NRCS National Water and Climate Center

Bruce NewtonActing Director

National Water Quality Monitoring Council Meeting

December 8, 2003

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

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 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

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

Snow Survey / Water Supply

709 Locations12 States Jan-Jun11,411 Forecasts

Manual Snow Survey

Manual Snow Survey

1100 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 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)

Data Center OperationsData Center Operations

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

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.

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

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

Current Priorities and Strategic Issues

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

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

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

Short-term forecasting

major resources implicationspilot projectvarious modelsvarious potential partnerships

NWS State agencies

System automation

about 40% of the snow survey system is automated

forecast accuracy improvedimportant for short-term forecasting

SCANSCAN

Soil Climate Analysis NetworkSoil Climate Analysis Network

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

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

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

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

SCAN

Climate ServicesClimate Services

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

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

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 Support

Water QualityAnimal waste engineeringNutrient managementPest management

HydrologyAir QualityIrrigation and Water

Management

Thanks!