It has been a year since the Hydr’Avatar project started. We are glad to announce that the Midterm review was formally passed in November 2025, in accordance with ESA expectations.
The project has already achieved significant progress across all R&D areas leveraging Earth Observation (EO) data, including:
- SWOT data processing with hydraulic-preserving denoising,
- Automated river geometry extraction,
- Satellite rainfall qualification and correction,
- Near-real-time altimetry assimilation without in situ discharge data,
- Mass-conservative hydrology–hydraulics coupling,
- Hybrid physics–ML model regionalization, and
- Multi-scale hydrology & hydraulics applications on the Maroni and Garonne basins.
These advances have led to measurable gains in discharge estimation and hydrological forecasting when EO data are integrated. Building on these results, the next phase will focus on enhancing the platform for data visualization and deploying user-driven use cases to meet stakeholder needs and demonstrate the value of satellite EO.
We are extremely proud of the team’s achievements to date and remain fully committed to ensuring the success of the project. Our heartfelt thanks go to all team members and to ESA for their continued trust, support, and constructive collaboration.
So much more to come in 2026; stay tuned!
