DRAFT

GLOBAL ENERGY AND WATER CYCLE EXPERIMENT (GEWEX)

CONTINENTAL-SCALE INTERNATIONAL PROJECT (GCIP)

TACTICAL DATA COLLECTION AND MANAGEMENT PLAN for the 1998 ENHANCED ANNUAL OBSERVING PERIOD (EAOP) for the OHIO-TENNESSE RIVER BASIN

JULY 1997

UNIVERSITY CORPORATION FOR ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH (UCAR)
JOINT OFFICE FOR SCIENCE SUPPORT (JOSS)
P.O. BOX 3000
BOULDER, CO 80307

Phone: (303) 497-8987
Fax: (303) 497-8158
Internet: sfw@ncar.ucar.edu

CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF TABLES

1. INTRODUCTION

2. OBJECTIVES AND APPROACH

3. DATA SOURCES AND DATA COLLECTION

4. SPECIAL PROCESSING

5. DATA DISSEMINATION

6. IMPLEMENTATION AND SCHEDULE

REFERENCES

APPENDIX A. ACRONYMS

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1-1 Boundaries for the GCIP LSAs and temporal emphasis for each LSA.

Figure 1-2 Latitude-longitude boundaries for the GCIP LSA-E

Figure 3-1 ASOS station locations within the LSA-E

Figure 3-2 AWOS station locations within the LSA-E

Figure 3-3 SAO station locations within the LSA-E

Figure 3-4 NOAA Profiler Network locations within the LSA-E

Figure 3-5 Fire Weather Network station locations

Figure 3-6 Auburn University Mesonet station locations

Figure 3-7 GAEMN station locations

Figure 3-8 Illinois Climate Network station locations

Figure 3-9 Indiana Department of Environmental Management Air Quality Monitoring Network locations

Figure 3-10 Kentucky Division of Air Quality Meteorological station locations

Figure 3-11 Michigan State University Automated Weather Station Network locations

Figure 3-12 Missouri Commercial Agriculture Weather Stations Network locations

Figure 3-13 Missouri DOC Fire Weather Network locations

Figure 3-14 North Carolina State University climate station network locations

Figure 3-15 Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection meteorological station locations

Figure 3-16 RAMAN station locations

Figure 3-17 University of Wisconsin AWON station locations

Figure 3-18 Wisconsin DOT station locations

Figure 3-19 Wisconsin DNR Air Quality Monitoring Network locations

Figure 3-20 Great Lakes meteorological data locations

Figure 3-21 MSEA site locations

Figure 3-22 NWS cooperative observer daily observation locations within the LSA-E

Figure 3-23 NWS cooperative 15-min and hourly precipitation observation locations within the LSA-E

Figure 3-24 Cook County and Imperial Valley precipitation network station locations

Figure 3-25 Tennessee Valley Authority precipitation observation locations

Figure 3-26 USGS streamflow observation locations within the LSA-E

Figure 3-27 USDA/NRCS Soil Moisture/Soil Temperature Pilot Project locations

Figure 3-28 USDA/NRCS Wisconsin Dense Till Project locations

Figure 3-29 USGS reservoir observation locations within the LSA-E

Figure 3-30 ISWS shallow well observation locations

Figure 3-31 ISWS deep well observation locations

Figure 3-32 NWS rawinsonde release locations within the LSA-E

Figure 3-33 WSR-88D and NIDS locations during EAOP-98

Figure 3-34 NOAA/NCEP Eta, NOAA/FSL MAPS, and AES/CMC RFE MOLTS locations within the LSA-E

Figure 3-35 The AWIPS 212 Grid

Figure 4-1 Schematic diagram of the compositing and quality control procedures to be conducted for the EAOP-98 hourly surface composite

Figure 4-2 Schematic diagram of the compositing and quality control procedures to be conducted for the EAOP-98 hourly precipitation composite

Figure 5-1 Organization of the GCIP DMSS

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3-1 Datasets comprising the EAOP-98

Table 3-2 WSR-88D NIDS Products and Descriptions

Table 3-3 Satellite Radiation Datasets

Table 3-4 Regional Model Characteristics

Table 3-5 Fundamental Output Variables for the MOLTS

Table 3-6 MORDS Output Variables

Table 3-7 RFC Hydrological Six-hour Model Outputs Proposed by NOAA/OH for GCIP

Table 4-1 Normalizing factors used for EAOP-98 Surface Composites

Table 4-2 Ranges of HQC flag limit values for the ESOP-95 Surface Composites

Table 4-3 QC limits to be applied to precipitation values for EAOP-98 precipitation composites

Table 5-1 Proposed EAOP-98 CD-ROM Dataset Contents

Table 5-2 Contents of USGS Geographic Reference (GREDS) CD-ROM

1. INTRODUCTION

The Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX), as one of the major programs of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), aims to determine global distributions of water and energy fluxes from observations and to compute their values from predicted atmospheric properties. The GEWEX Continental-scale International Project (GCIP), the first major project under GEWEX, has the Mississippi River basin as its primary region of interest.

1.1 The GCIP Project

The overall objectives of the GCIP are to improve scientific understanding of, and to model on a continental scale, the coupling between the atmosphere and the land surface for climate prediction purposes. This includes the determination of the temporal and spatial variability of the hydrological and energy budgets on the continental scale as well as the development and validation of macroscale hydrological models, related high resolution atmospheric models, and coupled hydrologic and atmospheric models. The operational or Enhanced Observing Period (EOP) of GCIP commenced in October 1995 and will run for approximately five years.

The GCIP Science Plan [World Meteorological Organization (WMO), 1992] poses science questions that need to be addressed to advance knowledge of the hydrological and energy cycles involved in the complex land-atmosphere-ocean interactions for a major river basin. The GCIP research involves a systematic multiscale approach to accommodate physical process studies, model development, data assimilation, diagnostics, and validation topics [International GEWEX Project Office (IGPO), 1994a]. This multiscale research effort employs a four-tiered developmental studies framework laid out as follows:

Continental-scale area (CSA) activities span the entire domain of the Mississippi River basin (3.2 x 106 km2). These operate at a more or less steady level throughout the EOP.

Large-scale area (LSA) activities cover areas of about 105 to 106 km2. Four such areas were defined for GCIP that in aggregate cover most of the GCIP domain (Figure 1-1). These activities occur in a phased timetable (Figure 1-1), examining each regions special characteristics over a two year period.

Intermediate-scale area (ISA) activities cover areas of about 103 to 104 km2 and occur in conjunction with LSA activities. They serve as the basis for the regionalization of the parameters and coefficients of land surface hydrological models. Activities at ISA scales include the analysis of existing basin-scale hydrological models and the analysis of relationships between LSA and ISA scales.

Small-scale area (SSA) activities cover areas of about 102 km2. These activities typically occur in association with efforts requiring Intensive Observation Periods (IOPs) over concentrated regions to study a focused set of issues.

The data collection and operational model upgrades needed for GCIP were addressed in Volume I of the GCIP Implementation Plan (IGPO, 1993). The issues of data management for GCIP are divided into strategic and tactical planning efforts. The strategic portion of the data management planning was covered in Volume III of the GCIP Implementation Plan (IGPO 1994b). A tactical data collection and management plan will be completed for each definable dataset compiled by GCIP. Following the data collection phase of each definable GCIP dataset a tactical data collection and management report will be completed.

1.2 GCIP Datasets

A number of GCIP Initial Datasets (GIDS) were prepared to provide data services support during the 2-yr buildup period prior to the start of the 5-yr EOP in October 1995. GIDS-1 covered the period from 1 February to 30 April 1992 and included data from the STorm-scale Operational and Research Meteorology (STORM)-Fronts Experiment Systems Test (FEST) augmented by an additional six weeks of atmospheric, hydrological, and land surface data from existing data centers for the central Mississippi River basin. GIDS-2 is planned to consist of two abnormal climate events in the Mississippi River basin, i.e. the 1988 drought and the 1993 floods. GIDS-3 consists of data collected during the GCIP Integrated Systems Test (GIST) which took place from 1 April to 31 August 1994, with a concentrated effort during the summer season of June, July, and August. The GIST took place in the LSA-SW (see Figure 1-1). GIDS-4 consists of data collected during the GCIP 1995 Enhanced Seasonal Observing Period (ESOP-95) which was also conducted in the LSA- SW (1 April - 30 September 1995). The GIDS-4 CD-ROM is scheduled to be completed by approximately March 1997. A GCIP Reference Dataset (GREDS) was completed in early 1995. The 17 different datasets on this CD-ROM contain data that are expected to change little if any during the next two to three years. A summary of the contents of each of the above datasets is given in the GCIP Major Activities Plan for 1996, 1997 and Outlook for 1998 (IGPO 1995).

The first dataset collected during the 5-yr EOP was the ESOP-96 which took place from 1 April to 30 September 1996 in the LSA-SW. A CD-ROM will be compiled for the ESOP-96 dataset. The first dataset collected outside of the LSA-SW was the ESOP-97 which took place from 1 October 1996 to 30 May 1997 in the LSA-NC. A CD-ROM will be compiled for the ESOP-97 dataset.

Specific information about each dataset is available on the Internet World Wide Web (WWW) via the GCIP home page at the following URL (Uniform Resource Locator):

http://www.ogp.noaa.gov/gcip/

1.3 1998 Enhanced Annual Observing Period (EAOP-98)

The EAOP-98 will be conducted from 1 October 1997 to 30 September 1998 and will begin the observations in support of the LSA-E focus as shown in Figure 1-1. A major objective for EAOP-98 is to contribute to a comprehensive dataset for diagnostic, evaluation, and modeling studies and it is the first GCIP dataset to have its focus in the LSA-E.

The LSA-E has several environmental features that are significant to GCIP: The LSA-E is the first GCIP LSA where there are significant topological effects, due to the Appalachian Mountains. The LSA-E also has the heaviest precipitation in the Mississippi River basin. There is a winter-spring maximum in the LSA-E as well as some snow melt effects (primarily in the northern half of the LSA-E) giving lead to winter-spring flooding events. Additionally, the LSA-E is the dominant contributor to Mississippi River runoff.

The GCIP LSA-E domain is shown in Figure 1-2. The geographical area extent of the Ohio-Tennessee River basins is defined as the irregular shaped polygon in Figure 1-2. For atmospheric modeling and other applications a more regular-shaped area is defined by the boundaries of 30o to 45o N latitude and 80o to 90o W longitude, and this is used as the latitude-longitude boundaries for the LSA-E. The meteorological and hydrological networks covering the Mississippi River basin are currently being enhanced by new Weather Surveillance Radar - 1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) radars, wind profilers, and automatic weather stations. Most of these systems are now operating in the LSA-E. In addition, mesoscale networks including the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) Illinois Climate Network (ICN) and the Georigia Automated Environmental Monitoring Network are contained within the LSA-E domain.

1.4 Purposes of Document

This document is entitled the Tactical Data Collection and Management Plan for EAOP-98 and is intended to serve two purposes:

(i) A summary of the approach to the data collection efforts during the period of 1 October 1997 through 30 September 1998 in lieu of an operations plan covering this period.

(ii) The data collected during EAOP-98 will provide the basis for the second ESOP dataset from the 5-yr GCIP EOP and is the first GCIP dataset located in the LSA-E region. The EAOP-98 will contain all of the same data types as were collected for ESOP-97 in 1997. Enhancements from local networks will also be available for EAOP-98.

The approach to EAOP-98, a description of the data collected, and how it will be disseminated are described in the remainder of this document.

2. OBJECTIVES AND APPROACH

The research objectives to be achieved from the EAOP-98 datasets are described in the GCIP Major Activities Plan (IGPO, 1995). The purpose of compiling the EAOP-98 dataset is to create the third GCIP ESOP dataset during the GCIP 5-yr EOP which began in October 1995 and it will enable GCIP investigators to conduct focused studies (i.e. coupled model and diagnostic) unique to the LSA-E during the year. The approach taken by the GCIP is to take the maximum advantage of the existing operational observing programs over the continental United States while taking advantage of special collection of higher resolution data. Also, as additional improvements are made to the operational observing systems [i.e. Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) and WSR 88-D] they are incorporated. These operational networks include the traditional meteorological and hydrological networks in addition to WSR-88D radars, wind profilers, ASOS, satellites, and operational model output.

The LSA-E offers several areas suitable for LSA, ISA, and SSA studies. On the LSA and ISA scales there is the Ohio River basin covering Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, the Tennessee River basin over Tennessee, and the state of Illinois with the Illinois Climate Network (ICN). On the ISA to SSA scale there are opportunities in some of the focused study areas within the LSA-E. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) operates the Walker Branch Experimental Watershed. This watershed is about 1 km2 in area and is located adjacent to the Clinch River near Oak Ridge, Tennessee. ORNL maintains and extensive historical (25 year) database for this site. This includes precipitation, streamflow, and continuous eddy flux (H2O and CO2) measurements. There is also the highly instrumented area around Bondville, Illinois which includes an ICN site (with soil moisture measurements, a SURFace RADiation (SURFRAD) measurement site, and it is part of the Environmental Protection Agency wet/dry deposition network. The United States Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service (USDA/ARS) operates three research watersheds that may be useful for ISA/SSA studies. The Goodwin Creek Experimental Watershed is located in northwestern Mississippi. This site is about 21.5 km2 and had 11 years of historical data including an extensive precipitation network, a meteorological station, and streamflow depth and temperature measurements. Goodwin Creek is also the location of a NOAA SURFRAD site. The North Appalachian Experimental Watershed is located in Coshoctan, Ohio. This site is about 425 hectares and also has a precipitation network, a meteorological station, a series of lysimeters, and gaged watersheds. The final USDA/ARS site is the Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Laboratory site in Mahantango, Pennsylvania. This site is about 7.3 km2 and is a subwatershed of the East Mahantango Creek in east-central Pennsylvania. This site has about 30 years of rainfall, runoff, meteorological, and groundwater observation well measurements.

The scientific issues to be focused on during the EAOP-98 include improving the understanding impact of intraseasonal and interannual precipitation and temperature fluctuations on the regional and local hydrometeorology over the LSA-E, determining the factors that influence interannual runoff variability, determining the affect of temporal and spatial patterns of soil moisture on the local and regional energy and water balances and the interannual variability in runoff, examining the issue of whether regional hydrometeorological and land surface processes be scaled with grid size in an area of complex topography (i.e. the LSA-E), how the variability of vegetation (it's spatial patterns, distributions, physiological structure) and the soil-landscape system affect hydrometeorological processes and energy and water budgets, and building working relationships with the applications community that enable the translation of the improved physical understanding of such features into quantitative parameters for economic decision making, among others (Quattrochi 1996)

During EAOP-98 there will be two research projects occurring within the LSA-E, the Lake-Induced Convection Experiment (Lake-ICE) and the Chicago Deicing Experiment

The Lake-ICE is a field project designed to examine the processes, on multiple size scales, by which the atmosphere is modified by low-level sources of heat, moisture, and particles. The objectives of Lake-ICE include measuring the spatial and temporal extents to which the Great Lakes impact wintertime pressure, temperature, wind, humidity, cloud, and precipitation fields, to document the growth of the boundary layer, to document the development and evolution of mesoscale convective structures as the boundary grows and atmospheric conditions are modified by this growth, determine the factors that govern turbulence development and subsequent vertical transports through the boundary layer, and to determine the relationships between cloud condensation nuclei populations and glaciation. Lake-ICE is proposed to take place over Lake Michigan during December 1997 and January 1998.

The Chicago Deicing Experiment is an onsite test and demonstration of new forecasting tools designed to improve winter aviation safety. This project is conducted by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. This project includes a four station mesonet as well as five snow-weighing gages. The project will take place from December 1997 through March 1998.

In summary, EAOP-98 will provide a dataset that: (1) includes atmospheric and hydrological data obtained in a major river basin; (2) includes a hydrologically important time of year (i.e. winter); (3) includes routine operational data as well as special research observing platforms combined for a six month period; and (4) provides quality controlled surface and upper air composite datasets as required by the GCIP EOP.

3. DATA SOURCES AND DATA COLLECTION

The EAOP-98 data can be divided into three major data categories: In situ, satellite, and model. The responsibility in data collection will fall under each module of the GCIP Data Management and Service System (DMSS). Although most of the data sources are operational in nature, special arrangements will be made to obtain these data in the highest resolution possible. Table 3-1 summarizes the individual potential datasets comprising the EAOP-98. A brief description of each dataset is then provided in the following subsections with information regarding data collection, processing, and final archival. Acronyms within the table are defined within each dataset summary section and inAppendix A. For reference the page numbers of the dataset descriptions are included within Table 3-1. Information on dataset dissemination is provided in section 5. As this is a planning document, not all datasets described herein may be collected. Conversely, additional datasets may be discovered at a later date and added. Information on the final EAOP-98 datasets will be provided in the EAOP-98 Tactical Data Collection and Management Report to be published after the data collection phase of EAOP-98 is complete.

______________________________________________________________________________

TABLE 3-1 Datasets comprising the EAOP-98
______________________________________________________________________________

IN-SITU DATA

SATELLITE DATA MODEL OUTPUT