The IEA Wind Task 36 provides here a collection of probabilistic forecasting games in order to
- Discuss
- Educate
- Inspire the energy and meteorology community for the development, deployment and commmunication of uncertainties of weather and energy forecasts to end-users for better decision making.
Uncertainty is inherent in each and every forecast. Not considering uncertainty is just ignoring a fact that is present in every released weather- and/or energy forecast.
By dealing with uncertainties in our own specific and individual application, we can make better decisions, as we do no longer put responsibility to those that have no possibility to evaluate the uncertainty a certain forecast may cause in your own application.
Dealing with uncertainties means taking responsibility and opens a whole new world of possibilities!
For this reason, the IEA Wind Task 36 promotes testing and playing with forecast games to get a “feel” of where the hidden possibilities are to improve your decisions.
Ths list is composed of our own developed games and games developed in cooperation or by cooperating institutions, researchers or companies. Anybody is invited to play and to contribute with links or feedback to the coordinating team Corinna Möhrlen and Ricardo Bessa.
Offline Games
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HEPEX Forecast Games |
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| Water Management Game |
The game experiment focuses on risk-based decision-making in water management using probabilistic forecasts of inflows to a reservoir
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Download:
English (original version), German
Reference: Crochemore et al., 2015
HEPEX blog post
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| Peak Box Game |
The “Peak Box” game supports interpretation and verification of operational ensemble peak-flow forecasts, proposed by Zappa and colleagues, and encourages discussions of the use of ensemble predictions in operational hydrology.
The Peak-Box defines the “best estimate” of a flood event’s timing and magnitude by framing the discharge peaks of all members of an ensemble forecast and taking their median in timing and magnitude.
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Download: Peak Box Game
Reference: Zappa et al., 2013
HEPEX blog post
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| Pay-for-a-forecast Game |
This game was originally created as a paper game to be played during the Ensemble hydro-meteorological forecasting session at the EGU Assembly in 2015. It was designed to contribute to the understanding of the role of probabilistic forecasts in decision-making processes and to look at the perceived value of the forecasts by the decision-makers for flood protection mitigation.
This was achieved by giving the participants a set of probabilistic forecasts of their river level, with which they had to decide whether to buy flood protection. The participants’ willingness-to-pay for probabilistic forecasts was also evaluated during the game through an auction, where forecasts were no longer given but sold, and in a limited number.
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Download (play with paper version): Pay for a forecast game
Download (play online version): Online Pay-for-a-forecast game instructions
Reference: Arnal et al., 2016
HEPEX blog post
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| Flood Control Game |
The game is about the management of a flood protection constract, where the user has to manage a gate which is the inlet of a retention basin with the help of deterministic and probabilistic forecasts of the river water level.
The user has to decide whether to open the gate or not.
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Download
For more information and other languages check the HEPEX page
Paper: “Do probabilistic forecasts lead to better decision making"
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| The Shopkeepers dilemma: a decision-making game using probabilistic forecasts |
In the game, three different shop-keepers were presented with a series of seven forecasts, each providing participants with the forecast probability that they and their shop could be flooded. They are asked to make one of three decisions for each forecast; choosing between taking no action; raising temporary defences on the embankment between their shop and the river; or moving their inventory. Except for doing nothing, all actions came at a cost. But flooding also caused a loss.
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Download: Shopkeepers Dilemma Game
EGU 2017 Abstract and Poster (PDF)
HEPEX blog post
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