Building live river radar
The sky has live radar. Rivers don't.
One river is fed by roughly a thousand creeks. Official gauges cover almost none of them, and that is where flash floods start.
$390 BILLION
Annual damage from extreme water events worldwide, on track to double at 2°C of warming.
01
The rain radar shows the storm. Whether it floods your creek is a guess.
02
Flood bulletins cover whole regions and are built for large rivers. A national-grade gauging station costs tens of thousands of francs, so few are installed on small streams.
03
Regional alerts often do not match what teams see at their site. After enough irrelevant alerts, they stop responding, even when a flood is heading for their intake.
HAZARD MAPS SHOW YOU WHERE. WE TELL YOU WHEN.
We combine local readings with rainfall data to build a forecast for the stream and critical point your team needs to protect.
MEASURE
We install sensors in the streams and at the critical points above your site. They send live readings by radio or satellite, including from places without mobile coverage.
PREDICT
We combine local readings with rainfall data to build a model for the catchment. The goal is a warning that names the stream, the critical point and the expected arrival time.
SHARPEN
Each event adds local data from the catchment. We use it to test and improve the model for that site.”
55 PAYING CUSTOMERS.
117 SENSORS DEPLOYED.
BUILT FOR THE PEOPLE WHO WORK CLOSEST TO WATER.
RIVER RADAR FOR
HYDROPOWER
Close the inlet before the flood arrives. We forecast flash floods in the side streams above your intakes, so crews come off the riverbed in time.
RIVER RADAR FOR
FIRST RESPONDERS
Warnings tied to the bridge, culvert or street your brigade has to hold. The aim is to give teams time to move people and set barriers before the water arrives.
WATER AND SEDIMENT MONITORING FOR RESEARCH
Water temperature, pressure and turbidity every five minutes, with remote access to data from hard-to-reach sites. With site calibration, the turbidity readings can be used to estimate suspended sediment concentration.
FROM ETH ZURICH TO RIVERS AROUND THE WORLD.
Riverkin was founded by a hydrologist who spent four years measuring alpine rivers and published the peer-reviewed research behind the sensor. Today the technology runs in the field for energy utilities, fire brigades and research institutions on four continents.
SUPPORTED BY




PILOTS WITH

About the Migros Pioneer Fund
The Migros Pioneer Fund supports sustainable solutions for societal challenges with the goal of initiating systemic change towards a future-oriented society. The impact-oriented funding approach combines financial support with active funding and risk management. The fund is part of the social commitment of the Migros Group and has an annual budget of approximately CHF 15 million. The Migros Pioneer Fund is supported by companies such as Denner, Migros Bank, Migrol, migrolino and Ex Libris.
More information: www.migros-pionierfonds.ch




