Hydro-Meteorological Studies
Analysis of rainfall, temperature and discharge data, hydrological hazard assessment including floods and GLOF surges, design flood and PMF estimation, and station network review.
Design flood estimation in Nepal is an exercise in working honestly with incomplete records. Stations are sparse, series are short and broken, and the catchments carrying the most infrastructure risk are frequently ungauged. The temptation is to produce a confident number; the professional obligation is to produce a defensible one, with its uncertainty stated.
e2services analyses rainfall, temperature and discharge data, and reviews hydro-meteorological network and station records for quality, gaps and inhomogeneity before those records are used for anything. Gap-filling and reconstruction are part of the work, done explicitly rather than silently.
From that base we estimate design floods and probable maximum flood for spillway and structure design, and assess hydrological hazard including flood and GLOF-triggered flood surges. The GLOF pathway matters particularly in Nepal, because a surge originating in a glacial lake behaves differently from a rainfall flood and can exceed the design event a catchment-based analysis would produce.
Our field capability supports the analysis directly. Establishing mean sea level benchmarks across fifteen hydrological stations in the Karnali and Bheri basins for the Office of Hydrology and Meteorology is exactly this kind of foundational work: every water level record referenced to those benchmarks inherits their accuracy.
What we deliver
- Analysis of rainfall, temperature and discharge data
- Hydrological hazard assessment — floods, GLOF-triggered flood surges, extreme events
- Design flood and probable maximum flood (PMF) estimation
- Hydro-meteorological network and station data review
- Gap-filling and record reconstruction
How the work runs
- 01
Network and record review
Station network, record length, gaps and homogeneity assessed before any series is used for design.
- 02
Data quality control and gap-filling
Outliers, shifts and gaps addressed explicitly, with the method and its effect documented rather than buried.
- 03
Frequency and extreme value analysis
Rainfall and discharge frequency analysis, with regionalisation where the site itself is ungauged.
- 04
Design flood and PMF estimation
Design flood for the specified return period and, where the structure requires it, probable maximum flood, with uncertainty stated.
- 05
Hazard pathway assessment
Flood, extreme event and GLOF-triggered surge pathways assessed as distinct mechanisms with distinct consequences.
What you receive
- Hydro-meteorological data review and quality report
- Gap-filled and homogenised data series
- Rainfall and discharge frequency analysis
- Design flood estimates by return period, with uncertainty
- Probable maximum flood (PMF) estimation
- Flood and GLOF surge hazard assessment
- Station network review and recommendations
- Benchmark establishment and levelling records
Common questions
Our catchment has no gauge. Can you still estimate a design flood?
Yes, through regionalisation and rainfall-runoff modelling — and we will state the resulting uncertainty rather than presenting a regionalised estimate with the confidence of a measured one. Where the assignment allows, we recommend measurement to narrow it.
Do you assess GLOF risk as part of flood studies?
GLOF-triggered flood surges are treated as a distinct hazard pathway within hydrological hazard assessment, because a surge from a glacial lake breach behaves differently from a rainfall flood and can exceed what catchment analysis alone would produce. Our cryosphere and glacial hazard service covers the upstream side.
Need a survey, a design package, or a multi-disciplinary study team?
Tell us about the corridor, basin, or facility. We will respond with the right mix of engineering and field capability.