| In order to achieve effective flood risk forecasting for poorly gauged sub-basins in the Mekong River Basin, the feasibility of using a currently available distributed hydrological model and satellite-based precipitation datasets coupled with a simple statistical approach is discussed in this paper. A physically based distributed hydrological model, the YHyM/BTOP model, was used in this paper to simulate at any grid for the whole Mekong River Basin, including poorly gauged basins. Historical discharge data for the past 29 years were reconstructed and archived with validation using ground-based observed hydro-meteorological data with other public domain datasets as input. A preliminary study on the real-time flood risk assessment interpreted from the percentile of simulated discharge from the discharge database referring observed river discharge is consequently conducted utilising satellite-based precipitation datasets Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation (GSMaP) and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) data. Simulated discharge by the YHyM/BTOP model using satellite-based precipitation generally represents the trend of observed discharge well and the possibility of real-time flood risk assessment was well demonstrated. |
