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NRCS National Water and Climate Center. Bruce Newton Acting Director National Water Quality Monitoring Council Meeting December 8, 2003. Mission. Snow survey and water supply forecasting Soil Climate Analysis Network Climate data for conservation planning Technical tools and support for: - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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NRCS National Water and Climate Center
Bruce NewtonActing Director
National Water Quality Monitoring Council MeetingDecember 8, 2003
MissionSnow survey and water supply forecastingSoil Climate Analysis NetworkClimate data for conservation planningTechnical tools and support for:
hydrology nutrients, pesticides, animal waste, water
quality air quality irrigation and water management
Locations and staffing
Portland, 33 staff
Beltsville, 6 staff
Great Falls, MT
Ft. CollinsWest Lafayette
Lafayette, LA
Amherst, 2 staff
Durham, NC
Snow SurveySnow Survey&&Water Supply ForecastingWater Supply Forecasting
Snow Survey / Water SupplyWhiskey is for drinking; water is for fightin’ over. - Mark Twain
50-80% of useable water derives from mountain snowpack. Snowpack highly variable year to year.
Snow monitoring and water supply forecasts are essential to the western economy
Snow Survey / Water SupplyUsers of NRCS data and forecasts:
irrigation districts and farmers hydroelectric utilities reservoir operators flood managers disaster management agencies wildfire managers recreation interests
Snow Survey / Water Supply709 Locations12 States Jan-Jun11,411 Forecasts
Manual Snow Survey
Manual Snow Survey1100 sampling sitesSampled 2 - 4 times a yearNRCS field office staff and many
cooperatorsMajority are candidates for
automation
Remote Stations (SNOTEL)
Remote Stations (SNOTEL)702 stations in 12 Statesapproximately 10 new stations added
per yearlocated in high elevation mountainous
areasthree communication master stations
relay data to NWCC Data Center
Solar Radiation
Relative Humidity
Wind
Air Temp
SnowDepth
Snow Water Equivalent
Snow Survey / Water SupplyResource investment:
61 full time NRCS staff22 at NWCC39 at State level
Additional staff on part time basis Portland Data Center Electronics Maintenance Facility Equipment investment of $30 million
(replacement cost)
Data Center OperationsData Center Operations
Data Center OperationsMajor data center within NRCS
configuration responsible for snow survey and climate data systems
900,000 monitoring observations per week incoming
24/7 operation System is classified mission-critical by
Department
Data Center OperationsResource investments
seven NRCS staff dedicated to IT we use programming services contracts expenditures for hardware, software,
and operations run one million dollars per year.
User access - March
580,243
119,401
1,355,154
252,882
0
500,000
1,000,000
1,500,000
March 2001 March 2002
National Water and Climate Center Web and FTP Statistics
Web Page HitsFTP Downloads
New Usage MeasureCounting web hits and FTP
downloads is flawedDeveloped a new measure narrowly
focused on user access to snow survey data and forecasts
For FY03 there were 3.9 million user accesses
Current Priorities and Strategic Issues
FY04 PrioritiesUpgrade SNOTEL stations
replace obsolete station transceivers and data loggers
soil moisture and other sensorsData Center software and productsPilot test short-term forecastingExpand staffing as resources allowImprove data QA
Strategic IssuesShort-term streamflow forecasting
issue short-term discharge forecasts in addition to current seasonal volume forecasts
System automation replace manual snow courses with
SNOTEL stations
Short-term forecastingsupplement seasonal volume
forecast with short-term discharge forecast
peaks; onset of low-flowcurrently forecasting 29 basins in MT
2-week forecast issued weekly
Short-term forecastingmajor resources implicationspilot projectvarious modelsvarious potential partnerships
NWS State agencies
System automationabout 40% of the snow survey
system is automatedforecast accuracy improvedimportant for short-term forecasting
SCANSCAN
Soil Climate Analysis NetworkSoil Climate Analysis Network
SCANClimate and soil moisture monitoring
to support farm operations (planting,
waste spreading, irrigation scheduling) improve drought assessment and flood
forecasting to advance scientific knowledge of soil
hydrology and climate relationships
SCANStations located in low elevation
agricultural areasJoint with National Soil Survey CenterExpanding primarily through
cooperator fundingUtilizes the SNOTEL infrastructure for
design, equipment, data management, user access to data
SCANPrinciple cooperators:
USDA World Agricultural Outlook Board, ARS, FS Land Grant Universities State Climatologist Offices Regional Climate Centers
Principle users: local farmers WAOB researchers State climatologists Weather Service
SCANCurrently 85 stations in 41 StatesDemand for new stations to be paid
for by partners exceeds our ability to install and maintain them
Greatest need is for technician-level staff and data QA analysts
SCAN
Climate ServicesClimate Services
Climate ServicesClimate is a major factor in natural
resources managementClimate data are used extensively by our
conservationists and partners in planningOur role is to coordinate research, obtain
data, complete value-added analyses, and make information easily accessible to resource professionals
Climate ServicesProvide expertise, analyses, and data for
wetland determination county soil surveys water supply forecasting air quality assessments erosion estimation crop planning and risk assessment water quality models
PRISM
World recognized technology to analyze and map climate using GIS
Ag. Climatology
Work with other agencies to develop climate information and improve accessibility climate generator for modeling serially complete data sets wind data analysis for air quality Internet-based access and analysis of
climate data (ACIS)
Technology Support
Technology SupportWater Quality
Animal waste engineeringNutrient managementPest management
HydrologyAir QualityIrrigation and Water
Management
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