DRAFT
GLOBAL ENERGY AND WATER CYCLE EXPERIMENT (GEWEX)
CONTINENTAL-SCALE INTERNATIONAL PROJECT (GCIP)
TACTICAL DATA COLLECTION AND MANAGEMENT PLAN for the 1998 ENHANCED ANNUAL OBSERVING PERIOD (EAOP) for the OHIO-TENNESSE RIVER BASIN
JULY 1997
UNIVERSITY CORPORATION FOR ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH (UCAR)
JOINT OFFICE FOR SCIENCE SUPPORT (JOSS)
P.O. BOX 3000
BOULDER, CO 80307
Phone: (303) 497-8987
Fax: (303) 497-8158
Internet: sfw@ncar.ucar.edu
CONTENTS
3. DATA SOURCES AND DATA COLLECTION
6. IMPLEMENTATION AND SCHEDULE
Figure 1-1 Boundaries for the GCIP LSAs and temporal emphasis for each LSA.
Figure 1-2 Latitude-longitude boundaries for the GCIP LSA-E
Figure 3-1 ASOS station locations within the LSA-E
Figure 3-2 AWOS station locations within the LSA-E
Figure 3-3 SAO station locations within the LSA-E
Figure 3-4 NOAA Profiler Network locations within the LSA-E
Figure 3-5 Fire Weather Network station locations
Figure 3-6 Auburn University Mesonet station locations
Figure 3-7 GAEMN station locations
Figure 3-8 Illinois Climate Network station locations
Figure 3-9 Indiana Department of Environmental Management Air Quality Monitoring Network locations
Figure 3-10 Kentucky Division of Air Quality Meteorological station locations
Figure 3-11 Michigan State University Automated Weather Station Network locations
Figure 3-12 Missouri Commercial Agriculture Weather Stations Network locations
Figure 3-13 Missouri DOC Fire Weather Network locations
Figure 3-14 North Carolina State University climate station network locations
Figure 3-15 Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection meteorological station locations
Figure 3-16 RAMAN station locations
Figure 3-17 University of Wisconsin AWON station locations
Figure 3-18 Wisconsin DOT station locations
Figure 3-19 Wisconsin DNR Air Quality Monitoring Network locations
Figure 3-20 Great Lakes meteorological data locations
Figure 3-21 MSEA site locations
Figure 3-22 NWS cooperative observer daily observation locations within the LSA-E
Figure 3-23 NWS cooperative 15-min and hourly precipitation observation locations within the LSA-E
Figure 3-24 Cook County and Imperial Valley precipitation network station locations
Figure 3-25 Tennessee Valley Authority precipitation observation locations
Figure 3-26 USGS streamflow observation locations within the LSA-E
Figure 3-27 USDA/NRCS Soil Moisture/Soil Temperature Pilot Project locations
Figure 3-28 USDA/NRCS Wisconsin Dense Till Project locations
Figure 3-29 USGS reservoir observation locations within the LSA-E
Figure 3-30 ISWS shallow well observation locations
Figure 3-31 ISWS deep well observation locations
Figure 3-32 NWS rawinsonde release locations within the LSA-E
Figure 3-33 WSR-88D and NIDS locations during EAOP-98
Figure 3-34 NOAA/NCEP Eta, NOAA/FSL MAPS, and AES/CMC RFE MOLTS locations within the LSA-E
Figure 3-35 The AWIPS 212 Grid
Figure 4-1 Schematic diagram of the compositing and quality control procedures to be conducted for the EAOP-98 hourly surface composite
Figure 4-2 Schematic diagram of the compositing and quality control procedures to be conducted for the EAOP-98 hourly precipitation composite
Figure 5-1 Organization of the GCIP DMSS
Table 3-1 Datasets comprising the EAOP-98
Table 3-2 WSR-88D NIDS Products and Descriptions
Table 3-3 Satellite Radiation Datasets
Table 3-4 Regional Model Characteristics
Table 3-5 Fundamental Output Variables for the MOLTS
Table 3-6 MORDS Output Variables
Table 3-7 RFC Hydrological Six-hour Model Outputs Proposed by NOAA/OH for GCIP
Table 4-1 Normalizing factors used for EAOP-98 Surface Composites
Table 4-2 Ranges of HQC flag limit values for the ESOP-95 Surface Composites
Table 4-3 QC limits to be applied to precipitation values for EAOP-98 precipitation composites
Table 5-1 Proposed EAOP-98 CD-ROM Dataset Contents
Table 5-2 Contents of USGS Geographic Reference (GREDS) CD-ROM
The Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX), as one of the major programs of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), aims to determine global distributions of water and energy fluxes from observations and to compute their values from predicted atmospheric properties. The GEWEX Continental-scale International Project (GCIP), the first major project under GEWEX, has the Mississippi River basin as its primary region of interest.
The GCIP Science Plan [World Meteorological Organization (WMO), 1992] poses science questions that need to be addressed to advance knowledge of the hydrological and energy cycles involved in the complex land-atmosphere-ocean interactions for a major river basin. The GCIP research involves a systematic multiscale approach to accommodate physical process studies, model development, data assimilation, diagnostics, and validation topics [International GEWEX Project Office (IGPO), 1994a]. This multiscale research effort employs a four-tiered developmental studies framework laid out as follows:
Continental-scale area (CSA) activities span the entire domain of the Mississippi River basin (3.2 x 106 km2). These operate at a more or less steady level throughout the EOP.
Large-scale area (LSA) activities cover areas of about 105 to 106 km2. Four such areas were defined for GCIP that in aggregate cover most of the GCIP domain (Figure 1-1). These activities occur in a phased timetable (Figure 1-1), examining each regions special characteristics over a two year period.
Intermediate-scale area (ISA) activities cover areas of about 103 to 104 km2 and occur in conjunction with LSA activities. They serve as the basis for the regionalization of the parameters and coefficients of land surface hydrological models. Activities at ISA scales include the analysis of existing basin-scale hydrological models and the analysis of relationships between LSA and ISA scales.
Small-scale area (SSA) activities cover areas of about 102 km2. These activities typically occur in association with efforts requiring Intensive Observation Periods (IOPs) over concentrated regions to study a focused set of issues.
The data collection and operational model upgrades needed for GCIP were addressed in Volume I of the GCIP Implementation Plan (IGPO, 1993). The issues of data management for GCIP are divided into strategic and tactical planning efforts. The strategic portion of the data management planning was covered in Volume III of the GCIP Implementation Plan (IGPO 1994b). A tactical data collection and management plan will be completed for each definable dataset compiled by GCIP. Following the data collection phase of each definable GCIP dataset a tactical data collection and management report will be completed.
The first dataset collected during the 5-yr EOP was the ESOP-96 which took place from 1 April to 30 September 1996 in the LSA-SW. A CD-ROM will be compiled for the ESOP-96 dataset. The first dataset collected outside of the LSA-SW was the ESOP-97 which took place from 1 October 1996 to 30 May 1997 in the LSA-NC. A CD-ROM will be compiled for the ESOP-97 dataset.
Specific information about each dataset is available on the Internet World Wide Web (WWW) via the GCIP home page at the following URL (Uniform Resource Locator):
The LSA-E has several environmental features that are significant to GCIP: The LSA-E is the first GCIP LSA where there are significant topological effects, due to the Appalachian Mountains. The LSA-E also has the heaviest precipitation in the Mississippi River basin. There is a winter-spring maximum in the LSA-E as well as some snow melt effects (primarily in the northern half of the LSA-E) giving lead to winter-spring flooding events. Additionally, the LSA-E is the dominant contributor to Mississippi River runoff.
The GCIP LSA-E domain is shown in Figure 1-2. The geographical area extent of the Ohio-Tennessee River basins is defined as the irregular shaped polygon in Figure 1-2. For atmospheric modeling and other applications a more regular-shaped area is defined by the boundaries of 30o to 45o N latitude and 80o to 90o W longitude, and this is used as the latitude-longitude boundaries for the LSA-E. The meteorological and hydrological networks covering the Mississippi River basin are currently being enhanced by new Weather Surveillance Radar - 1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) radars, wind profilers, and automatic weather stations. Most of these systems are now operating in the LSA-E. In addition, mesoscale networks including the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) Illinois Climate Network (ICN) and the Georigia Automated Environmental Monitoring Network are contained within the LSA-E domain.
(i) A summary of the approach to the data collection efforts during the period of 1 October 1997 through 30 September 1998 in lieu of an operations plan covering this period.
(ii) The data collected during EAOP-98 will provide the basis for the second ESOP dataset from the 5-yr GCIP EOP and is the first GCIP dataset located in the LSA-E region. The EAOP-98 will contain all of the same data types as were collected for ESOP-97 in 1997. Enhancements from local networks will also be available for EAOP-98.
The approach to EAOP-98, a description of the data collected, and how it will be disseminated are described in the remainder of this document.
The LSA-E offers several areas suitable for LSA, ISA, and SSA studies. On the LSA and ISA scales there is the Ohio River basin covering Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, the Tennessee River basin over Tennessee, and the state of Illinois with the Illinois Climate Network (ICN). On the ISA to SSA scale there are opportunities in some of the focused study areas within the LSA-E. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) operates the Walker Branch Experimental Watershed. This watershed is about 1 km2 in area and is located adjacent to the Clinch River near Oak Ridge, Tennessee. ORNL maintains and extensive historical (25 year) database for this site. This includes precipitation, streamflow, and continuous eddy flux (H2O and CO2) measurements. There is also the highly instrumented area around Bondville, Illinois which includes an ICN site (with soil moisture measurements, a SURFace RADiation (SURFRAD) measurement site, and it is part of the Environmental Protection Agency wet/dry deposition network. The United States Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service (USDA/ARS) operates three research watersheds that may be useful for ISA/SSA studies. The Goodwin Creek Experimental Watershed is located in northwestern Mississippi. This site is about 21.5 km2 and had 11 years of historical data including an extensive precipitation network, a meteorological station, and streamflow depth and temperature measurements. Goodwin Creek is also the location of a NOAA SURFRAD site. The North Appalachian Experimental Watershed is located in Coshoctan, Ohio. This site is about 425 hectares and also has a precipitation network, a meteorological station, a series of lysimeters, and gaged watersheds. The final USDA/ARS site is the Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Laboratory site in Mahantango, Pennsylvania. This site is about 7.3 km2 and is a subwatershed of the East Mahantango Creek in east-central Pennsylvania. This site has about 30 years of rainfall, runoff, meteorological, and groundwater observation well measurements.
The scientific issues to be focused on during the EAOP-98 include improving the understanding impact of intraseasonal and interannual precipitation and temperature fluctuations on the regional and local hydrometeorology over the LSA-E, determining the factors that influence interannual runoff variability, determining the affect of temporal and spatial patterns of soil moisture on the local and regional energy and water balances and the interannual variability in runoff, examining the issue of whether regional hydrometeorological and land surface processes be scaled with grid size in an area of complex topography (i.e. the LSA-E), how the variability of vegetation (it's spatial patterns, distributions, physiological structure) and the soil-landscape system affect hydrometeorological processes and energy and water budgets, and building working relationships with the applications community that enable the translation of the improved physical understanding of such features into quantitative parameters for economic decision making, among others (Quattrochi 1996)
During EAOP-98 there will be two research projects occurring within the LSA-E, the Lake-Induced Convection Experiment (Lake-ICE) and the Chicago Deicing Experiment
The Lake-ICE is a field project designed to examine the processes, on multiple size scales, by which the atmosphere is modified by low-level sources of heat, moisture, and particles. The objectives of Lake-ICE include measuring the spatial and temporal extents to which the Great Lakes impact wintertime pressure, temperature, wind, humidity, cloud, and precipitation fields, to document the growth of the boundary layer, to document the development and evolution of mesoscale convective structures as the boundary grows and atmospheric conditions are modified by this growth, determine the factors that govern turbulence development and subsequent vertical transports through the boundary layer, and to determine the relationships between cloud condensation nuclei populations and glaciation. Lake-ICE is proposed to take place over Lake Michigan during December 1997 and January 1998.
The Chicago Deicing Experiment is an onsite test and demonstration of new forecasting tools designed to improve winter aviation safety. This project is conducted by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. This project includes a four station mesonet as well as five snow-weighing gages. The project will take place from December 1997 through March 1998.
In summary, EAOP-98 will provide a dataset that: (1) includes atmospheric and hydrological data obtained in a major river basin; (2) includes a hydrologically important time of year (i.e. winter); (3) includes routine operational data as well as special research observing platforms combined for a six month period; and (4) provides quality controlled surface and upper air composite datasets as required by the GCIP EOP.
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TABLE 3-1 Datasets comprising the EAOP-98
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IN-SITU DATA
Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS) Data - This includes data from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) AWOS stations as well as networks operated by other agencies. These data include 20-minute observations of temperature, dew point, station pressure, precipitation type (rain, snow, and freezing rain), precipitation amount, wind speed, wind direction, visibility to 10 miles, and sky condition to 12,000 feet. These data are available at 140 sites within the LSA-E (Figure 3-2). Data will be merged, quality controlled, and archived at the JOSS.
Surface Airways Observations (SAO) Hourly Data - These data include hourly SAOs of temperature, dew point, station and sea level pressure, altimeter setting, precipitation type and amount, wind speed, wind direction, visibility, ceiling, and cloud type, height, and amount, and remarks. Data are routinely recorded at 98 sites within the LSA-E (Figure 3-3) and will be processed and archived at National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). Data for the EAOP-98 period will be extracted and forwarded to the JOSS.
SAO Special Observation Data - These data include the "special" SAOs. These are SAOs that are reported at off-hour times and report significant changes in conditions from the previous hourly reports. These reports can include all of the information shown above for the hourly SAOs, but more typically, report only portions of the data. A complete listing of the requirements to issue a "special SAO" are included in the Federal Meteorological Handbook No. 1 (1988). Data are routinely recorded at 98 sites within the LSA-E (Figure 3-3) and will be processed and archived at NCDC. Data for the EAOP-98 period will be extracted and forwarded to the JOSS.
NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Profiler Network (NPN) Surface Observations - The NPN routinely record hourly and 6-minute surface observations of temperature, dew point, station pressure, precipitation amount, wind speed, and wind direction at ?? of its two 405 MHz profiler sites in the LSA-E (Figure 3-4). The data are routinely collected and processed by NOAA/Forecast Systems Laboratory (FSL) and archived at NOAA/NCDC. Data for the EAOP-98 period will be extracted and forwarded to the JOSS.
Fire Weather Network Data - This network is overseen by the United States Forest Service (USFS), but the sites are operated by the local state agencies (i.e. the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Missouri Department of Conservation are two such agencies). There are approximately 42 stations within the LSA-E (Figure 3-5). Most of the sites use the Forest Technology Systems, Incorporated automated stations and archive hourly observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, and precipitation.
Auburn University Mesonet - The status of this network is currently in question. If it is operational during the EAOP-98 period it will be operated by Auburn University. It is a network of 13 automated stations throughout the state of Alabama (Figure 3-6). The network provides hourly observations of air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, soil temperature at 4 inches, wetness, and pan evaporation.
Georgia Automated Environmental Monitoring Network (GAEMN) Data - The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Georgia operates the GAEMN network of 28 automated stations over the state of Georgia (Figure 3-7). They archive 15- min and hourly observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, wind gust, solar radiation, rainfall, and soil temperature at 2, 5, 10, and 20 cm. Some sites also observe PAR, pan evaporation, and leaf wetness. Later during 1997 some sites will also measure barometric pressure.
Georgia Forestry Commission Meteorological Data - The Georgia Forestry Commission operates a network of 22 automated stations over the state of Georgia. These sites are largely the same as those in the GAEMN. They collect hourly observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, wind gust, solar radiation, and rainfall.
Illinois Department of Transportation (DOT) Network Data - The Illinois DOT, in conjunction with Surface Systems, Inc. (SSI), operates a network of 31 stations over the state of Illinois. The stations record precipitation, visibility, air temperature, wind speed, wind direction, road temperature, and road surface conditions data at hourly intervals.
Chicago Deicing Project Mesonet Data - In conjunction with the NCAR ground de-icing research being conducted at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, a network of four stations, all within 12 miles of the Airport, has been established that will be operational during the ESOP-97 period. These stations provide at least hourly measurements of temperature, precipitation rate, relative humidity, wind speed, and total precipitation.
Illinois Climate Network (ICN) Data - The Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) operates a network of 19 automated weather stations located throughout the state (Figure 3-8). The data are sampled at 10 sec intervals with hourly averages archived. Each station collects measurements of barometric pressure, air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, solar radiation, and soil temperature at 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100 cm.
Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) Air Quality Network Data - The IDEM operates a network of eight air quality monitoring stations near urban areas and also collects data from a total of 46 stations (25 with some meteorological data) operated by 13 industrial organizations (Figure 3-9). The meteorological data collected varies significantly by station. All stations with meteorological data collect wind speed and wind direction. Some stations also collect, in descending order of frequency, temperature, pressure, dew point, solar radiation, and precipitation. Several of the industrial sites have masts set up collecting data at up to three different levels (up to either 60 or 91 m).
Kentucky Division for Air Quality Meteorological Data - The Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection/Division for Air Quality operates a network of 10 automated stations throughout the state (Figure 3-10). Each site makes hourly observations of temperature, wind speed, and wind direction. Two sites provide weekly rainfall accumulations.
University of Kentucky Research Farm Data - The University of Kentucky operates automated weather stations at two research farms (Spindletop and Woodford County). They collect hourly observations of air temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, soil temperature at 4 and 8 inches under both sod and bare soil, wind direction, wind speed, and solar radiation.
Michigan State University Automated Weather Station Network Data - The Michigan State University Agricultural Weather Office in conjunction with the Michigan Department of Agriculture and the State Climatologist Office operates a network of seven stations located throughout the state (Figure 3-11). These stations provide hourly averages of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, solar radiation, and soil temperature at 4 in. Also, hourly leaf wetness and total precipitation are measured. The relative humidity, leaf wetness, and total precipitation measurements may not be available or reliable from 1 November to 28 February.
USDA/ARS Goodwin Creek Experimental Watershed Data - The USDA/ARS operates the Goodwin Creek Experimental Watershed in the Bluff Hills basin of northern Mississippi (southwest of Oxford Mississippi). The watershed drains a 21.5 km2 area. Data has been collected at the site for 16 years. There is a network of 32 recording weighing precipitation gages located both inside and outside the watershed. The depth and temperature of the streamflow are also measured. There is also a SURFRAD site operated by NOAA on the watershed (see the SURFRAD paragraph later in this section).
Missouri Commercial Agriculture Weather Station (CAWS) Network Data - The University of Missouri Extension Service operates the CAWS network of 16 automated stations over the northern and southeastern sections of Missouri ( Figure 3-12). They routinely archive hourly observations of temperature, relative humidity, bare soil temperature at 2 inches, wind speed, wind direction, incoming solar radiation, and precipitation. Data for the EAOP-98 period will be extracted by the Department of Soil and Atmospheric Science at the University of Missouri and forwarded to the JOSS.
Missouri Department of Conservation (DOC) Fire Weather Network (FWN) Data - The Missouri DOC operates a network of eight (they also collect data from three stations operated by the US Forest Service (USFS) and the US Park Service) automated Forest Technology Systems (FTS), Incorporated stations over the southern sections of Missouri (Figure 3-13). They archive hourly observations of temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, and precipitation. Data for the EAOP-98 period will be extracted and forwarded to JOSS.
Missouri Air Pollution Control Program Network Meteorological Data - The Missouri Air Pollution Control Program is a section of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR). They operate a network of air quality and meteorological stations throughout the state. The meteorological data collected includes wind speed, wind direction, temperature, pressure, and solar radiation. Not all stations collect all parameters.
North Carolina State University (NCSU) Automated Stations Data - NCSU operates a network of 13 stations throughout the state (Figure 3-14). The stations provide hourly measurements of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, barometric pressure, soil temperature, solar radiation, Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR), and precipitation.
USDA/ARS North Appalachian Experimental Watershed (NAEW) Data - The USDA/ARS operates the NAEW near the Little Mill Creek watershed (about 425 hectares) near Coshoctan, Ohio. This site includes a network of 11 rain gages, three lysimeters, and 21 gaged watersheds and runoff stations. The site also has one meteorological stations that collects hourly observations of air temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed, wind direction, and solar radiation. There are also daily observations of pan evaporation, 4 inch soil temperature (both bare and grass covered), soil moisture, and a daily average dew point. Also, soil temperature is measured every 6 hours at 0.5, 3, 6, 12, and 24 inches.
USDA/ARS Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Laboratory (PSWMRL) Data - The USDA/ARS operates the PSWMRL on the East Mahantango Creek watershed (7.3 km2) in east-central Pennsylvania. This site has been operational since 1968. This site includes a network of four rain gages, a meteorological station (maximum/minimum temperature, relative humidity, daily accumulated wind, and pan evaporation), 19 ground water observation wells (30-minute intervals), and a weir with discharge recorded at 5-minute intervals.
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Meteorological Data - The Pennsylvania DEP operates a network of 75 air monitoring stations throughout the state (Figure 3-15). Most of the stations provide hourly measurements of air temperature, wind speed, wind direction, and solar radiation. The other stations provide only air temperature or air temperature, wind speed, and wind direction.
Regional Atmospheric Monitoring and Analytical Network (RAMAN) Data - NOAA/Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division (ATDD) RAMAN, a network of 14 meteorological towers (Figure 3-16). Several of the towers are on highlands from the Cumberland Mountains to the Great Smoky Mountains, and several others are in the Great Valley in eastern Tennessee. The towers range from 10 to 45 m in height and collect 15- minute observations of air temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, wind direction, and wind speed. One site (the NOAA/ATDD site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee) also observes solar radiation.
University of Tennessee-Knoxville Agricultural Weather Station Network Data -
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Meteorological Data - The TVA operates three long-term (1970's) meteorological stations at its nuclear power plants (Browns Ferry, Sequoyah, and Watts Barr). The sites collect observations of air temperature, dew point, wind speed, and wind direction at three levels (10, 46, and 91 m). Each site also collects hourly observations of solar radiation and precipitation.
ORNL Walker Creek Experimental Watershed Data - ORNL operates the Walker Creek Experimental Watershed at the DOE Oak Ridge Reservation in Anderson County, Tennessee. This site includes a meteorological station with hourly observations of air temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, wind speed, wind direction, wind gust, wetness, solar radiation, and precipitation. Daily snowfall is also available. There is also a National Atmospheric Deposition Program/National Trends Network (NADP/NTN) site on the watershed which provides daily rainfall and weekly precipitation chemistry measurements. There are also two other rain gages and two streamflow monitoring sites (both hourly). During the period from 1993-1995 the Throughfall Displacement Experiment took place and some expanded meteorological measurements were made. This included rainfall, irradiance, photosynthetic photon flux density in a nearby clearing for above-canopy conditions at the site. Two tipping bucket rain gages were on each plot to evaluate the amount of throughfall reaching the forest floor. Sub-canopy air temperatures (2 stations per treatment plot) were made at approximately 1 m of height in a location shielded from direct solar radiation. Soil temperatures were measured at two depths (15 and 35 cm) and 4 locations per plot. Data were collected hourly.
University of Wisconsin (UW) Agricultural Weather Observation Network (AWON) Data - The UW Soils Science Department operates a network of 18 stations throughout the state at UW Experiment Stations (Figure 3-17). The stations provide measurements of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, solar radiation, and soil temperature at 2, 4, 20, and 40 in. Not all stations measure the relative humidity and some also do not measure the soil temperature at all levels. These data are hourly average values. Hourly total precipitation and peak 5 sec and 1 min wind gusts are also recorded. Two stations (Cranmoor and Manitowish Waters) are located over cranberry bogs for low temperature forecast verification. These two sites have a 10 m tower set up with the following measurements: 1.5 m temperature and relative humidity, 2 m pyranometer, 3 m wind speed and direction, and 10 m temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed and direction. They also have a tipping bucket gage for precipitation. These data are archived by the UW Soils Science Department and data for the EAOP-98 will be extracted by JOSS.
Wisconsin DOT Network Data - The Wisconsin DOT, in conjunction with Surface Systems, Inc. (SSI), operates a network of 51 roadside pavement sensors throughout the state (Figure 3-18). The parameters observed include temperature, dew point, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, and yes/no precipitation. These data are hourly instantaneous values. Four sites have optical weather indicators that provide estimated precipitation rate and accumulation. These sites do not have latitude/longitude information. They are typically about 10-30 feet from roadways and are over mowed grassland.
Wisconsin DNR FWN Data - The Wisconsin DNR operates a network of 20 automated FTS weather observation stations [they also collect data from six others operated by the USFS and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)] located primarily over the northern sections of the state. The observations are hourly and represent an instantaneous value. The observed parameters include temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, and precipitation. These stations do not have heated rain gages and thus are not operational from middle November to early April.
Wisconsin DNR Air Quality Network Data - The Wisconsin DNR operates a network of 29 automated weather observing stations concentrated mostly in the eastern part of the state (Figure 3-19). Only 14 of the stations operate year round. Measurement taken include temperature, dew point, wind speed, wind direction, solar radiation, and barometric pressure. All sites collect wind speed and direction data, only 11 collect temperature, seven collect dew point, five collect solar radiation, and four collect barometric pressure. These data are hourly averages. The data for the EAOP-98 period will be extracted and forwarded to the JOSS.
Great Lakes Meteorological Data - There are two CMAN stations operating on the Great Lakes in the LSA-E (Figure 3-20) which measure air temperature, dew point, wind speed, wind direction, and station pressure at hourly intervals. There are also five buoys on the Great Lakes within the LSA-E which measure air temperature, wind speed, wind direction, wind gust, station pressure, water temperature, wave height, and wave period at hourly intervals. There is also occasional voluntary ship data reported on these lakes which typically include air temperature, wind speed, wind direction, station pressure, cloud cover, water temperature, wave height, and wave period some also report dew point. The US Coast Guard operates 19 stations along the shore regions of the Great Lakes within the LSA-E which record hourly air temperature, wind speed, wind direction, cloud cover, water temperature, and wave height.
Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Site Data - The LTER project was developed by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and consists of 15 sites in the US. Much of the data collected at these sites is unrelated to GCIP (i.e. chemical, flora, fauna, etc), but each site has some data of interest.
Coweeta LTER Data - The Coweeta LTER is operated by the University of Georgia and is located near Otto, North Carolina in the southwestern part of the state. The site is 2185 hectare and is dedicated to the study of forest hydrology. There are 17 weirs currently operational on the site. Most of the watersheds on the site have had streamgaging since the 1930's and stream chemistry since 1968. There is also one weather station recording hourly temperature and solar radiation. Also daily observation of precipitation and pan evaporation are collected.
NTL LTER Data - The North Temperate Lakes (NTL) LTER is operated by the UW and has two study regions, the Trout Lake Region of north-central Wisconsin and the Madison Lakes region around Madison, Wisconsin. The data being collected at this site includes an automated weather station at Noble F. Lee Municipal Airport, north of Minocqua, WI in the north-central portion of the state. It provides 1-min observations which are archived as hourly and daily averages of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, total long- and short-wave radiation, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), soil temperature at 5, 10, and 50 cm depths, and total precipitation.
KBS LTER Data - The W. K. Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) LTER is operated by Michigan State University in southwestern Michigan 50 km to the east of Lake Michigan. There are two automated weather stations located on the site. The LTER site weather station collects hourly measurements of air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, precipitation, PAR, wind speed, and wind direction. It also houses an in-ground weighing lysimeter used to measure evapotranspiration and deep percolation. There is also the Pond Lab automated weather station located 0.3 km north-northwest of the LTER station which collects hourly measurements of air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, precipitation, PAR, wind speed, wind direction, and soil temperature
Management Systems Evaluation Areas (MSEA) Project Data - MSEA is a multi-agency program looking at agricultural chemicals and water quality. There is one MSEA research location within the LSA-NE (Figure 3-21). Only the original five locations have an automated weather station on site. These stations provide hourly averages of temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and wind direction. Also hourly precipitation is recorded via a tipping bucket raingage and soil temperatures are recorded down to 1 m. Some of the sites may be collecting soil moisture measurements.
Wisconsin Tower Flux Measurement Data - Ken Davis of the University of Minnesota (UM) Soil, Water, and Climate Department operates a NOAA and Department of Energy (DOE) funded 450 m tower in north central WI about 15 km to the east of Park Falls. This site collects eddy correlation fluxes at three levels (30, 122, and 396 m). The measurements taken allow the calculation of hourly fluxes of momentum, heat, water vapor, and carbon dioxide. Standard meteorological measurements as well as soil moisture and soil temperature measurements are also collected nearby. Future plans at the site include the possibility of adding measurements of snow depth, boundary layer profiling, and enhanced radiation and precipitation measurements. The site is located in a heavily forested location with mixed hardwood and conifers.
Canadian Surface Observations - Any available Canadian surface observations will be included within the EAOP-98 dataset.
National Weather Service (NWS) Cooperative Observer Daily Observations - Data are routinely collected at sites operated by cooperative observers over the conterminous United States and are processed and archived by NOAA/NCDC. This network records daily observations of maximum and minimum temperature, precipitation, snowfall, and snow depth at approximately 100 km spacing over the conterminous United States. Daily observations of evaporation are available at approximately 200 km spacing and daily observations of soil temperature are available at about 500 km spacing. Data for the 2248 stations within the LSA-E (Figure 3-22) will be extracted and forwarded to the JOSS.
NWS Cooperative Observer Precipitation Data - Data are routinely collected at sites operated by cooperative observers over the conterminous United States and are processed and archived by NOAA/NCDC. For the LSA-E there are 652 total stations and these data include 15- minute or hourly observations of precipitation from Fisher-Porter and Universal rain gages operated by Cooperative Observers (Figure 3-23). Data for the EAOP-98 period will be extracted and forwarded to the JOSS.
NOAA/River Forecast Center Precipitation Data - These data include precipitation observations from various stations within the Ohio RFC (ORFC) and Lower Mississippi RFC (LMRFC) areas of responsibility. The frequency of the observations varies from 15 min to hourly to stations that collect data with no set schedule. No map yet available. These data will be archived by the NWS Office of Hydrology (OH) in Silver Spring, MD. Data for the EAOP-98 period will be extracted and forwarded to the JOSS.
Cook County Precipitation Network Data - This network of 25 precipitation gages is located on an 8 by 8 km grid over Cook County, Illinois (Figure 3-24) and is operated by USACE. These are weighing bucket data recorded on strip charts. Hourly and daily accumulations are archived by ISWS.
Imperial Valley Water Authority Precipitation Network Data - This network of 25 precipitation gages is located on an 8 by 8 km grid in west-central Illinois (Figure 3-24) and is operated by the Imperial Valley Water Authority. These are weighing bucket data recorded on strip charts. Hourly and daily accumulations are archived by ISWS.
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Precipitation and Streamflow Data - The TVA collects precipitation data from an extensive precipitation gage network over much of the southeast US. The network includes 292 gages (including 49 USACE gages) over the southeast (Figure 3-25). Observational frequencies vary from hourly to daily. Most of the data is 6-hourly. The TVA also collects streamflow data from a network of streamflow gages over the southeast US. The network includes a total of 75 gages. Of the total number, 33 are TVA gages, 28 are a combined TVA/USGS effort, and 14 are from USACE. Observational frequencies vary from two-hourly to daily.
US Army Corps of Engineer (USACE) Precipitation and Streamflow Data - These data include hourly observations of precipitation and daily observation of streamflow from USACE operational gages. The number of stations located within the LSA-E is not yet known. Data for the EAOP-98 period will be extracted and forwarded to the JOSS.
USGS Streamflow Data - These data include daily observations of streamflow from USGS gages. A total of 1685 streamflow stations (Figure 3-26) are located within the LSA-E and all data are available through the USGS NAWDEX (National Water Data Exchange) Office in Reston, VA as well as the district (state) offices. Provisional (preliminary) data may be received monthly at the JOSS from all districts in the EAOP-98 domain. These preliminary data will be replaced by final quality assured data by the USGS nine months after the completion of the water year which ends on 30 September 1998. Data for the EAOP-98 period will be extracted and forwarded to the JOSS. NOTE - The streamflow data generally represent actual observed flows; they generally are not adjusted ("naturalized") to remove effects of diversions or reservoir storage. CAUTION - The preliminary streamflow data are subject to reprocessing and substantial revision until they are formalized and published about nine months after the end of the water year (1 October - 30 September). The preliminary data are furnished in the interest of free and timely information exchange, but it must be remembered that they represent work in progress. Substantial revisions may be required because of malfunctions of sensing and recording equipment or because of physical changes in the relation between measured water level (stage) and discharge. These changes may be caused by accumulation or break-up of debris jams or winter ice, by growth or decay of aquatic vegetation, or by erosion or deposition of sediments in the stream channel. Preliminary streamflow data for periods of severe ice effects may bear little relation to actual flows. Data users are cautioned to consider carefully the provisional nature of the information before using it for decisions that concern personal or public safety or the conduct of business that involves substantial monetary or operational consequences.
ISWS Soil Moisture Monitoring Network Data - The ISWS operates a network of 18 soil moisture monitoring sites throughout the state (see Figure 3-8). Most of the sites are collocated with ICN sites. The measurements are conducted by a neutron depth probe and neutron surface moisture gage. The observations are collected once per month during each of the EAOP-98 months except March, April, and May 1998 when observations will be twice per month. The sampling depth is 2 m.
USDA/Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Soil Moisture/Soil Temperature (SM/ST) Data - The NRCS operates the SM/ST Pilot Project as a preliminary effort to set up a network of soil climate sites throughout the US and consists of 21 sites. Six of these are within the LSA-E (Figure 3-27). Measurements at each site include soil moisture and soil temperature at six depths (2, 4, 8, 20, 40, and 80 inches). Also, air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, solar radiation, and precipitation are measured at each site. The soil moisture is measured via two types of electrical resistance blocks at each depth. The soil at each site has been sampled and characterized, including soil bulk density and soil water retention curves for each horizon. Measurements are usually recorded every six hours, although other intervals have also been used. Data are archived by NRCS in Portland, OR. The data are uncalibrated, uncorrected, largely unchecked, and used primarily to work on the system. The data are available via the Internet, although logins and passwords are required.
USDA/NRCS Wisconsin Dense Till (WDT) Data - The NRCS operates the WDT Project which consists of 28 sites in northern and central Wisconsin (Figure 3-28; each mark represents a county where several sites are located). Soil moisture sensors (Fiberglass electrical resistance blocks) are at 12 depths (10, 25, 40, 50, 70, 85, 100, 120, 140, 160, 180, and 200 cm) at each site. Soil temperature is measured at three depths (25, 50, and 200 cm) at all sites except those in Taylor and Clark Counties which measures it at each of the 12 depths. The Forest, Vilas, and Lincoln County sites are in mixed forest vegetation. The Barron County sites includes both forested and cultivated conditions. Some of the locations in Clark and Taylor Counties are cultivated. Some of the non-forested locations include both fields and adjacent non-cultivated field edges for comparison. Measurements are made bi- weekly during the summer and monthly during the winter. Dataloggers were installed at the Clark, Taylor, and Forest County locations allowing hourly readings to be made. Data are archived at the NRCS National Soil Survey Center (NSSC) in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Wisconsin and Illinois Gravediggers Network - As a part of their wintertime duties, the Wisconsin and Illinois gravediggers report frost depth. Further information is being dug up.
USGS Reservoir Data - These data include daily observations of reservoir contents or water level for 495 reservoirs within the LSA-E (Figure 3-29). All data are available through the USGS NAWDEX Office in Reston, VA as well as the USGS and USACE district offices. Data for EAOP-98 period will be extracted and forwarded to the JOSS.
TVA Reservoir Data - The TVA collects reservoir data at 54 locations within the southeast US. These include hourly observations of headwater elevation, tailwater elevation (mainstream), turbine discharge, and total discharge.
ISWS Shallow and Deep Ground-Water Observation Wells - The ISWS collects observations from 17 shallow (Figure 3-30) and approximately 170 deep (Figure 3-31) ground-water observation wells over the state.
SURFRAD Data - The NOAA Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) operates the Surface Radiation Budget Network (SURFRAD) which has four locations over the US. Within the LSA-E there two stations, one at Goodwin Creek in northwestern Mississippi and the other at Bondville in east central Illinois. The Goodwin Creek site is on the Goodwin Creek Experimental Watershed and is hosted and attended by the USDA/Agricultural Research Service (ARS) National Sedimentation Laboratory, which is located at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. Bondville is in a flat agricultural region and is collocated with several ISWS instruments (i.e. ICN and soil moisture). Measurements include direct solar radiation via a normal incidence pyrheliometer, downwelling global solar radiation via an upward-viewing broadband pyranometer, solar radiation reflected from the surface via a downward-viewing broadband pyranometer, thermal IR emitted downward via an upward- viewing pyrgeometer, upwelling thermal radiation from the surface via a downward-viewing pyrgeometer, ultraviolet radiation at the surface via a UVB radiometer, and global and diffuse solar radiation in one broadband channel and six narrow bands of the solar spectrum via a Multi-Filter Rotating Shadowband Radiometer (MFRSR). Also on site are instruments to measure wind speed, wind direction, air temperature, relative humidity, and station pressure at the top of a 10 m tower.
NOAA/GEWEX Long-Term Flux Monitoring Site - The NOAA/GEWEX long-term flux monitoring site is operated by NOAA/Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) and is located in the Oak Ridge, Tennessee area. It provides measurements of air temperature, humidity, precipitation, surface momentum and sensible and latent heat fluxes, net radiation, incoming and outgoing Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) and infrared irradiances. The data are collected, processed and archived by NOAA/ARL.
USGS SAST Data - The USGS developed the Scientific Assessment and Strategy Team (SAST) to develop an environmental information system for the Upper Mississippi and Lower Missouri River basins in response to the 1993 floods in these basins. Datasets available include boundary data (i.e. state, county, USGS quadrangle, USGS hydrologic unit, etc), infrastructure data (i.e. roads, bridges, etc), hydrography data (i.e. lakes, rivers, reservoirs, etc), ecological data [i.e. land use, land cover, STATSGO (State Soil Geographic Database), forestry data, etc], hydrology and flood data (i.e. flood probability, levees, streamflow, etc), and raster data [i.e. Digital Elevation Model (DEM), Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), Landsat, SPOT, and ERS-1 flood images; not available on-line]. All data are in ARC/INFO Export format and/or Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS) format. Sample GIF (Graphical Interchange Format) imagery is also available for some datasets. All data are available on-line via:
http://edcwww2.cr.usgs.gov/sast-home.html
National Ice Center (NIC) Great Lakes Ice Data - The National Ice Center is a cooperative operational center including the US Navy, NOAA, and the US Coast Guard. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday during the Great Lakes ice season NIC produces Great Lakes ice analysis maps using information from a variety of sources including reconnaissance, ship reports, shore reports, visible and infrared satellite imagery, and radar. The sources used vary from analysis to analysis. The maps use WMO sea ice symbology ("Egg Code") and include information on total concentration, partial concentration (from the thickest to the thinnest ice), stage of development (from thickest to thinnest), and forms of ice indicating the floe size corresponding to the stages. These maps are archived by NIC and are available in GIF format. Data for the EAOP-98 period will be extracted by JOSS.
EAOP-98 Hourly Surface Composite - This composite will contain surface and sea level pressure, temperature, dew point, wind speed and direction, and precipitation hourly observations from surface observing sites in the LSA-E as well as visibility, present weather, ceiling and cloud type heights and amounts for those stations that report them (generally SAO and ASOS). This composite will not contain the precipitation data from those sites that collect only precipitation data (i.e. the site must also collect meteorological observations to be included). The precipitation only sites will be contained within the precipitation composites which are described below. The composite will be produced by the JOSS and contain hourly data from the following networks: ASOS, AWOS, SAO's, CAWS, NPN surface observations, and others (see Figure 4-1). These data will be quality controlled by JOSS (see section 4.1.1).
EAOP-98 Hourly Precipitation Composite - The hourly precipitation composite will contain precipitation data from all real-time and recording gages in the LSA-E. The composite will be produced by the JOSS and contain hourly totals from gages in the following networks: ASOS, AWOS, SAO's, CAWS, NWS Cooperative Observer, and others. These data will be quality controlled by JOSS (see section 4.1.2).
EAOP-98 Daily Precipitation Composite - The daily precipitation composite will contain precipitation data from all real-time and recording gages in the LSA-E. The composite will be produced by the JOSS and contain daily totals from gages in the following networks: ASOS, AWOS, SAO's, CAWS, NWS Cooperative Observer, USGS, USACE, and others These data will be quality controlled by JOSS (see section 4.1.2).
NWS Upper Air Rawinsonde Data (mandatory/significant levels) - These data include 12- hourly vertical profiles of pressure, altitude, temperature, dew point, and wind speed and direction at all mandatory and significant levels. Data are routinely collected at 72 sites (approximately 400 km spacing) over all of the conterminous United States and archived at NOAA/NCDC. Data for the LSA-E (see Figure 3-32) will be archived and available at NCDC.
Canadian Upper Air Rawinsonde Data (10-sec vertical levels) - These data will contain 12- hourly vertical profiles of time, pressure, temperature, altitude, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, complete with quality flags, at 10-sec intervals. If available, these high resolution data will possibly be obtained from one station near the LSA-E (see Figure 3-32).
Canadian Upper Air Rawinsonde Data (mandatory/significant levels) - These data include 12- hourly vertical profiles of pressure, altitude, temperature, dew point, and wind speed and direction at all mandatory and significant levels. Data are routinely collected at sites throughout Canada and archived at NOAA/NCDC. Data for the LSA-E (see Figure 3-32) will be archived and available at NCDC.
NOAA Profiler Network (NPN) Data - The NPN routinely collects vertical profiles of hourly component winds (u, v, and w) and six-minute radar return spectral moments, both with 250 meter resolution. These data are available from two 405 MHz profiler sites within the LSA-E (see Figure 3-4). No sites within the LSA-E have collocated Radio Acoustic Sounding Systems (RASS). The data are routinely collected and processed by NOAA/FSL and archived at NOAA/NCDC. Data for the LSA-E period will be extracted and forwarded to the JOSS.
Boundary Layer Profiler Data - There are two boundary layer (915 MHz) profilers within the LSA-E. The University of Alabama-Huntsville operates a boundary layer profiler near Huntsville, Alabama. The profiler is mobile. Clemson University also operates a boundary layer profiler located near Clemson, South Carolina. This is a Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) Doppler radar. The minimum range is about 100 m above ground level. The range resolutions are selectable from 60m to 400 m. Depending on the configuration they are capable of measuring the wind up to about 3 km. The frequency of observation is unknown, but can vary from 10 min to hourly. NOAA/FSL acquires the data from this profiler and processes it into hourly, quality controlled products, and archives the data.
WSR-88D NIDS Data - The NEXRAD (now WSR-88D) Information Dissemination Service (NIDS) will be provided to JOSS from Weather Services International (WSI) through the Cooperative program for Operational Meteorology, Education, and Training (COMET). NIDS products consist of selected information from the Level III database from each WSR-88D site (Table 3-2). JOSS collects only the four tilts of reflectivity, the four tilts of radial velocity, the velocity azimuth display, and the composite reflectivity. Data for selected radars during the EAOP-98 period ( Figure 3-33) will be extracted and forwarded to JOSS for archival. It is unclear which of these sites will be collected as UCAR has a limit on the number of sites that the institution as a whole can collect.
WSI Reflectivity Composite Imagery - The WSI routinely produces and distributes a mosaic of reflectivity from all NWS radars in the conterminous United States. The product, called NOWRAD, is available at a variety of resolutions and coverages in real time. For EAOP-98, 2 km data will be recorded at 15 minute intervals in a fixed sector overlaying the LSA-E. From this dataset a representative daily image will be selected at 12 UTC, or the closest available time, to coincide with the NOAA/National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Eta model daily weather map imagery and the GOES-8 infrared image. The selected daily images will be translated to GIF. These will be available online for browsing purposes. The full 15-min dataset in its original format will be available directly from JOSS. These images will be obtained by the JOSS from the NIDS data stream (U.S. contiguous composite).
NASA/MSFC National Reflectivity Composite - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) ingests 15-min 2 km NOWRAD composite data for the conterminous US. The 2 km data are available in HDF (Hierarchical Data Format) only. These files will be translated to 8 km GIF and provided to JOSS. JOSS will select representative daily imagery at 1200 UTC (or the closest available time) and they will be available for online browse purposes. A daily continental US composite precipitation summary is also being derived from the composite radar data. These daily rainfall data are also available in 2 km HDF or 8 km GIF format from NASA/MSFC/Global Hydrology and Climate Center (GHCC) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC).
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TABLE 3-2 WSR-88D NIDS Products and Descriptions
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Reflectivity
The first four tilt angles are available. The resolution is 1 km by 1o.
Composite Reflectivity
The maximum reflectivity observed at any level above a given part of the earth. The
range is 460 km.
Echo Tops
The height in feet above mean sea level of the highest detected echo above a given
location.
Vertically Integrated Liquid
Displays integrated liquid water values summed for all elevation angles within the
volume scan. The range is 460 km.
Surface Rainfall Accumulation (1-hr)
One hour running total of surface rainfall accumulation. The resolution is 2 km by
2 km.
Surface Rainfall Accumulation (3-hr)
Three hour total surface rainfall accumulation (updated hourly). The resolution is
2 km by 2 km.
Storm Total Rainfall
Rainfall accumulated until no precipitation is detected for one continuous hour. The
resolution is 2 km by 2 km.
Hourly Digital Rainfall Array
An hourly running total precipitation accumulation estimate in a derived array format.
Radial Velocity
The speed toward or away from the radar antenna. The first four tilt angles are
available. The resolution is 1 km by 1o.
Velocity Azimuth Display
Vertical wind profiles for up to ten time periods.
Layer Composite Reflectivity
Composites of reflectivity through a layer of the atmosphere. Three layers are
available with the depths controlled by adaption data. The range is 450 km.
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NOTE: Unless otherwise noted, the resolution is 4 km by 4 km and the range is 230 km.
NOAA/RFC Stage III WSR-88D Data - The NOAA/RFCs routinely produce an hourly composite derived precipitation product from all the WSR-88D radars covering their region of responsibility. These data are on a 4 km by 4 km grid and are in GRIB (GRId point values expressed in Binary format). These data are archived by NOAA/Office of Hydrology (OH) together with the Digital Precipitation Array and the Supplemental Precipitation Product (Stage I) and the Stage II hourly Precipitation Processing System products. Data for ESOP- 97 period will be extracted and forwarded to JOSS. The JOSS will provide daily 24-hr total precipitation estimate GIF imagery for online browse purposes. Measurement of solid precipitation is difficult with radar. Algorithms to improve this product are currently under development. The NEXRAD Precipitation Processing System Stage III data which encompasses snow will be flagged and should be used with caution as to the quantitative precipitation values provided.
GOES-8/9 Satellite Imagery and Derived Products - Most of the satellite data for EAOP-98 will be obtained from the two geosynchronous Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES-8/9) positioned near 75oW and 135oW longitude. These two new satellites provide increased imaging and sounding capabilities over their predecessors with separate imagers and sounders, increased spatial resolution, and better radiometric performance. The Imager is a five channel scanner having one visible (VIS) and four infrared (IR) channels (3.9, 6.7, 10.8, and 12.0 micrometers). The VIS channel senses reflected radiation from the surface and cloud features at about 1 km resolution while the IR channels sense upwelling energy from the surface, clouds, and atmospheric water vapor at 4 km resolution (8 km for the 6.7 micrometer channel). The duty cycle of the instrument is such that data is available over the continental US every seven minutes throughout the day. More rapid data collection has been tested but may not be available during the EAOP-98. The GOES-8/9 Sounder provides increased capabilities over the previous GOES 7/VIS and IR Spin-Scan Radiometer (VISSR) Atmospheric Sounder (VAS) by adding more channels and greater spatial resolution. The Sounder is a 19 channel scanner with channels similar to the High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS) instrument on the NOAA polar orbiting satellites. In addition to a single VIS channel, the Sounder has 18 channels which span the carbon dioxide and water vapor absorption regions from 3.7 to 14.7 micrometers. This is an increase of three temperature and two water vapor channels over that of VAS. Operational scan scenarios provide continental US coverage every hour in all sounding channels and 15 minute sounding data may be available in severe weather situations. Details of the new GOES-8/9 satellites can be found in Menzel and Purdom (1994). These data are routinely archived by NOAA/National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS)/NCDC at the University of Wisconsin's Space Science Engineering Center (SSEC). For the EAOP-98 period, JOSS will collect VIS (4 km) and IR (8 km) imagery over the conterminous US and 1 km resolution sector imagery over the LSA-E domain.
A large number of derived products from the GOES-8/9 Imager and Sounder are produced by NOAA as part of their operational support for the NWS and the NCEP. The product list is more encompassing than that from GOES VAS because of the increased capabilities and performance of the sensors. Sounding products include temperature and moisture profiles, mean layer temperature and precipitable water values, lifted indices, and thermal wind profiles. Additionally, geopotential height fields and a cloud depiction product to supplement the ASOS system are derived from the Sounder (Menzel and Purdom 1994; and Hayden and Schmidt 1991). Imagery products consist of cloud and water vapor drift winds, stability products, total precipitable water, and heavy precipitation estimates. The Imager data is also used by a number of research groups to derive additional products such as areas of aircraft icing, fog and stratus detection, land surface and sea surface temperatures, and other experimental parameters (Menzel and Purdom 1994; and Hayden et al. 1996).
NOAA POES AVHRR Imagery - Two NOAA series Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES; NOAA-12 and NOAA-14) carry the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR). AVHRR is a cross-track scanning system with five spectral channels in the visible, near-infrared, and infrared [0.58 to 12.50 micrometers]. The normal operating mode of the satellites results in continuous High Resolution Picture Transmission (HRPT) to earth, where the data are recorded by a network of ground stations. AVHRR data include 1-km resolution HRPT or LAC (Local Area Coverage) and 4-km resolution GAC (Global Area Coverage) resolution imagery (1600 km swath) during subsequent sun-synchronous morning/evening ascending and descending passes (up to 4 passes daily). AVHRR data are routinely collected, processed, and archived at NOAA/NESDIS/NCDC.
NOAA POES TOVS Data - Two NOAA series polar orbiting satellites (NOAA-12 and NOAA-14) carry the microwave Television and Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS) Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS). The TOVS system consists of four separate sensors: (1) High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS/2), which measures incident radiation primarily in the infrared; (2) Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU), a passive scanning microwave spectrometer with 4 channels (5.5 micrometer region); (3) Stratospheric Sounding Unit (SSU), a step-scanned far-infrared spectrometer with three channels (15 micrometer region); and (4) Solar Backscattered Ultraviolet system (SBUV/2), which maps total ozone concentrations and vertical ozone distributions. Data are collected (1600 km swath) during subsequent sun-synchronous morning/evening ascending and descending passes (up to 4 passes daily). TOVS data are routinely collected, processed, and archived at NOAA/NESDIS/NCDC.
DMSP SSM/I Data/Imagery - The United States Air Force (USAF) operates the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) which is a system of near polar orbiting satellites (F10 and F13) that provide global microwave data from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I). The SSM/I sensor provides water vapor measurements (1400 km swath) at four frequencies (19.35, 22.235, 37.0, and 85.5 GHz). DMSP data are routinely archived at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at Boulder, CO.
NOAA Weekly Northern Hemisphere Snow Cover Analysis - NOAA weekly snow cover analyses are created on a hemispheric map and faxed to the NCDC from the NESDIS Synoptic Analysis Branch. The analysis is done over a 7-day period and extends from 35o north latitude to 67o north latitude. Because of the use of satellite techniques, the analysis is not done beyond 67o north latitude since there are mostly dark hours. The categories in the analysis are snowcover, patchy snowcover, ice, and open. Each analysis clearly indicates which imagery sources were used to identify the ice. Satellite imagery used includes GOES, POES, DMSP, METEOSAT (Meteorological Satellite), and GMS (Geostationary Meteorological Satellite). These analyses are archived at NCDC and are available via FAX subscription.
GOES/ASOS Cloud Observations - The GOES/ASOS cloud height and amount data are being archived by NESDIS. ASOS stations have been installed and commissioned at many surface sites across the United States. It will eventually replace manual observations at as many as 1700 locations. ASOS collects meteorological data from a suite of instruments, merges the data into SAO format, and transmits it to various communications circuits such as the NWS Automated Field Operations and Services (AFOS) and Family of Services (FOS) networks. A limitation of ASOS is that it does not detect cloud bases above 12,000 feet. To compensate for this limitation, a satellite-based ASOS processing system has been developed to detect cloud height and fractional cloud amount for the middle and upper levels of the atmosphere. The GOES-8 ASOS processing system will use data from the GOES-8 sounder instrument and will be generated on an IBM RS/6000 workstation at hourly intervals.
Extraction of cloud height and amount is accomplished by means of the "CO2 slicing" technique which calculates the cloud information from radiative transfer equations. The technique uses multi-spectral IR data in the CO2 and longwave window channels, as well as ancillary surface and numerical forecast temperature and moisture profiles. Solution of the radiative transfer equations results in the determination of cloud top pressure and effective cloud amount. Application of empirical decision trees results in a composite cloud height and amount for a 40 by 40 km area centered on a particular ASOS station. These data are being produced at NOAA/NESDIS routinely in real-time. They can be accessed via the Satellite Data Source Module (SDSM) home page (see Section 5.1.2). These data are also available in McIDAS area format, please contact the SDSM for data access.
CLAVR Clouds - The CLouds from AVhRr (CLAVR) product is currently in development within NESDIS. Version 1 has been developed and used within NESDIS. A Version 2 is being produced for developmental purposes as well. Users wanting access to this data should contact the GCIP SDSM.
Satellite Radiation Datasets - These products use five channels of GOES-8 data, Eta model forecasts, and USAF snow cover analyses to create gridded half degree resolution products in the domain from 25oN to 50oN and 65oW to 125oW. These images are available hourly in GIF and binary formats and are online via the GCIP SDSM home page. The products will continue to be reviewed and validated during the ESOP-97 period. A list of the available products is in Table 3-3.
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TABLE 3-3 Satellite Radiation Datasets
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Mean radiance (channel 1)
Mean radiance (channel 2)
Mean radiance (channel 3)
Mean radiance (channel 4)
Mean radiance (channel 5)
Clear sky composite radiance
Number of clear pixels
Number of cloudy pixels
Snowcover
Standard deviation of channel 1
Standard deviation of channel 4
Precipitable water
Temperature at first level above surface
Surface pressure
Surface downward flux (clear + cloudy)
Surface upward flux (clear + cloudy)
Top of atmosphere downward flux (clear + cloudy)
Top of atmosphere upward flux (clear)
Surface downward flux (clear)
Surface downward flux (cloudy)
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EDC Bi-Weekly Vegetation Index - Satellite-derived values of vegetation index are routinely produced at NOAA/NESDIS and the Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS) Data Center (EDC) at Sioux Falls, SD. One set of data at 1 km resolution is available bi-weekly from the EDC while another set at 15 km resolution is available weekly from the NOAA/NESDIS in Washington, D.C. The land cover imagery will be produced bi-weekly from 1 km resolution AVHRR and translated to GIF by the USGS EDC. The full land characteristics database will be available on CD-ROM from EDC. GIF imagery data for ESOP-97 will be extracted and forwarded to the JOSS from the EDC.
NOAA Airborne Gamma Snow Surveys - The NOAA/National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center (NOHRSC) operates the Airborne Gamma Snow Survey Program. Radiation detection systems on-board low-flying aircraft are used to measure the gamma radiation emitted from trace elements of potassium, uranium, and thorium radioisotopes in the upper 20 cm of the soil. The water mass in the snow attenuates the terrestrial radiation signal. Thus, the difference between the radiation measurements over bare ground and snow- covered ground is used to derive a mean areal snow water equivalent (SWE). Soil moisture surveys are often conducted in the late fall so that an accurate soil moisture value is available to derive the SWE during the winter. The typical survey operations are conducted from January through April using two aircraft simultaneously. Each flight line is typically 16 km long and 300 m wide, or an area of approximately 5 km2. As such, each SWE measurement is a mean areal measure integrated over the 5 km2 area of the flight line. These SWE and upper 20 cm soil moisture data are available in GIF, GRASS, ARC/INFO, and ASCII text formats with a resolution of 30 arc seconds and at a variable frequency. Also available are the SWE and soil moisture line and sub-line data for research use. There may be special observations made during EAOP-98, but this has yet to be defined.
NOHRSC Satellite-Derived Snow Cover Extent Data - The NOAA/NOHRSC routinely produces areal extent of snow cover data derived from the GOES and AVHRR imagery. These data have a resolution of 30 arc seconds and are available daily. They are available in GIF, GRASS, and ARC/INFO formats. Also, NOHRSC produces SSM/I-derived snow cover imagery. They use five SSM/I channels, which measure emitted radiation at 19, 22, 37, and 85 Ghz. The 19 Ghz data are horizontally and vertically polarized (accounting for two channels used at this frequency) while the remaining channels are vertically polarized. The higher frequency channels undergo more scattering which lowers the temperature sensed by the satellite instrument. The scattering increases as a function of the snow depth. The algorithm takes advantage of the differential scattering of surface microwave radiation by the snow pack and isolates snow from other scattering surfaces such as deserts, precipitation, and frozen ground. NOHRSC uses the SSM/I snow cover algorithm to detect the areal extent of snow in the presence of non- precipitating clouds when the GOES and AVHRR are rendered unusable by cloud cover. This technique has proven to be quite useful during the winter snow season when various parts of North America can be covered by clouds for extended periods of time.
The emphasis for model output during EAOP-98 is on the regional mesoscale models with output from the following three models:
(i) Atmospheric Environment Service/Canadian Meteorological Centre (AES/CMC)
Regional Finite Element (RFE) Model
(ii) NOAA/NCEP Eta Model
(iii) NOAA/FSL Mesoscale Analysis and Prediction System (MAPS) Model
The outputs from these models follow the guidelines of the GCIP Implementation Plan, Vol I, Section 5 (IGPO, 1993) and are divided into three parts:
(1) One-dimensional vertical profile and surface time series at selected locations,
referred to as Model Location Time Series (MOLTS).
(2) Gridded two-dimensional fields, especially ground surface state fields, ground
surface flux fields, top-of-the-atmosphere flux fields, and atmospheric fields,
referred to as Model Output Reduced Datasets (MORDS).
(3) Gridded three-dimensional atmospheric fields containing all of the atmospheric
variables produced by the models.
AES/CMC RFE Model Output (6 hourly) - The AES/CMC will provide operational output from the RFE model including output from its data assimilation system. The RFE operates in analysis (6-hr intervals) and forecast (12-hr intervals) cycles with forecasts up to 24 hours. Table 3-4 provides characteristics of the model. The vertical levels are at a variable spacing, with higher resolution in the lower levels. Model output will be archived by the AES/CMC.
NOAA/NCEP Eta Model Output - The NOAA/NCEP will provide operational output from its regional Eta model including output from the Eta Data Assimilation System (EDAS). The Eta operates in analysis and forecast cycles at 6-hr intervals with forecasts provided up to 24 hours. The EDAS is also run at the intermediate 3-hourly intervals to produce eight analyses per day. Table 3-4 provides characteristics of the model. The horizontal resolution for GCIP is constant regardless of the resolution of the model. These data will be archived by NCAR/SCD.
NOAA/FSL MAPS Model Output - The NOAA/FSL will run the MAPS model every 3 hours with up to 6 hour forecasts during the EAOP-98. Characteristics of the model are provided in Table 3-4. The data cutoff for model runs is approximately 1 hour, and the output format is GRIB. These data will be archived by NCAR/SCD.
______________________________________________________________________________TABLE 3-4 Regional Model Characteristics ______________________________________________________________________________
Model Analysis Forecast Forecast Resolution Vertical MOLTS in MOLTS parameters Cycles Cycles Length (h) (km) Levels LSA-E Upper Air/Surface ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eta 3 hrly 6 hrly 48 40 38 48 12/40 RFE 6 hrly 12 hrly 24 35 28 37 27/28 MAPS 3 hrly 3 hrly 6 40 40 48 16/30 ___________________________________________________________________________________________
MOLTS Output - The NOAA/NCEP Eta, NOAA/FSL MAPS, and AES/CMC RFE models will be providing vertical and surface hourly time series of model output at selected locations (MOLTS). The fundamental output variables for the MOLTS are shown in Table 3-5. The MOLTS list from a specific model may add other parameters depending on the choice of physics package or other non-GCIP user requirements. Some examples for the surface parameters could include turbulent kinetic energy and other diabatic heating and moistening rates, such as those due to vertical and horizontal diffusion. Some examples of the non- profile variables could include canopy water content, boundary layer depth, convective storm stability indices, precipitation type, etc. All of these output will be archived in BUFR (Binary Universal Form for data Representation) format at NCAR/SCD.
______________________________________________________________________________
TABLE 3-5 Fundamental Output Variables for the MOLTS
______________________________________________________________________________
1) Identifiers
The NOAA/NCEP Eta model MOLTS output will be available from 299 locations over North America. Within the LSA-E there will be 48 locations (Figure 3-34). These output will contain 40 surface state and flux parameters and 12 parameters at each of the 38 vertical levels. Output will be provided from the 00 and 12 UTC runs from the initial analysis time out to 48 hours.
The AES/CMC RFE model MOLTS output will be available from 217 locations over North America. Within the LSA-E there will be 37 locations (Figure 3-34). These output will contain 28 surface parameters and 27 parameters at each of the 28 vertical levels. Output will be provided from the 00 and 12 UTC runs from the initial analysis time out to 36 hours.
The NOAA/FSL MAPS model MOLTS output will be available from 270 locations over North America. Within the LSA-E there will be the same 48 locations as the NOAA/NCEP Eta model (Figure 3-34). These output will contain 30 surface parameters and 16 parameters at each of the 40 vertical levels. Output will be provided from each 3-hourly MAPS run from the initial analysis time out to 6 hours.
MOLTS Derived Sounding Output - JOSS will extract from the MOLTS output from the locations within the LSA-E for each of the three models described above (see Figure 3-34). These output will then be processed and converted to a format similar to that used for the actual atmospheric sounding data (i.e. NWS). This will be done by stripping out the state parameters at the surface and each model level. Only the 00 hour initial analysis time will be processed. Output will be available from each model analysis time. This output is provided to allow intercomparison studies. These output will be archived at JOSS.
MORDS Output - An analysis of the different GCIP requirements for the gridded two- and three-dimensional fields indicates that most of the requirements can be met by a selected set of two-dimensional gridded fields. [NOTE: Some of the requirements for three-dimensional fields can also be met with the MOLTS, e.g. by placing the locations around the boundaries of a river basin to do budget studies. Some of the other three-dimensional field requirements can be met by a vertical integration through the atmosphere, e.g. vertically integrated atmospheric moisture divergence needed to calculate water budgets]. GCIP will make use of this concentration of requirements to further tractability of the model output handling problem. A Model Output Reduced Dataset (MORDS) will be produced as two-dimensional fields with the expectation that the MORDS can meet most of the GCIP requirements at a significantly reduced data volume over that needed to provide the information as three- dimensional fields. GCIP is proposing a total of 60 output variables for MORDS separated into the following four components:
(1) Near-surface fields which will include all the sub-surface and surface land
characteristics and hydrology variables plus the surface meteorological
variables including wind components at 10 m.
(2) Lowest-level atmospheric fields which includes the lowest model level and the
mean value in a 30 hPa layer above the surface.
(3) Upper atmosphere fields at a few standard levels plus the tropopause height
and the top-of-the-atmosphere radiation as a time average.
(4) Metadata fixed fields as one-time companion file to the MORDS.
The specific model output variables in each of the four components are listed in Table 3-6. The output from the three models may not include all of the variables listed in Table 3-6, and this fact will be a part of the metadata provided with the specific model output. The output from each of the three models will be provided on a standard AWIPS (Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System) 212 grid ( Figure 3-35) in GRIB format.
______________________________________________________________________________
TABLE 3-6 MORDS Output Variables
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Near-Surface Fields
The snow accumulation and ablation model is a conceptual model in which each of the significant physical processes affecting snow accumulation and snowmelt is mathematically represented. Air temperature is used as an index for computing snowmelt as it is readily available from climatological and operational hydrometeorological networks and has been shown to be the best single index of snow cover energy exchange across the snow- air interface. The model calculates the mean areal snow water equivalent and routes the melt through the snow pack to provide the snow cover outflow to be added to rain on bare ground. The areal extent of snow cover is computed and is further used in runoff calculations. Full details of the model are given in Anderson (1973).
______________________________________________________________________________
TABLE 3-7 RFC Hydrologic Six-Hourly Model Outputs
Proposed by NOAA/OH for GCIP
______________________________________________________________________________
1. Mean Areal Precipitation
2. Mean Areal Air Temperature
3. Mean Areal Snow Water Equivalent1
4. Percent Areal Extent of Snow Cover
5. Heat Deficit in the Snow Pack
6. Mean Areal Rain Plus Melt from Snowmelt Model
7. Mean Areal Potential Evaporation2
8. Upper Zone Tension Water Storage
9. Upper Zone Free Water Storage (UZFW)
10. Lower Zone Tension Water Storage
11. Lower Zone Primary Free Water Storage
12. Lower Zone Secondary Free Water Storage
13. Additional Impervious Area (fraction of basin area)
14. Impervious runoff from permanent impervious areas and direct runoff from temporary
impervious areas
15. Surface runoff when UZFW is full and precipitation intensity exceeds the rate of
percolation and interflow
16. Interflow resulting from the lateral drainage of the UZFW
17. Supplementary Baseflow
18. Primary Baseflow
19. Subsurface Outflow
20. Total Runoff
21. Streamflow from SMA at outlet
22. Routed Streamflow from Areas Above SMA
23. Forecast Streamflow After Blending with Observed Streamflow
24. Computed SMA Daily Evaporation for Model Water Balance3
______________________________________________________________________________
1Snow water equivalents and snowmelt may be calculated for several contour increments
within an SMA in mountainous areas.
2Mean areal potential evaporation is computed on a daily basis and the six-hour values are
simply 1/4 of the daily total.
3Because the potential evaporation forcing is a daily average, the six-hour evaporation
amounts do not include diurnal variability and a daily sum is given.
NOTE: Items 7-20 are available for basins which have been calibrated for the Sacramento
Model which is being progressively applied to the 725 SMAs in the NCRFC area. The 43
SMAs of the Des Moines River above St. Francisville, IA have been calibrated and the
Sacramento Model is running on the 23 SMAs on the Minnesota River above Jordan.
Elsewhere the API (Antecedent Precipitation Index) Model is in use from which the
parameters of API, week of year, storm precipitation, surface runoff, baseflow, and total
runoff are available to compute items 21-24.
______________________________________________________________________________
The principal soil moisture accounting (SMA) model used within NWSRFS is a conceptual model that provides a complete accounting of the exchange of water at the soil surface by accounting for initial abstractions, evapotranspiration and infiltration, as well as the movement of water over and through the soil and into groundwater storage. The Sacramento model separately models tension water, or water that can only be removed by evaporation or evapotranspiration, and free water which drains from the soil. Upper and Lower Zone Storages are used to model direct and impervious runoff, surface runoff and interflow, and baseflow and subsurface outflow respectively. The movement of water between the two Upper Zone and three Lower Zone Storages represents infiltration at the surface and percolation in the soil. Full details of the model are given in Burnash et al. (1973).
Runoff volume from the runoff generating model is converted to instantaneous discharge at a gage or SMA outflow point using a unit hydrograph. This is a simple but effective method of distributing runoff. It is a linear and time invariant system which takes into account channel storage effects above a flow point and the travel time or areal distribution of runoff.
The movement of water along a channel, e.g. from inflow from a SMA upstream through a SMA and/or reservoir or lake, is modelled using a variety of channel system models. These take account of the reduction and attenuation of the hydrograph between upstream and downstream flow points. The Lag and Route, Muskingum, and Layered Muskingum or Layered Coefficient Routing models are the most frequently used.
The NWSRFS model output to be provided include values every six hours of all of the available elements of the daily water budget: precipitation (including snow and snowmelt), runoff (direct, surface runoff, interflow, and baseflow), evaporation and soil moisture storage for individual SMA areas (the NCRFC covers an area of about 843,320 km2 and consists of 725 SMA areas), streamflow from the SMA at the outlet, routed streamflow from areas above the SMA, and forecast and observed streamflow. (Note that not all areas in the Mississippi River basin have been calibrated to this model and the level of calibration varies considerably. During GCIP there will be a major effort to calibrate and operate the model in the upper and middle areas of the Mississippi River basin. The evaporation component of the water balance is not comprehensively modeled. However, the soil moisture estimates and the other soil wetness indices, e.g. various modified antecedent precipitation indices, should prove useful in studying the spatial and temporal variability of these values in comparison to the outputs from the upgraded hydrologic and atmospheric models. Additional information will be provided on the location of the SMA areas and values of the parameters associated with each area.
Outputs of the model state variables for these processes are essential to the development of surface water budgets over large areas. They also will be used in the development, validation, and parameterization of the hydrologic components of the Eta model upgrade and associated off-line assimilation system.
NOAA will collect the values of the SMA state variables, as well as computed values for mean areal precipitation, runoff, and streamflow for the current operational models. These data, along with the metadata describing time and space attributes and model parameters, will be captured in the operational processing environment used by each RFC. It will be transported to and archived in the NOAA Hydrologic Data System. Once captured and archived, the data will be subject to quality assurance procedures and will be aggregated into datasets that are useful to the GCIP research community.
During the JOSS Horizontal Quality Control (JOSS HQC) processing, station observations of pressure, temperature, dew point, wind speed and wind direction will be compared to "expected values" computed using an objective analysis method adapted from that developed by Cressman (1959) and Barnes (1964). The JOSS HQC method allows for short term ( 30 day) variations by using 30 day standard deviations computed for each parameter when determining the acceptable limits for "good", "questionable", or "unlikely" flags. "Expected values" will be computed from inverse distance weighted station observations within a 300 km radius of influence (ROI) centered about the station being quality controlled (the station being quality controlled is excluded); i.e.; Xe = [(wi)(Xo)]/[wi]
Where [...] represents the summation over all stations within the ROI that have valid observations of the parameter at the time in question, Xe is the "expected value" of the parameter at the site in question, wi is the weighting factor for site i (here the inverse of the distance between site i and the station being quality controlled), and Xo is the observed value of the parameter at site i.
To determine an observation's HQC flag setting, the difference between the actual observation and its "expected value" will be compared to that parameter's normalized standard deviation. Normalizing factors (also called the sensitivity coefficients) were chosen to control the "good", "questionable", and "unlikely" flag limits for each parameter. See Table 4-1 for EAOP-98 (the same as were used for ESOP-95) normalizing factors. Table 4-2 contains the HQC flag limit ranges derived from the normalizing factors given in Table 4-1 and estimated standard deviations for each parameter so that 95% of the QC limits applied to the ESOP-95 data fell within these ranges. For example, 95% of the observed station pressure values that were flagged as "good" were within 1.5 mb of the expected value. Values for EAOP-98 are expected to be similar. The significant overlap of the ranges seen in Table 4-2 is partially due to seasonal and station differences in standard deviations. The actual HQC limits applied at any particular time depend upon the dynamic nature of the particular station's parameter values over time.
Data will never be changed, only flagged.
HQC will only be applied to station pressure, sea level pressure, calculated sea level pressure, temperature, dew point, wind speed and wind direction. If the calculated sea level pressure quality control information is available, its flag is applied to the station and sea level pressures. If the calculated sea level pressure can not be quality controlled, the sea level pressure quality control flag is applied to the station pressure. If the sea level pressure can not be quality controlled, the station pressure quality control flag is not overridden.
______________________________________________________________________________ Table 4-1 Normalizing factors used for EAOP-98 Surface Composites ______________________________________________________________________________Parameter Good Questionable Unlikely ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Station Pressure 0.2 0.2 0.5 Sea Level Pressure (SLP) 0.2 0.2 0.5 Calculated SLP 0.4 0.4 1.0 Dry Bulb Temperature 0.5 0.5 1.0 Dew Point Temperature 0.5 0.5 1.0 Wind Speed 2.25 2.25 4.0 Wind Direction 1.22 1.22 2.2 ______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________ Table 4-2 Ranges of HQC flag limit values for the ESOP-95 Surface Composites ______________________________________________________________________________
Parameter Good Questionable Unlikely ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Station Pressure (mb) < 1.5 [0.7-3.9] > 1.7 Sea Level Pressure (mb) < 1.7 [0.5-4.3] > 1.2 Calculated SLP (mb) < 3.9 [0.9-9.8] > 2.2 Dry Bulb Temperature (oC) < 2.9 [1.2-5.8] > 2.4 Dew Point Temperature (oC) < 3.2 [1.2-6.3] > 2.4 Wind Speed (ms-1) < 7.4 [3.2-13.2] > 5.6 Wind Direction(o) < 156.8 [94.6-180.] > 170.5 ______________________________________________________________________________
General consistency checks will also be applied to the dry bulb temperature, wind direction, and the relationship between precipitation and cloud amount/cloud cover. If the dew point temperature is greater than the dry bulb temperature both values will be coded "questionable". Also, wind direction for observed "calm" winds will be given the same QC code as the wind speed. If precipitation is reported, but the cloud amount is "none" or "clear", then both the cloud amount and precipitation values will be coded "questionable".
Several impossible values will also be checked. Negative wind speeds will be coded "unlikely". Negative squall/gust wind speeds will be coded "unlikely". Wind directions of less than 0o or greater than 360o will be coded "unlikely". If these consistency checks would upgrade the quality control flags previously set by HQC or gross limit checks they will not be applied. However, if these consistency checks would degrade the previously set QC flags, they will be applied.
The JOSS HQC scheme relies on spatial and temporal continuity to flag the data. It has been shown that the method works very well for temperature, dew point, pressure, and wind speed, but is not a very good scheme for the wind direction. The flags appear to be overly lax and perhaps could be tightened.
Gross limit checks will be used to flag the precipitation values. The gross limits are shown in Table 4-3. Certain "questionable" and "unlikely" data values will also be manually inspected. After inspection, the quality control flag may be manually modified to better reflect the physical reasonableness of the data. Data will never be modified, only flagged. Negative precipitation will also be coded "unlikely".
______________________________________________________________________________ TABLE 4-3 QC limits to be applied to precipitation values for EAOP-98 precipitation composites. ______________________________________________________________________________Parameter Good Questionable Unlikely ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5-minute Precipitation < 3 mm 3-6 mm >= 6 mm 15-minute Precipitation < 8 mm 8-18 mm >= 18 mm Hourly Precipitation < 20 mm 20-50 mm >= 50 mm Daily Precipitation < 100 mm 100-125 mm >= 125 mm ______________________________________________________________________________
It contains overview information and scientific objectives on GCIP and the DMSS, references and published papers, access to selected on-line GCIP publications, and electronic links to each of the GCIP data source modules.
The locations of each of the modules are discussed in the following subsections, except for the special GCIP datasets module which does not as yet exist.
The user may browse selected datasets. This includes time series plots for surface parameters, skew-T/log-p diagrams for soundings, as well as GIF images for radar composites, model analyses, and satellite imagery.
CODIAC also allows users to directly retrieve data. On-line datasets may be downloaded via the Internet or can be sent via magnetic media (i.e. 9-track, Exabyte, or Digital Audio tape). Off-line data are available only via magnetic media. The user can use WWW "forms" to order the data on-line. Data may be selected by time and/or location and are available in several formats depending on the dataset in question. Any documentation concerning the data itself, processing steps, or quality control procedures used is automatically included.
CODIAC System Access via the WWW
The In-situ Data Source Module Home Page resides at UCAR/JOSS at the following URL:
http://www.joss.ucar.edu/gcip/gcip_in_situ.html
It provides information on availability of various GCIP datasets, on-line documentation, links to WWW pages related to GCIP in situ data, and an interactive electronic link to the CODIAC system. This link includes the ability to display specific dataset information (metadata), a graphical display browse of user selected data, and WWW "forms" for the user to order data. Users that do not have forms-capable browsers may continue to use the CODIAC system. All WWW displayed information is interactively extracted from the CODIAC database to ensure the information is up-to-date.
http://ghrc.msfc.nasa.gov/gcip/sdsm.html
http://www.scd.ucar.edu/dss/index.html
The National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) has a GCIP home page that provides detailed information on the various Eta model output including the MOLTS, MORDS, and gridded three-dimensional fields as well as the MOLTS. It also provides information on retrieval of the model output. On-line data access is limited to the previous 24 hours of data. The WWW URL for the NCEP GCIP home page is:
http://nic.fb4.noaa.gov:8000/research/gcip.html
A companion CD-ROM to GCIP has been produced by the USGS. This CD-ROM contains geographic information for the entire GCIP domain. Datasets contained on this CD- ROM are summarized in Table 5-2. Software to extract and view data have been included. Much of this information is also available via the GREDS WWW page at:
http://nsdi.usgs.gov/nsdi/wais/water/gcip.HTML
______________________________________________________________________________
TABLE 5-1 PROPOSED EAOP-98 CD-ROM DATASET CONTENTS
______________________________________________________________________________
Surface
______________________________________________________________________________
TABLE 5-2 CONTENTS OF USGS GEOGRAPHIC REFERENCE (GREDS) CD-ROM
______________________________________________________________________________
Meteorological and Hydrological Station Locations
Digital Elevation Model (DEM) at 500-m resolution
Geology of the Conterminous United States (1:2,500,000 scale)
Land Use of the Conterminous United States (1:7,500,000 scale)
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) River Reach File for the Conterminous United States (Version 1)
Locations of Large Reservoirs of the United States
Average Annual Runoff in the Conterminous United States for 1951-1980 (1:7,500,000 scale)
Climatology of the United States, 1961-1990 (Normal Temperature, Precipitation, and Degree Days)
LANDSAT Nominal Row and Path Boundaries and Center Points (Index to LANDSAT Scenes)
Eta Model Grid Node Locations and description of Parameters
State and County Boundaries (1:2,000,000 scale)
USGS Quadrangle Map Index (1:250,000, 1:100,000, and 1:24,000 scales)
Hydrologic Unit Boundaries of the Conterminous United States (1:250,000 scale)
Listing of Long Term Climatological Stations
GIF Imagery of above Datasets (Browse purposes)
Miscellaneous Documentation of above Datasets
Software and Source Code for Dataset Projection Translation
______________________________________________________________________________
A summary of tasks to be performed and schedules are presented below:
97 98 99
Task A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J
Complete Draft Tactical Plan ----
Scientific review of Draft Plan ----
Collect atmospheric data -------------------------------
Collect hydrological data -------------------------------
Collect model output -------------------------------
Data Processing and QC ----------------------------
Prepare EAOP-98 Data Report --
Process data for CD-ROM mastering ---
EAOP-98 on-line data --------------------------------------------
EAOP-98 CD-ROM mastering ---
CD-ROM ready for distribution -
--- Task Length
REFERENCES Anderson, E. A., 1973: National Weather Service River Forecasting System - Snow accumulation and ablation model. NOAA Tech. Memo. NWS HYDRO-17, US Department of Commerce, Silver Spring, MD, 217 pp.
Barnes, S. L., 1964: A technique for maximizing details in numerical weather map analysis. J. Appl. Meteor., 3, 396-409.
Burnash, R. J. C., R. L. Ferral, and R. A. McGuire, 1973: A generalized streamflow simulation system, conceptual modeling for digital computers. California Department of Water Resources.
Cressman, G. P., 1959: An operational objective analysis system. Mon. Wea. Rev., 87, 367- 374.
Hayden, C. M., G. S. Wade, and T. J. Schmidt, 1996: Derived product imagery from GOES- 8. J. Appl. Meteor., 35, 153-162.
Hayden, C. M., and T. J. Schmidt, 1991: The anticipated sounding capabilities of the GOES- I and beyond. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 72, 1835-1846.
IGPO (International GEWEX Project Office), 1993: Implementation Plan for the GEWEX Continental-Scale International Project (GCIP) - Volume I - Data Collection and Operational Model Upgrade. IGPO Publication Series No. 6, IGPO, Washington, D.C.
IGPO (International GEWEX Project Office), 1994a: Implementation Plan for the GEWEX Continental-Scale International Project (GCIP) - Volume II - Research Plan. IGPO Publication Series No. 7, IGPO, Washington, D.C.
IGPO (International GEWEX Project Office), 1994b: Implementation Plan for the GEWEX Continental-Scale International Project (GCIP) - Volume III - Strategic Plan for Data Management. IGPO Publication Series No. 8, IGPO, Washington, D.C.
IGPO (International GEWEX Project Office), 1995: Major Activities Plan for 1996, 1997 and Outlook for 1998. IGPO Publication Series No. 16, IGPO, Washington, D.C.
Menzel, W. P., and J. F. W. Purdom, 1994: Introducing GOES-I: The first of a new generation of geostationary operational environmental satellites. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 75, 757-781.
Quattrochi, D. A., 1996: GCIP studies in the Large Scale Area (LSA) East (1997-1998): A discussion paper. 27 pp.
U.S. Department of Commerce, 1988: Federal Meteorological Handbook No. 1, Surface Observations. FCM-H1-1988, Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research, Washington, D.C.
WMO (World Meteorological Organization), 1992: Scientific Plan for GEWEX Continental- Scale International Project (GCIP). WCRP-67, WMO/TD No. 461, WMO, Geneva, Switzerland.
APPENDIX A
ACRONYMS