) - a short intro and latest news |
Christel Prudhomme (CEMS COMP/ European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasting) |
|
13:15 – 13:25 |
The Global Flood Monitoring (GFM) - a short intro and latest news |
Michaela Seewald (CEMS GFM/ GeoVille ) |
|
13:25 – 14:10 |
GloFAS and GFM use cases and applications (short talks) - Session 1: 4. Forecasting River Flood Impact Estimates for the WMO Coordination Mechanism |
1. Odil Kurbanov (Lead GIS Developer, UDA Consulting) 2. Thomas Vaujour (Magellium) 3. Simone Riccardi (Remote Sensing Engineer/Hydraulic Modeler Specialist, e-GEOS) 4. Eliane Kobler (Research Assistant, Weather and Climate Risks Group, Institute for Environmental Decisions, ETH Zürich/ Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss) |
|
14:10 – 14:30 |
GFM evolution 1: The latest major release and the integration of Sentinel 1C |
Florian Roth (CEMS GFM/ TU Vienna ) |
|
14:30 – 14:45 |
BREAK |
|
|
14:45 - 15:05 |
GFM evolution 2: Accessing the GFM archive using the new Spatio-Temporal Asset Catalogue (STAC) |
Tobias Stachl (CEMS GFM/ Earth Observation Data Center ) |
|
15:05 – 15:10 |
Introduction to interactive sessions in breakout rooms |
Peter Salamon (European Commission Joint Research Center) |
|
15:10 – 15:45 |
Interactive session 1: Exploring and interpreting GFM layers Interactive session 2: How to make the most of the new Spatio-Temporal Asset Catalogue (STAC) of the GFM Recordings available from the CEMS playlist |
Interactive session 1: Florian Roth (CEMS GFM/ TU Vienna ) Interactive session 2: Tobias Stachl (CEMS GFM/ Earth Observation Data Center ) |
|
15:45 - 16:05 |
WMO pilot study of global riverine flood prediction products |
Michael Schwab (WMO) & Andy Wood (UCAR) |
|
16:05 – 16:25 |
Vanessa Pedinotti (Magellium) |
|
|
16:25 –16:30 |
Closure day 1 and outlook to day 2 |
Peter Salamon (European Commission Joint Research Center) |
Day 2: 3 April 2025
|
Time (UTC) |
Topic |
Presenter |
|---|---|---|
|
13:00 – 13:05 |
Welcome Day 2 and recap Day 1 |
Peter Salamon (European Commission Joint Research Center) |
|
13:05 - 13:25 |
Predictions via the integration of GloFAS and GFM products: a case study of the July 2021 Alzette River flood, Luxembourg |
Patrick Matgen (Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology) |
|
13:25 – 13:45 |
GloFAS evolution 1: The upgraded seasonal and sub-seasonal products |
Ervin Zsoter (CEMS COMP/ European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasting) |
|
13:45– 14:35 |
GloFAS and GFM use cases and applications (short talks) - Session 2:
|
|
|
14:35 – 14:45 |
BREAK |
|
|
14:45 – 14:50 |
Introduction to interactive sessions in breakout rooms |
Peter Salamon (European Commission Joint Research Center) |
|
14:50– 15:30 |
Interactive session 1: Tips & tricks on using the GloFAS map viewer and interpreting the GloFAS forecasts Interactive session 2: Accessing and downloading GloFAS data from CEMS Early Warning Data Store Note: Basic python knowledge is recommended for interactive session 2! |
Interactive session 1: Gurpreet Dass (CEMS COMP/ European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasting) & Nina Bosshard (CEMS DISS/ Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute) Interactive session 2: Mohamed Azhar (CEMS COMP/ European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasting) |
|
15:30 – 15:50 |
GloFAS evolution 2: Hydrological model improvements and a new calibration for GloFAS |
Stefania Grimaldi (European Commission Joint Research Center) |
|
15:50 – 16:10 |
GloFAS in the Emergency Response Coordination Center operations |
Arjan Hijlkema (DG European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, European Commission) |
|
16:10 – 16:30 |
Silke Mechernich (Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG), Germany) |
|
|
16:30– 16:35 |
What's next for CEMS GloFAS & GFM and closure of the meeting |
Peter Salamon (European Commission Joint Research Center) |