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NRCS National Water and Climate Center
Bruce NewtonActing Director
National Water Quality Monitoring Council Meeting
December 8, 2003
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Mission
Snow 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
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Locations and staffing
Portland, 33 staff
Beltsville, 6 staff
Great Falls, MT
Ft. CollinsWest Lafayette
Lafayette, LA
Amherst, 2 staff
Durham, NC
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Snow SurveySnow Survey&&Water Supply ForecastingWater Supply Forecasting
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Snow Survey / Water Supply
Whiskey 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
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Snow Survey / Water Supply
Users of NRCS data and forecasts: irrigation districts and farmers hydroelectric utilities reservoir operators flood managers disaster management agencies wildfire managers recreation interests
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Snow Survey / Water Supply
709 Locations12 States Jan-Jun11,411 Forecasts
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Manual Snow Survey
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Manual Snow Survey
1100 sampling sitesSampled 2 - 4 times a yearNRCS field office staff and many
cooperatorsMajority are candidates for
automation
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Remote Stations (SNOTEL)
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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
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Solar Radiation
Relative Humidity
Wind
Air Temp
SnowDepth
Snow Water Equivalent
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Snow Survey / Water Supply
Resource investment: 61 full time NRCS staff
22 at NWCC39 at State level
Additional staff on part time basis Portland Data Center Electronics Maintenance Facility Equipment investment of $30 million
(replacement cost)
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Data Center OperationsData Center Operations
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Data Center Operations
Major 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
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Data Center Operations
Resource investments seven NRCS staff dedicated to IT we use programming services contracts expenditures for hardware, software,
and operations run one million dollars per year.
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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 Hits
FTP Downloads
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New Usage Measure
Counting web hits and FTP downloads is flawed
Developed a new measure narrowly focused on user access to snow survey data and forecasts
For FY03 there were 3.9 million user accesses
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Current Priorities and Strategic Issues
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FY04 Priorities
Upgrade SNOTEL stations replace obsolete station transceivers and
data loggers soil moisture and other sensors
Data Center software and productsPilot test short-term forecastingExpand staffing as resources allowImprove data QA
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Strategic Issues
Short-term streamflow forecasting issue short-term discharge forecasts in
addition to current seasonal volume forecasts
System automation replace manual snow courses with
SNOTEL stations
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Short-term forecasting
supplement seasonal volume forecast with short-term discharge forecast
peaks; onset of low-flowcurrently forecasting 29 basins in MT
2-week forecast issued weekly
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Short-term forecasting
major resources implicationspilot projectvarious modelsvarious potential partnerships
NWS State agencies
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System automation
about 40% of the snow survey system is automated
forecast accuracy improvedimportant for short-term forecasting
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SCANSCAN
Soil Climate Analysis NetworkSoil Climate Analysis Network
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SCAN
Climate 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
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SCAN
Stations located in low elevation agricultural areas
Joint with National Soil Survey CenterExpanding primarily through
cooperator fundingUtilizes the SNOTEL infrastructure for
design, equipment, data management, user access to data
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SCAN
Principle 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
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SCAN
Currently 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
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SCAN
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Climate ServicesClimate Services
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Climate Services
Climate is a major factor in natural resources management
Climate data are used extensively by our conservationists and partners in planning
Our role is to coordinate research, obtain data, complete value-added analyses, and make information easily accessible to resource professionals
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Climate Services
Provide 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
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PRISM
World recognized technology to analyze and map climate using GIS
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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)
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Technology Support
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Technology Support
Water QualityAnimal waste engineeringNutrient managementPest management
HydrologyAir QualityIrrigation and Water
Management
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Thanks!