1. Climate and Weather Projects at the NWCC to Support USDA-NRCS Activities
Climate Mapping
Time Series Development
Weather Generator Research (GEM)
Serially Complete Dataset
Snow Climate Monitoring & Analysis
Soil Climate Monitoring & Analysis
Internet Technologies for Climate Delivery

2. Climate Mapping
Collaborative effort between NRCS National Water and Climate Center (NWCC) and the Spatial Climate Analysis Service (SCAS) at Oregon State University
Goal is to produce new maps and digital GIS layers of climate elements needed by the NRCS and others

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4. A Spatial Climate Modeling System
PRISM (Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model)
Statistical/Dynamical/Topographic approach
Uses point data, a DEM and a coordinated set of rules, decisions and calculations, designed to mimic an “expert” climatologist
For good reference see PRISM Guide Book under Technical Papers at the OSU PRISM web site

5. PRISM
Originally developed for precipitation only, now expanded to temperature, dewpoint, solar radiation and many derived variables such as HDD’s/CDD’s, GDD’s, frost dates, snowfall, snow water equivalent, etc.
Most commonly applied in monthly or annual time increments, but also applied to events

6. PRISM Model from OSU’s Spatial Climate Analysis Service
Funded primarily by the NRCS-NWCC since 1993 for development of spatial climate products for the U.S.
4 km horizontal resolution raster data, and ARC polygon coverages both available
Most commonly applied in monthly or annual time increments, but also applied to events

7. PRISM
Any given grid cell value is determined by a linear regression of station values against elevation
Stations assigned weights
Combined weight of a station is a function of many factors

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16. PRISM-derived Products
Mean Mon. and Ann. Precipitation
Mean Mon. and Ann. Temps (mx/mn)
Frost Dates and Freeze-free Season
Extreme Winter Min. Temps & Probs.
Growing, Heating, Cooling degree days
Snow-Water Equivalent & Snowfall
Rainfall Erosivity (‘R-factor’ for RUSLE), Intensity-Duration-Frequency

17. Other PRISM-derived Climate Map Products for the NRCS:
New Soil Climate Maps, including mean annual soil temperature, soil taxonomic regions
Precipitation Efficiency, Climatic Index, and other “older” Thornthwaite products
New Plant Hardiness Map of the U.S.

24. Cartographic-quality Map of Mean Annual Precipitation for Idaho Produced at the USDA-NRCS NCGC

25. Annual Precipitation Map of Elmore County, Idaho Produced by the NRCS NCGC
“Cut-out” of State Map

27. July normal precipitation
(top)
vs.
July 1993 precipitation (bottom)

29. PRISM - SWE Map - Oregon

30. New Precipitation Frequency Maps Needed in the NRCS

31. TP-40 100 Yr 24-hour pcpn. (in.) from SCS TR-55, 1986

32. 100 Year, 24-hour NOAA Atlas 2 Values (inches)
Northwest Colorado (1973)

33. Ft. Collins CO Rainfall (in.), 5:30 -11 pm, July 28, 1997

35. PRISM Product Dissemination
Web Sites:
OSU
(Raster and polygon coverages of practically everything produced to date (Arc, GRASS); documentation; metadata; DEM’s)
NRCS
(U.S., Regional and State mean annual precipitation cartographic products)

36.
Cartographic state mean annual precipitation maps
Full repository of “official” NRCS PRISM layers

37. PRISM Product Dissemination
Compact Discs:
All precipitation layers for all of the U.S CD’s (East, Central, West) of the lower 48 states. Includes Arc Explorer viewing software, and all documentation.
Available from the NRCS-NCGC:

38. PRISM Product Dissemination
Hardcopy maps:
Cartographic-quality, walls-size maps of mean annual precipitation for each state
Available from the NRCS Climate Data Liaison in each state

39. Wind Mapping to Support NRCS Air Quality Program
Need high resolution mean and event wind speeds and directions for whole U.S.
Atmospheric model needed for this: Sue Ferguson at USFS Research Seattle
Mean monthly winds of U.S. at 5 km resolution now nearly complete

41. Time Series Development: Weather Generator Research and Integration

42. Ultimate Question: What is really needed
Ultimate Question: What is really needed? (for applications needing point-serial data)
A continuous time series of weather data of sufficient length to make reasonable assessments for planning decisions, of sufficient temporal resolution to match the time step in process models, and of sufficient spatial resolution and accuracy to have confidence in its application in any location in the U.S.

43. What are our choices? Observed data -or- Model-generated data
Observed data: Point, “truth”, missing values, limited record, one realization, only 1 or 2 elements at many stations
Generated data: Point, only an approximation of the “true” climate, serially-complete, easy to generate

45. Why Stochastic Weather Generation Programs?
Easily accessible, serially-complete data sets are produced
Easily modified outputs to match other modeling requirements
Weather/Climate scenarios for locations with limited or no observed data
Ability to adjust model parameters for playing “What If ?” games; risk assessments

46. ARS-NRCS Weather Simulation Team (WST)
Formed in response to need for updated, more dynamic weather simulation tool
Comprised of 5-10 ARS and NRCS scientists
Major focus areas include storm generation (generating sub-daily time steps), GEM as a predictive tool (linkage to large-scale forcings), generation of all needed weather elements, and spatial distribution of generator parameters

48. GEM: Generation of weather Elements for Multiple applications
Known as WGEN (Richardson, 1984) and USCLIMATE (Hanson et al., 1994)
Preservation of serial and cross correlations
Basic version is a point model, and delivers daily time series of precipitation, max/min temperature, solar radiation, average dewpoint and average wind speed

49. Distributing GEM Model Parameters Using the PRISM (Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model) system at Oregon State University Goal: To generate accurate climatic time series at any point in the U.S., regardless of the availability of historical climate information, for input to models, scenario development, and many other uses

51. Annual mean of Tmin for wet/dry days from PRISM-9 -3
2 oC

54. Time Series Development: Serially Complete Dataset Project
To produce accurate historical climate time series, with no missing records, from NOAA climate stations nationwide (precipitation and temperature)

55. Serially Complete Dataset
40+ years of daily pcpn. and max/min temps ( )
Approximately 11,000 precipitation and 7,300 temperature station records now available for all 48 conterminous states
Generating an ASCII file of estimates for NCDC and UCAN
Unique flags for estimates
Journal of Applied Meteorology paper Sept. 2000

56. Snow Climate Monitoring & Analysis: SNOTEL
Large Automated Climate Network
Began in 1978
Over 650 remote site
Generally in high elevation areas
Located in the 12 Western States and Alaska
Utilizes meteor burst communication technology to telemeter data

57. SNOTEL Coverage

58. SNOTEL Typical Remote Site Sensor Array
Snow Pillow used to measure snow water content
Snow Depth
All Season Precipitation Gage
Air Temperature
Includes current, 24 hour: maximum, minimum, and average

59. SNOTEL Other Sensor Relative Humidity Solar Radiation
Wind Speed and Direction
Barometric Pressure
Water Level
Soil Moisture and Temperature

60. Typical SNOTEL Site

61. Soil Climate Monitoring and Analysis: SCAN

62. SCAN (Soil Climate and Analysis Network)
Nationwide Soil Moisture & Temperature Network
Background
A pilot project was started in 1991
Pilot project objectives were to:
Develop technical expertise in monitoring Soil-Climate interface
Demonstrate the technical feasibility for a nationwide system
Precursor to SCAN

63. SCAN Currently 42 SCAN sites, located in 30 states
Uses meteor burst or cellular telephone technology to transmit data
Data are delivered to the National Water and Climate Center in Portland, Oregon
Real-time data validation
Data are computer accessible in near real-time
Danger of losing 20+ SCAN sites without additional funding

64. SCAN USA as of August 2000

65. Typical SCAN Site

67. Internet Technologies for Climate Delivery

68. Unified Climate Access Network
Climate Data Now for the 21st Century 1

69. UCAN Goals
Make climate data and analyses available to a broad user community
Tailor products to the needs of users
Provide a flexible interface to satisfy programmatic needs
Integrate climate resources across agencies
Pretty self-explanatory…….. 2