Glossary
The official docs assume this vocabulary. Here it is in plain language. Terms are grouped by the concept they belong to; within a group they build on each other.
Data & identity
Section titled “Data & identity”Time series
Section titled “Time series”An ordered sequence of timestamped values for one quantity at one place — e.g. hourly discharge at a specific gauge. In FEWS a time series is never bare numbers; it always carries a full identity (its header, below).
Time series header
Section titled “Time series header”The identity attached to every series. It answers: which location, which parameter, which module produced it, what time step, and is it observed or a forecast? This header is how FEWS keeps millions of series distinct. Most “I can’t find my data” issues are really “the header I’m querying doesn’t match the header that got stored.”
Location
Section titled “Location”A place things are measured or modelled: a gauge, reservoir, catchment, grid
cell, structure. Every location has an ID and lives in the
RegionConfigFiles vocabulary.
Location set
Section titled “Location set”A named group of locations — “all discharge gauges,” “reservoirs in basin X.” Configuration refers to sets so one rule can apply to many locations at once.
Parameter
Section titled “Parameter”The quantity being measured or computed: discharge (Q), water level (H),
precipitation (P), temperature (T). Parameters are declared once and reused
everywhere.
Qualifier
Section titled “Qualifier”An optional extra tag that distinguishes otherwise-identical series — e.g. two discharge series that differ only by scenario or ensemble treatment. Think of it as an adjective on a parameter.
A quality marker on each value: reliable, doubtful, unreliable, missing. Editing or completing data changes flags without discarding the original values.
Time step
Section titled “Time step”The spacing between values — hourly, 15-minute, daily, or non-equidistant (irregular). Declared explicitly so nothing has to guess what “hourly” means.
Naming & translation
Section titled “Naming & translation”ID mapping
Section titled “ID mapping”The translation table between an external system’s names and FEWS’s internal
names, applied at the import/export boundary. External
08NL024 → internal location RiverX_Downstream. Lives in
IdMapFiles. See the task
guide.
Internal vs. external
Section titled “Internal vs. external”External = how the outside world names and formats data. Internal = the single standardized FEWS representation everything is converted into on the way in and out. The whole system’s power comes from doing all its work internally.
Doing work
Section titled “Doing work”Module
Section titled “Module”A configured unit of work — one import, one transformation, one model run.
Modules are the verbs. Each is one file in
ModuleConfigFiles.
Module instance
Section titled “Module instance”A specific configured use of a module. The same underlying module type can be instantiated several times with different settings; each instance has its own ID and its output series are tagged with it.
Workflow
Section titled “Workflow”An ordered list of modules to execute — the recipe. Workflows are what get
scheduled and run. Lives in
WorkflowFiles.
Transformation
Section titled “Transformation”A module that computes new series from existing ones: gap-filling, unit changes, rating curves (stage→flow), aggregation, disaggregation. See the task guide.
General Adapter
Section titled “General Adapter”The standard bridge to an external model. It exports FEWS inputs into the model’s format, launches the model, and imports its results back — so any model can plug into the same pipeline. See the task guide.
Time & forecasting
Section titled “Time & forecasting”T0 (time zero)
Section titled “T0 (time zero)”The instant a forecast run is anchored to — the boundary between imported history (before T0) and simulated future (after T0). Covered in depth in the lifecycle.
Simulated / forecast time series
Section titled “Simulated / forecast time series”A series produced by a model run whose values run forward from T0. Stored and displayed exactly like observed series — only its type and time range differ.
Cold state / warm state
Section titled “Cold state / warm state”The model’s starting condition. A cold state is a fixed, pre-defined starting point; a warm state is carried forward from a previous run for greater accuracy. See cold vs. warm start.
Ensemble
Section titled “Ensemble”A set of forecast series representing uncertainty — many members instead of one prediction. Members share a header but are distinguished by an ensemble member index.
User-facing
Section titled “User-facing”Filter
Section titled “Filter”The browsable tree of data feeds users click through in the FEWS Explorer.
Filters are declared in RegionConfigFiles and
decide what data users can reach and how it’s grouped — not what exists.
Display
Section titled “Display”A configured view of data — chart, table, spatial map, longitudinal profile.
Displays live in
DisplayConfigFiles.
Threshold
Section titled “Threshold”A warning level attached to a location/parameter (e.g. “minor flood at 4.5 m”). Crossing one can raise an event or alert. See the task guide.