This project is based on the following research hypothesis.

The assimilation of microwave-based satellite data related to soil moisture and vegetation allows reducing the impact of errors in the initial conditions for the provision of reliable post-processed hydrological ensemble predictions.

Our goals can be summarized as follows.

• Carry out all the necessary steps in order to develop and implement an assimilation scheme for Level 1 satellite data (soil moisture and vegetation) into a hydrological model (HM) and a land surface model (LSM).

• Apply data assimilation in order to generate new initial conditions for the models, thus taking into account earth observations from satellites.

• Utilize the updated through data assimilation initial conditions in the Hydrological Ensemble Prediction System (HEPS) of the RMI in order to generate hydrological forecasts.