Haileyesus Belay
Name: Haileyesus Belay Lakew 
Title/Department: PhD candidate at Addis Ababa Institute of Technology (AAiT), Civil Engineering Department
Phone number: +2519-12-179483
Email: haileyesusbelay@gmail.com
Website: http://www.earth2observe.eu
Research focus: Understanding the temporal and spatial variability of the hydrology of the Upper Blue Nile basin using (CREST) grid based hydrological modelling approach (validation of Global datasets)
- What excites you most about your PIRE research? I am so pleased to be the member of the researcher consortium group of eartH2Observe of PIRE research and love working with them because the members are well experienced in every aspect specially in hydrology that I am working on the validation of global datasets and grid based hydrological model. The global datasets that are free and available on the eartH2Observe data portal helps me to have analysis on the validation work on the local case study of the Upper Blue Nile basin. I have a lot of well experienced researchers from the consortium that I am still in touch and discussing with them about developing and analyzing the output products of the research that I am currently carrying out.
- What’s the most valuable aspect of your research for the people and communities? Though, Ethiopia is being called the water tower of Africa and has vital water resources, similar to the other African countries, Ethiopian communities have been suffered in drought and flooding for the pastime of in the history of Ethiopia, because of improper utilization of the water resources. For water resources planning, design and management high quality with sufficient length of records of hydrometeorological datasets have major role. However, acquiring high of data is challenging task in developing countries like Ethiopia. Global datasets have sufficient length with different spatial and temporal resolutions and it is useful for areas that have poor and no gauge coverage. However, global dataset have their own error in estimating the actual or measured values. This research work has major role on validating the global datasets for the application of water recourses applications of designing, planning and management for the community of Ethiopia.