The Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing (HyDROS) Laboratory advances the science and application of remote sensing hydrology, with a central focus on transforming Earth observations into actionable intelligence for water resources, natural hazards, and climate resilience. Our research spans the full sensor-to-society paradigm—from how precipitation is measured from space, to how hydrologic systems are modeled, to how hazard risks are quantified and translated into operational decision support for floods, flash floods, landslides, droughts, climate adaptation, and environmental justice.
A foundational pillar of the HyDROS program is remote sensing precipitation science, where we develop and sustain methodologies that define how rainfall is measured from space for hydrologic and hazard applications. Our research has pioneered cloud-system–based, physics-informed satellite precipitation retrieval, moving the field beyond pixel-level estimation toward storm-object representations that capture structure, evolution, and intensity at hydrologically relevant scales. These advances underpin widely used global precipitation products and long-term climate data records, and our work has played a central role in the development, evaluation, and stewardship of multi-satellite precipitation datasets used worldwide. Equally important, we have established rigorous frameworks for quantifying precipitation uncertainty and its nonlinear propagation into hydrologic response, ensuring that satellite rainfall products are scientifically credible and operationally reliable—particularly in ungauged and data-sparse regions.
A defining strength of the HyDROS program is its emphasis on remote-sensing–native hydrologic systems. We develop physically informed, scalable models and data products designed explicitly around Earth observations rather than retrofitting legacy approaches. Core research thrusts include distributed hydrologic and hydrologic–hydraulic modeling (e.g., the CREST/EF5 model family), ensemble and uncertainty-aware prediction, and emerging AI-enabled hydrologic digital twins. These modeling frameworks are designed to operate seamlessly across spatial scales—from small watersheds to continental domains—and are particularly well suited for applications in complex terrain, rapidly urbanizing regions, and data-limited environments.
Building on advances in precipitation sensing and hydrologic modeling, HyDROS conducts integrated research on water-related natural hazards, with particular emphasis on floods, flash floods, and rainfall-triggered landslides. Our work links storm dynamics, basin response, antecedent conditions, terrain, and exposure into physically grounded hazard frameworks that operate across local to global scales. We develop new metrics, datasets, and modeling approaches to quantify hazard intensity, frequency, and change under climate variability, and we contribute foundational data infrastructure—such as national and global flood and landslide databases—that support long-term risk analysis, attribution studies, and early-warning system design.
HyDROS maintains a strong commitment to translational and operational science. Our research underpins national and international hazard monitoring and early-warning systems, including real-time flood and flash-flood guidance, global landslide assessment, and climate-driven risk analytics. Increasingly, our work integrates climate projections with exposure and vulnerability to support equitable adaptation planning and environmental justice, with focused applications for Tribal nations and other underserved communities. These efforts translate advanced Earth science into decision-relevant intelligence that directly supports risk governance and resilience building.
Education and workforce development are central to the HyDROS mission. Through the HyDROS Laboratory and the Hydrology & Water Security program, we train students and professionals to operate at the interface of observations, models, and decision-making. Our graduates and alumni serve in academia, federal agencies, operational forecasting centers, industry, utilities, and international organizations—extending the impact of HyDROS research well beyond the university.
Research Sponsorship: HyDROS research is supported by a broad portfolio of competitive funding from NASA, NOAA, NSF, USAID, USGS, DOE, and international partners, along with collaborations with the World Bank and UN-affiliated platforms. Sponsored projects range from foundational algorithm and model development to large-scale operational systems and international capacity-building initiatives across the United States, Africa, Latin America, and Asia.
Together, these efforts position the HyDROS program as a hub for cutting-edge hydrologic science, operational innovation, and societal impact—advancing water security and hazard resilience in a changing climate.
Advances in satellite precipitation sensing now enable near–real-time monitoring of hydrologic conditions across the globe. Using multi-satellite rainfall estimates from missions such as the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), HyDROS pioneered one of the first satellite-driven global surface hydrology simulation systems. This framework supports large-scale flood detection, flood prediction, and drought monitoring in regions lacking dense ground observations. The system demonstrated that physically meaningful runoff and flood signals can be derived directly from spaceborne observations, laying the foundation for modern global flood early-warning capabilities.
The U.S. NOAA Multi-radar Multi-sensor (MRMS) radar network provides precipitation estimates at exceptionally fine spatial (~1 km) and temporal (~5-minute) resolution. Building on this national asset, HyDROS researchers helped develop the NMQ–FLASH–Landslide system, which couples high-resolution radar rainfall with distributed hydrologic modeling to produce real-time flash-flood and rainfall-triggered landslide guidance across the continental United States. Operating at radar-native resolution, the system delivers actionable hazard information to forecasters and emergency managers and represents a major step in translating radar observations into operational hazard intelligence.
The project website is at https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/projects/flash/.
Flooding—especially in urban environments—remains one of the most costly and deadly natural hazards worldwide. As climate change alters precipitation intensity and frequency, cities face growing challenges in anticipating and preparing for extreme flood events. In response, HyDROS researchers developed an integrated urban flood visualization framework that translates high-resolution hydrologic and hydraulic simulations into intuitive animations and spatial products. These tools allow floodplain managers, planners, and emergency officials to see how future climate-driven flood scenarios may impact urban watersheds, infrastructure, and neighborhoods—supporting proactive risk communication, planning, and resilience design.
Accurate precipitation estimation in mountainous regions is particularly challenging due to radar beam blockage, overshooting of the melting layer, and sparse surface observations. This project addressed these limitations by integrating spaceborne precipitation radar measurements from TRMM/GPM with ground-based National Weather NEXRAD radar and rain gauge networks. By leveraging satellite radar’s vertical perspective and regional coverage, the approach improved characterization of vertical reflectivity structure and reduced systematic underestimation of precipitation in complex terrain. The resulting methodology significantly enhanced radar-based QPE in mountainous regions and contributed to both NASA ground-validation efforts and NOAA operational precipitation products.
