HEAD (H SAF Engines and Analysis Data) is an algorithmic framework developed at CIMA Research Foundation to support decision‑makers in operational hydrological monitoring, flood forecasting, and risk assessment. It provides processing chains designed to exploit satellite‑based hydrological data from the EUMETSAT H SAF (Hydrology Satellite Application Facility).
HEAD has been used operationally since 2014 by Functional Centers (e.g., Valle d’Aosta and Marche) to support hydro‑meteorological warning systems and flood‑risk management for civil‑protection purposes.
The repository includes Python modules, analytical workflows, and supporting shell scripts, distributed under the EUPL‑1.2 license.
HEAD integrates satellite‑derived hydrological datasets provided by the
EUMETSAT Hydrology Satellite Application Facility (H SAF) — https://hsaf.meteoam.it/.
H SAF data are freely available (with attribution to EUMETSAT) and cover the key hydrological variables used by HEAD:
| Variable | Description | H SAF Product Families |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation | Instantaneous, accumulated, and blended rainfall estimates from GEO/LEO sensors | H01–H19 |
| Soil Moisture (SM) | Surface and root‑zone soil moisture from active/passive microwave sensors | H14–H27 |
| Snow | Snow cover extent, snow water equivalent (SWE), and melting/condition status | H10–H31 |
HEAD workflows retrieve, preprocess, and analyse these datasets to support hydrological‑model inputs, validation, and event‑based assessments.
The list of H SAF products currently supported by HEAD (including filenames, retrieval workflows, and variable mapping) is defined in the apps/ directory of this repository.
Note: Users must ensure that access credentials and download endpoints for H SAF data (FTP or EUMETSAT Data Centre) are properly configured before running ingestion pipelines.
apps/– Application modules defining processing chains for H SAF productsbin/– Shell utilities (e.g., environment‑setup scripts)example/– Sample configuration files and test datatools/– General‑purpose utilities and helper functions
HEAD is designed for Linux (Debian/Ubuntu 64‑bit) environments.
Core dependencies:
- Python 3.x (via Conda/Miniconda)
- Optional: QGIS ≥ 2.18, R ≥ 3.4.4 (for GIS/statistics components)
Recommended tools:
Jupyter Notebook, Panoply, CDO (Climate Data Operators), ncview.
To set up the HEAD environment:
bash setup_head_system_conda_python_runner.shThis script installs a Miniconda‑based environment and creates the fp_env_python Python environment under $HOME/fp_libs_python/.
Activate it with:
export PATH="$HOME/fp_libs_python/bin:$PATH"
source activate fp_env_pythonAdjust the paths/variables inside the script if your deployment layout differs from default.
Note: Usage examples are restricted to
.shscripts included in this repository.
bash setup_head_system_conda_python_runner.shThis initializes the Python environment required to run the HEAD applications.
H SAF data can be obtained through:
- EUMETSAT Data Centre (https://eoportal.eumetsat.int/)
- H SAF FTP Services (via https://hsaf.meteoam.it/)
- Archived requests for historical datasets via the H SAF portal
Each product includes metadata (resolution, coverage, variable definitions) and validation reports under the “Quality Assessment” section of the H SAF portal.
HEAD modules include ingestion utilities capable of automatically fetching and updating H SAF datasets once proper credentials and configuration files are set.
HEAD (as part of the Flood‑PROOFS modelling ecosystem) supports:
- Data users — analysing precomputed or near‑real‑time products
- Case‑study users — evaluating selected hydrological events
- Applying users — executing workflows with local or scenario data
- Contributors — extending algorithms or integrating new datasets
Contributions are welcome! Please:
- Fork the repository
- Create a feature branch from
main - Add your changes (with tests where applicable)
- Open a pull request to
maindescribing your change
For bugs or feature requests, open an issue in the repository.
Developed and maintained by CIMA Research Foundation.
See AUTHORS.rst for the full list of contributors.
This project is distributed under the European Union Public License v1.2 (EUPL‑1.2).
See LICENSE.rst for full terms and conditions.
- H SAF — Hydrology Satellite Application Facility
- EUMETSAT Data Centre
- CIMA Research Foundation
- HEAD repository (GitHub) & its
apps/directory for supported product list