Bangkok, 02 September 2026 – The Water Engineering and Management (WEM) program at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) contributed to the INcreasing CAPability (INCAP) 2026 initiative, an annual knowledge-sharing event organized by Thailand’s Hydro-Informatics Institute (HII), a public organization under the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation. This initiative is implemented under the Sub-seasonal to Seasonal (S2S) Prediction Project for Disaster Risk Reduction and Water Management in Thailand (S2S Thailand Project), led by HII. INCAP aims to strengthen collaboration among researchers and national and regional stakeholders in Earth and Climate sciences while building technical capacity in water resources management, severe weather observation, and climate prediction in Thailand and the broader ASEAN region.

Participants (left) and speakers (right) at INCAP 2026

This year’s seminar, themed “Advanced S2S & Satellite Soil Moisture: Knowledge for Water, Disaster, and Agricultural Forecasting on Sub-seasonal to Seasonal Timescales,” was held on 2 September 2026 at the Maruay Garden Hotel in Bangkok. The event was held in partnership with the Thailand Science Research and Innovation (TSRI), Chiang Mai University (CMU), Kasetsart University (KU), AIT, and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC).

The technical sessions addressed a broad range of interconnected topics, including S2S predictive water balance for disaster preparedness and agriculture, validation of SMAP-Sentinel soil moisture products, satellite- and radar-based landslide assessment, land surface modelling, S2S hydrological forecasting, AI-based rainfall anomaly prediction, flash-flood risk assessment, and the translation of advanced climate information into community-level resilience applications.

A key technical contribution from WEM was delivered by Asst. Prof. Dr. Natthachet Tangdamrongsub, Academic Program Chair of the WEM program, through his presentation entitled “Performance Assessment of Land Surface Model-derived Soil Moisture.”

Dr. Natthachet highlighted ongoing research at WEM aimed at advancing land surface modelling capabilities to improve the accuracy and reliability of soil moisture information, an important component for supporting sub-seasonal to seasonal forecasting and water- and climate-related applications in Thailand. His presentation also outlined the recently developed roadmap for advancing satellite-based soil moisture monitoring across Southeast Asia by WEM researchers in collaboration with the HII, KU, ADPC, NASA, and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) (Link to Roadmap).

Asst. Prof. Dr. Natthachet Tangdamrongsub presenting advances in land surface modelling and satellite soil moisture monitoring at INCAP 2026.

The WEM contribution therefore connected advances in land surface modelling and satellite soil moisture monitoring with the broader objectives of INCAP 2026, strengthening the scientific information needed for improved water management, disaster preparedness, agricultural applications, and S2S forecasting.

Following the technical seminar, a study visit was conducted on 3–4 September 2026 as part of the INCAP 2026 activities. Mr. G. A. Chinthaka Ganepola, a PhD researcher from WEM, participated in the research delegation.

The visit included the National Corn and Sorghum Research Center (Suwan Farm) in Pak Chong, Nakhon Ratchasima Province, where a pilot satellite soil moisture validation site is being established under the S2S Thailand Project. The delegation also visited a provincial water management authority in Saraburi Province.

These field visits provided participants with practical insights into the development of ground-based validation infrastructure and operational water management practices that can support the development and evaluation of future soil moisture monitoring and weather and hydrological forecasting systems.

Mr. G. A. Chinthaka Ganepola, a PhD researcher from WEM, participating in the INCAP 2026 field visit to the pilot satellite soil moisture validation site at the National Corn and Sorghum Research Center (Suwan Farm), Pak Chong, Nakhon Ratchasima Province.

Through its technical presentation and participation in the field activities, WEM’s involvement in INCAP 2026 reflects the program’s continuing contribution to advancing land surface modelling, satellite soil moisture monitoring, and hydroclimatic applications while strengthening collaboration with national, regional, and international research partners.