SUBCOMMITTEE ON HYDROLOGY Overall Goal – from purpose statement: “To improve the availability and reliability of (surface water) information needed for hazard mitigation, water supply and water use management, and environmental protection”

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HYDROLOGY Meetings held Quarterly Winter and Spring 2004 in Washington, DC July 15, 2004 in Denver, CO Next Meeting October 14, 2004 in Washington, DC

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HYDROLOGY Present Officers Donald Frevert, BOR, Chair S. Samuel Lin, FERC, Vice-Chair Terms Extend through September, 2005

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HYDROLOGY Current Member Organizations –Agricultural Research Service* –American Forests –Association of State Floodplain Managers –Bureau of Land Management –Bureau of Reclamation –Defenders of Property Rights –Federal Emergency Management Agency –Federal Energy Regulatory Commission –Federal Highway Administration Current Member Organizations (continued) –National Hydrologic Warning Council –National Science Foundation –National Weather Service –Natural Resources Conservation Service –US Army Corps of Engineers –US Environmental Protection Agency –US Forest Service –US Geological Survey * Indicates inactive organization

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HYDROLOGY Current Work Groups – Hydrologic Frequency Analysis Work Group, Will Thomas (Michael Baker and Associates), Chair – Hydrologic Modeling Work Group, Donald Frevert (BOR), Chair – Hydrologic Radio Frequency Work Group, Scott Jackson (NWS), Chair – Satellite Telemetry Interagency Work Group, Ernest Dryer (USGS), Chair

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HYDROLOGY Hydrologic Frequency Analysis Work Group – Most Recent Meetings – July 24, 2003 and January 28, 2004 – Next Meeting Planned for October, 2004 in Alexandria, VA – Work group formed to address three main issues: Preparing a list of “Frequently Asked Questions and Answers” about Bulletin 17B - Guidelines For Determining Flood Flow Frequency (Interagency Advisory Committee on Water Data, 1982) Developing guidance for “Flood Frequency Estimates” on ungaged watersheds Developing guidance for “Flood Frequency Analysis” for regulated watersheds – List of “Frequently Asked Questions and Answers” on Bulletin 17B posted on the work group web site – Paper entitled “Evaluation of Flood Frequency Estimates for Ungaged Watershed” posted on the work group web site

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HYDROLOGY Hydrologic Frequency Analysis Work Group (continued) – Benefit: Provides a forum for discussion of flood frequency analysis issues among experts throughout the country – Ongoing Tasks: Preparing report on flood frequency analysis for regulated watersheds Making references, cited in Bulletin 17B, available on work group web site Investigating update of “skew estimation” procedures for Bulletin 17B Investigating possible “code of ethics” for hydrologic frequency analysis

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HYDROLOGY Hydrologic Modeling Work Group – Most Recent Meeting – January, 2004 in Denver – Next Meeting – Fall, 2004 Conference Call – Held 2 nd Federal Interagency Hydrologic Modeling Conference July 28 – August 1, 2002 in Las Vegas, NV Attended by approximately 350 participants from – Federal, State and Local Governments – Private Industry – Stakeholder Groups – Universities or Research Institutes Approximately 160 Technical Presentations and 40 Posters Five Short Courses on State-of-the-Art Technology – all well attended

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HYDROLOGY Hydrologic Modeling Work Group (continued) – Next Hydrologic Modeling Conference Scheduled for April 2-6, 2006 Initial planning now complete and hotel arrangements made Format will be joint conference with Federal Sedimentation Conference Call for papers will come out in October, 2004 Abstracts will be due in May, 2005

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HYDROLOGY Hydrologic Radio Frequency Work Group – Narrow Banding of VHF and UHF bands underway – Coordinated Agreement in Place with Canada – Coordinated Agreement with Mexico being Negotiated

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HYDROLOGY Satellite Telemetry Interagency Work Group – Charted jointly by the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology(OFCM) and the Advisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI). – Reports to Committee for Environmental Services, Operations and Research Needs ( C/ESORN) of OFCM and Hydrology Subcommittee of ACWI. – Acts as a user's group for major users of the GOES DCS. – Coordinates funding for user-desired improvements to the GOES DCS. – Members include BOR, USGS, Corps of Engineers, BLM, Forest Service, NOAA, and others. – Meets two to three times a year, two meetings so far in 2004.

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HYDROLOGY Satellite Telemetry Interagency Work Group(cont.) – Major Activities in 2004 Terms of Reference – Updated terms of reference – URL: High Data Rate DCPs – Finalized Plan for transition to High Data Rate(HDR) DCPS – URL: Goes DCS Backup » Participated in NESDIS Study » Has reservations about site selection methodology which will be reported to the Subcommittee on Hydrology at its next meeting

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HYDROLOGY Satellite Telemetry Interagency Work Group – Major Activities in 2004 ( cont. ) GOES DCS Improvements – Members participated in NESDIS-sponsored meetings with manufacturers of equipment for GOES DCS – Helped develop a list of long-term potential improvements that included: » Reduction of the the frequency range currently used by HDR DCPs by ½ which would double the capacity of GOES DCS. » Use of the GOES DCS interrogation link for 2-way communications with remote sites.

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HYDROLOGY Proposed Motion on Maintenance of the Present Streamgage Network – Background: Importance of streamflow data to protection of life and property as well as effective water resources management. Network is heavily funded by USGS partners and this funding is subject to substantial year to year fluctuations. The result has been loss of some key stations in recent years. Reliance of other agencies and organizations on this data. – Recommendation: Maintain the program at or above its present level USGS remain the agency responsible for operation

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HYDROLOGY Key Websites: – for general subcommittee informationhttp://water.usgs.gov/wicp/acwi/hydrology/index.html – for rosters – for conference and workshop informationhttp://water.usgs.gov/wicp/acwi/hydrology/mtsconfwkshops/index.html