Stefano Galelli

Stefano Galelli
Cornell University | CU · Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

PhD

About

143
Publications
43,356
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3,596
Citations

Publications

Publications (143)
Preprint
Full-text available
The recent surge in reservoir construction has increased global surface water storage, with Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA) being a significant hotspot. Such infrastructural evolution demands updates in water management strategies and hydrological models. However, information on actual reservoir storage is hard to acquire, especially for transbounda...
Article
Full-text available
In the modern world, dams and the artificial reservoirs behind them serve the increasing demand for water across diverse needs such as agriculture, energy production, and drinking water. As dams continue to proliferate, monitoring water availability influenced by reservoir operations is now of paramount importance. The Reservoir Assessment Tool (RA...
Article
Full-text available
Decarbonizing the electricity sector requires massive investments in generation and transmission infrastructures that may impact both water and land resources. Characterizing these effects is key to ensure a sustainable energy transition. Here, we identify and quantify the unintended consequences of decarbonizing the China Southern Power Grid, Chin...
Article
Full-text available
The value of seasonal streamflow forecasts for the hydropower industry has long been assessed by considering metrics related to hydropower availability. However, this approach overlooks the role played by hydropower dams within the power grid, therefore providing a myopic view of how forecasts could improve the operations of large‐scale power syste...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose of Review. Future electricity grids will be characterized by the high penetration of renewables to support the decarbonization process. Yet, this transition will further expose grids to a broad spectrum of geophysical forces, such as weather and climate or the availability of land and minerals. Here, we synthesize the current body of knowle...
Article
Full-text available
The calibration of macroscale hydrological models is often challenged by the lack of adequate observations of river discharge and infrastructure operations. This modeling backdrop creates a number of potential pitfalls for model calibration, potentially affecting the reliability of hydrological models. Here, we introduce a novel numerical framework...
Preprint
Full-text available
In the modern world, dams and the artificial reservoirs behind them serve the increasing demand for water across diverse needs such as agriculture, energy production, and drinking water. As dams continue to proliferate, monitoring water availability influenced by reservoir operations is now of paramount importance. The Reservoir Assessment Tool (RA...
Preprint
Full-text available
Decarbonizing the electricity sector requires massive investments in generation and transmission infrastructures that may impact both water and land resources. Characterizing these effects is key to ensure a sustainable energy transition. Here, we identify and quantify the unintended consequences of decarbonizing the China Southern Power Grid, Chin...
Article
The causes of recent hydrological droughts and their future evolution under a changing climate are still poorly understood. Banking on a 216-year river flow time series at the Po River outlet, we show that the 2022 hydrological drought is the worst event (30% lower than the second worst, with a six-century return period), part of an increasing tren...
Preprint
The value of seasonal streamflow forecasts for the hydropower industry has long been assessed by considering metrics related to hydropower availability. However, this approach overlooks the role played by hydropower dams within the power grid, therefore providing a myopic view of how forecasts could improve the operations of large-scale power syste...
Article
Seasonal streamflow forecasts are becoming widely used to improve water reservoir operations, especially in areas where climate teleconnections enable predictability on medium and long lead times. Most existing studies have focused on the assimilation of forecasts into operational decision models, an approach that typically banks on predeveloped fo...
Preprint
Full-text available
The calibration of macro-scale hydrological models is often challenged by the lack of adequate observations of river discharge and infrastructure operations. This modelling backdrop creates a number of potential pitfalls for model calibration, potentially affecting the reliability of hydrological models. Here, we introduce a novel numerical framewo...
Article
Full-text available
Plain Language Summary The Kabul River is a transboundary river spanning eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. It is an important tributary of the Indus, one of the world's largest rivers with intensive water withdrawals for human use. With climate change, the Kabul River is projected to have more frequent and larger floods, but the projection...
Preprint
Full-text available
A fundamental problem in the realm of cyber-physical security of smart water networks is attack detection, a key step towards designing adequate countermeasures. This task is typically carried out by algorithms that analyze time series of process data. However, the nature of the data available to develop these algorithms limits their capabilities:...
Preprint
Full-text available
Numerical simulation models are a fundamental tool for planning and managing smart water networks-an evolution of water distribution systems in which physical assets are monitored and controlled by information and communication technologies. While simulation models allow us to understand the interactions between physical processes and abstract cont...
Article
The design of urban drainage systems often relies on the coupling of optimization algorithms and process-based models, with the latter informed by design storms. However, such practice may not yield systems that are robust with respect to a broad array of rainfall conditions. To tackle this problem, we contribute a novel computational framework cha...
Article
Full-text available
In rivers around the world, hydropower development has altered the seasonal hydrological regime, which drives key ecosystem services. Dam re-operation efforts that minimize hydrological alterations are, therefore, critical to biological conservation, particularly in the tropics, where dam development is still booming. Here, we identify the limits a...
Article
Full-text available
Plain Language Summary Long records of river discharge, reconstructed from tree rings, help us understand how rivers behaved in response to past climates, and place projected climate changes in a broader perspective. While this knowledge is valuable, streamflow reconstructions have rarely been used to directly inform water management models, becaus...
Conference Paper
The increase in the number and complexity of cyber-physical attacks on water distribution systems requires better intrusion detection systems. So far, the design and validation of such systems has relied on datasets, such as the EWRI 2017 BATtle of the Attack Detection ALgorithms (BATADAL), that provide a detailed representation of hydraulic proces...
Article
Southern Africa faces the dual challenge of providing affordable energy to meet rapidly growing electricity demand while limiting carbon emissions and socio-environmental impacts. We combined open-source geospatial, hydrological, and electricity grid-investment models to develop cost-optimal low-carbon electricity pathways for Southern Africa. If t...
Article
The soft (one-way) coupling of water and power system models is the dominant approach for studying the impact of water availability on grid performance. Yet, such approach does not explicitly capture key dynamic interdependencies between the state of the grid and the operational decisions made at the water system level. Here, we address this gap an...
Preprint
Full-text available
In rivers around the world, hydropower development has altered the seasonal hydrological regime, which drives key ecosystem services. Dam re-operation efforts that minimize hydrological alterations are, therefore, critical to biological conservation, particularly in the tropics, where dam development is still booming. Here, we identify the limits a...
Article
Full-text available
The potential benefits of seasonal streamflow forecasts for the hydropower sector have been evaluated for several basins across the world but with contrasting conclusions on the expected benefits. This raises the prospect of a complex relationship between reservoir characteristics, forecast skill, and value. Here, we unfold the nature of this relat...
Article
Full-text available
The current situation in the Lancang–Mekong River basin is emblematic of the issues faced by many transboundary basins around the world: riparian countries prioritize national water–energy policies and provide limited information on how major infrastructures are operated. In turn, such infrastructures and their management become a source of controv...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Hydroinformatics applications changed significantly in recent years with the developments in information and communication technologies. It has been offering novel approaches for resources challenges to support integration of big data, systems science, and computational intelligence. The goal of this session is to highlight recent developments in t...
Preprint
Full-text available
Session Description Hydroinformatics applications changed significantly in recent years with the developments in information and communication technologies. It has been offering novel approaches for resources challenges to support integration of big data, systems science, and computational intelligence. The goal of this session is to highlight rece...
Preprint
Full-text available
The potential benefits of seasonal streamflow forecasts for the hydropower sector have been evaluated for several basins across the world, but with contrasting conclusions on the expected benefits. This raises the prospect of a complex relationship between reservoir characteristics, forecast skill and value. Here, we unfold the nature of this relat...
Article
Full-text available
Selective water release from the deeper pools of reservoirs alters the temperature of downstream rivers. Thermal destabilization of downstream rivers can be detrimental to the riverine ecosystem by disturbing the growth stages of various aquatic species. To predict this impact of planned hydropower dams worldwide, we present a framework called “FUt...
Article
Full-text available
Despite having offered important hydroclimatic insights, streamflow reconstructions still see limited use in water resources operations, because annual reconstructions are not suitable for decisions at finer time scales. The few attempts toward sub‐annual reconstructions have relied on statistical disaggregation, which uses none or little proxy inf...
Article
Full-text available
Strategic dam planning and the deployment of decentralized renewable technologies are two elements of the same problem, yet normally addressed in isolation. Here, we show that an integrated view of the power system capacity expansion problem could have transformative effects for Southeast Asia’s hydropower plans. We demonstrate that Thailand, Laos,...
Preprint
Full-text available
The current situation in the Lancang-Mekong River Basin is emblematic of the issues faced by many transboundary basins around the world: riparian countries prioritize national water-energy policies and provide limited information on how major infrastructures are operated. In turn, such infrastructures and their management become a source of controv...
Preprint
The current situation in the Lancang–Mekong River Basin is emblematic of the issues faced by many transboundary basins around the world: riparian countries prioritize national water-energy policies and provide limited information on how major infrastructures are operated. In turn, such infrastructures and their management become a source of controv...
Preprint
Full-text available
Strategic dam planning and the deployment of decentralized renewable technologies are two elements of the same problem, yet they are normally addressed in isolation. Here, we show that an integrated view of the power system capacity expansion problem could have transformative effects for the 'Battery of Asia' plan. We demonstrate that Thailand, Lao...
Article
Full-text available
Abstract The Greater Mekong Subregion is a transnational area bound together by the Mekong River basin and its immense hydropower resources, historically seen as the backbone of regional economic development. The basin is now punctuated by several dams, successful in attracting both international investors and fierce criticisms for their environmen...
Article
Full-text available
Water distribution networks are designed and managed to provide adequate water flow to all users. Unexpected events, such as prolonged dry spells or cyber-physical attacks, can affect this status quo. In conditions of limited water availability, users located in high-pressure zones have a competitive advantage at the expense of the other customers,...
Article
Full-text available
Plain Language Summary Ten of the world's biggest rivers are located entirely within the Asian Monsoon region. They provide water, energy, and food for 1.7 billion people. To manage these critical resources, we need a better understanding of river discharge—how does it change over a long time? Are there common variation patterns among rivers? To an...
Article
The paper presents the results of the Battle of Postdisaster Response and Restoration (BPDRR) presented in a special session at the first International water distribution systems analysis & computing and control in the water industry (WDSA/CCWI) Joint Conference, held in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, in July 2018. The BPDRR problem focused on how to r...
Article
Massive investments in hydropower are transforming several river basins across the world--especially in developing countries, where hydroelectricity is often seen as a means to sustain economic growth. While the environmental alterations caused by these projects have been well addressed in the scientific literature, less is known about their actual...
Article
The manageability and resilience of critical infrastructures, such as power and water networks, is challenged by their increasing interdependence and interconnectivity. Power networks often experience cascading failures, i.e. blackouts, that have unprecedented economic and social impact. Al- though knowledge exists about how to control such complex...
Article
Full-text available
PowNet is specifically conceived for systems characterized by the presence of variable renewable resources (e.g., hydropower, solar, and wind), whose penetration on the grid is strongly influenced by climatic variability and constrained by the availability of transmission capacity. To help users effectively capture the nuances of power system dynam...
Article
Macroscale hydrological and land surface models increasingly rely on novel streamflow routing algorithms that explicitly account for the presence of engineered water storages, which largely affect river basin dynamics. In this short communication, we contribute to this growing field by presenting VIC-ResOpt, a software package for the representatio...
Preprint
This study presents a critical review of disclosed, documented, and malicious cybersecurity incidents in the water sector to inform safeguarding efforts against cybersecurity threats. The review is presented within a technical context of industrial control system architectures, attack-defense models, and security solutions. Fifteen incidents have b...
Article
Full-text available
During the past decades, the increased impact of anthropogenic interventions on river basins has prompted hydrologists to develop various approaches for representing human–water interactions in large-scale hydrological and land surface models. The simulation of water reservoir storage and operations has received particular attention, owing to the u...
Preprint
The Monsoon Asia region is home to ten of the world’s biggest rivers, supporting the lives of 1.7 billion people who rely on streamflow for water, energy, and food. Yet, a synoptic understanding of multi-centennial streamflow variability for this region is lacking. Here we produce the first large scale streamflow reconstruction over Monsoon Asia (6...
Code
Full-text available
PowNet is a least-cost optimization model for simulating the Unit Commitment and Economic Dispatch (UC/ED) of large-scale (regional to country) power systems. In PowNet, a power system is represented by a set of nodes that include power plants, high-voltage substations, and import/export stations (for cross-border systems). The model schedules and...
Preprint
Full-text available
PowNet is a free modelling tool for simulating the Unit Commitment / Economic Dispatch of large-scale power systems. PowNet is specifically conceived for applications in the water-energy nexus domain, which investigate the impact of water availability on electricity supply. To this purpose, PowNet is equipped with features that guarantee accuracy,...
Article
Full-text available
This study presents a critical review of disclosed, documented, and malicious cybersecurity incidents in the water sector to inform safeguarding efforts against cybersecurity threats. The review is presented within a technical context of industrial control system architectures, attack-defense models, and security solutions. Fifteen incidents have b...
Presentation
The energy system of the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) is increasing its dependency on hydropower through the installation of dozens of dams across the Mekong River basin, which provide energy supply, storage, and revenue from export of excess energy. The operation of the hydropower dams is challenged by multiple factors, including environmental...
Article
Design storms are an essential element in the design of urban drainage systems. Whilst it is accepted that systems optimized with respect to design storms should perform well under similar rainfall conditions, there is a lack of knowledge on when and why design storms may fail to produce robust solutions-namely drainage systems that perform consist...
Preprint
Recently, a number of deep learning-based anomaly detection algorithms were proposed to detect attacks in dynamic industrial control systems. The detectors operate on measured sensor data, leveraging physical process models learned a priori. Evading detection by such systems is challenging, as an attacker needs to manipulate a constrained number of...
Article
Full-text available
During the past decades, the increased impact of anthropogenic interventions on river basins has prompted hydrologists to develop various approaches for representing human-water interactions in large-scale hydrological and land surface models. The simulation of water reservoir storage and operations has received particular attention, owing to the u...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Water distribution systems are undergoing a process of intensive digitalization, adopting networked devices for monitoring and control. While this transition improves efficiency and reliability, these infrastructures are increasingly exposed to cyber-attacks. Cyber-attacks engender anomalous system behaviors which can be detected by data-driven alg...
Article
Check dams are one of the most popular measures for soil erosion control. Despite the availability of various process-based modelling tools, their design is often carried out in an uncoordinated manner, potentially leading to check dam systems with limited life expectancy or unreliable sediment retention capacity. In this study, we consider the pro...
Article
Full-text available
The El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a major driver of global hydro-climatic variability, with well-known effects on floods, droughts, and coupled human-natural systems. Its impact on urban settlements depends on both level of exposure and preparedness, two factors that are responsible for severe cuts on millions of people in developing count...