Partner 9: UKZN

University of KwaZulu-Natal

The Satellite Applications and Hydrology Group is part of CRECHE (Centre for Research on Environmental, Coastal and Hydrological Engineering) located in the School of Civil Engineering, Surveying and Construction Management at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa. The SAHG focuses on research relating to the use of remote sensing data in Hydrology.  The group has worked (often in collaboration with the SA Weather Service) on stochastic modelling of radar rainfall fields, stochastic nowcasting of rainfall fields measured by radar and satellite, combining satellite, radar and gauge data to yield the 'best' daily rainfall fields over southern Africa, catchment modelling for flood forecasting, and exploring the feasibility of remote sensing of soil moisture in the region. SAHG currently participates in international and national contracts to achieve these ends.

Geoffrey GS Pegram. Professor Emeritus and Senior Research Associate, Civil Engineering, University of KwaZulu-Natal, DURBAN, 4041, South Africa. 40 years of teaching and research. Fields of interest: Historical. Stochastic Hydrology (reservoir reliability, multi-variate time series analysis, streamflow modelling, floods, droughts, spatial and temporal modelling of hourly/daily/monthly rainfall, neural network modelling of rainfall-runoff processes), Deterministic Hydrology (rainfall-runoff modelling using linear dynamic models and Laplace transforms, spatial integration of rainfields using quadrature - specifically multiquadric functions), Physical and Computational Hydraulics (physical models of rivers, dams, spillways, pumping installations, numerical modelling of Navier-Stokes equations in density stratified reservoirs, numerical modelling of conduit roughness by spectral analysis to link physical and hydraulic resistance, numerical solution of St Venant equations of free surface flows to model the Orange River).  Current. Remote sensing of Precipitation and Soil Moisture using geostationary and polar orbiting satellite data; Radar-rainfield repair (using Kriging techniques); Computation of ‘best’ merged rainfields; Distributed catchment modelling for Flash Flood Forecasting.

Selected Publications
2001.    Terblanche, D. E., G. G. S. Pegram, and M. P. Mittermaier, 2001: The development of weather radar as a research and operational tool for hydrology in South Africa. Journal of Hydrology, 241, 3-25.
2001.    Pegram, G. G. S. and A. N. Clothier, 2001a: High resolution space-time modelling of rainfall: the "String of Beads" model. Journal of Hydrology, 241, 26-41.
2001.    ——, 2001b: Downscaling rainfields in space and time, using the String of Beads model in time series mode. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences J1  - HESS, 5, 175-186.
2002.    Smithers, J. C., G. G. S. Pegram, and R. E. Schulze, 2002: Design rainfall estimation in South Africa using Bartlett-Lewis rectangular pulse rainfall models. Journal of Hydrology, 258, 83-99.
2004.    Wesson, S. M. and G. G. S. Pegram, 2004: Radar rainfall image repair techniques. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences J1  - HESS, 8, 220-234.
2005.    Sinclair, S. and G. Pegram, 2005c: Combining radar and rain gauge rainfall estimates using conditional merging. Atmospheric Science Letters, 6, 19-22.
2005.    Sinclair, S. and G. G. S. Pegram, 2005a: Empirical Mode Decomposition in 2-D space and time: a tool for space-time rainfall analysis and nowcasting. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences J1  - HESS, 9, 127-137.
2005.    Bardossy, A., G. G. S. Pegram, and L. Samaniego, 2005: Modeling data relationships with a local variance reducing technique: Applications in hydrology. Water Resources Research, 41, 1-13.
2005.    Sinclair, S. and G. G. S. Pegram (2005), Empirical Mode Decomposition in 2-D space and time: a tool for space-time rainfall analysis and nowcasting. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discuss. J1  - HESSD, 2, 289-318.
2006.    Wesson, S. M. and G. G. S. Pegram, 2006: Improved radar rainfall estimation at ground level. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences J1 - NHESS, 6, 323-342.
2006.    Srikanthan, R. and G. Pegram, 2006: Stochastic generation of multi-site rainfall occurrences. Vol. 6: Advances in Geosciences, World Scientific Publishing Company, 1-10.
2007.    Vischel, T., G. Pegram, S. Sinclair, W. Wagner, and A. Bartsch, 2007: Comparison of soil moisture fields estimated by catchment modelling and remote sensing: a case study in South Africa. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discuss. J1  - HESSD, 4, 2273-2306.