HBV – State of the art hydrological modelling

The HBV was developed by SMHI in the early 70´s to assist hydropower operations. The HBV approach has proved flexibility and robustness in solving water resource problems and is used for a broad range of applications.

Vattenmagasin

The model is a standard forecasting tool in Sweden and other Nordic countries commonly used to simulate ungauged catchments, mainly small and unregulated rivers. Forecasting for the Swedish hydropower companies are made in approximately 100 catchments. In addition, operational or scientific applications of the HBV model are known from more than 80 countries around the world.

Integrated Hydrological Modelling System

The HBV model is today an Integrated Hydrological Modelling system: a modern, well-tested and operational tool, which can be linked to real-time weather information and forecast systems. It can be installed either on stand-alone PCs in a client server concept, or integrated with other systems.

Examples of Applications

  • Simulation of hydrological time-series
  • Simulations in ungauged catchments
  • Integration with lake regulations and routines
  • Short and long-range forecasts
  • Climate change studies

Our offers

SMHI offers different license conditions depending on the type of user and application:

  • Commercial License: for commercial or standard users such as hydropower companies, engineering companies and flood forecasting centers.
  • Non commercial License: for students and research applications at Universities or similar research institutions.

We can provide training comprising model theory and hands-on exercises as well as support services to help you set up your own model.

Detailed user & license conditions are available upon request.