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<br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />1. INTRODUCTION <br /> <br />1.1 Background, Purpose, and Goals - Water Resources Management Applications <br /> <br />The Bureau of Reclamation's (Reclamation) water management engineers continue to learn more <br />about emerging technologies that the Global Energy and Water Cycles Experiment (GEWEX) <br />Continental-Scale International Program (GCIP) has sponsored since 1995. Reclamation's <br />partnership with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office of Global <br />Programs (OGP) began with a jointly sponsored Water Resources Management Applications <br />Workshop, held March 13-14, 1997. This was the first opportunity for Reclamation engineers to <br />meet with GCIP scientists to discuss needs and potential applications of GCIP tools. Over <br />30 scientists and engineers met to discuss needs of water managers and water-related GCIP <br />research. Most of Reclamation's regional water operations teams were represented at the <br />meeting. This meeting set the stage for a dialogue among these water operations managers, <br />GCIP, and National Weather Service (NWS) forecast teams. <br /> <br />The goals of this study were to: (1) to demonstrate a significant improvement in the technology <br />used to estimate snow water equivalent (SWE) distributions without requiring instrumentation in <br />addition to that already deployed and (2) to demonstrate benefits to Reclamation from improved <br />streamflow forecasting resulting from better SWE information and emerging new NOAA hydro- <br />logic prediction schemes. Knowledge and trust are the foundations for increased awareness and <br />confidence in new research tools that are emerging for water managers from the GCIP program. <br />Reclamation's engineers recognize that verification is essential to building trust. We attended <br />workshops and meetings where Reclamation shared its needs and GCIP experts provided <br />technical reviews of their research studies and products that may have value to water managers. <br />This final report details progress since 1997 toward developing Snow Accumulation Algorithm <br />(SAA) and Precipitation Accumulation Algorithm (P AA) tests and helping our managers better <br />understand and eventually use streamflow forecasts enhanced by near-real-time precipitation data <br />estimated by radar. Such streamflow forecasts are critical elements in the decision processes of <br />water management, and precipitation is the most elusive, yet important, variable within these <br />forecasts. <br /> <br />The partnership between the GCIP project and Reclamation's Science and Technology (S&T) <br />Program has fostered the development, testing, and improvement of the Weather Surveillance <br />Radar - 1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) SAA and PAA for precipitation estimation. In 2000, <br />Reclamation's S&T Program leveraged the GCIP efforts to improve communications and clarify <br />specific forecasting needs to improve streamflow forecasts in the upper Missouri Basin. <br />Meetings with Reclamation's upper Missouri water managers and the Missouri Basin River <br />Forecast Center (MBRFC) resulted in the MBRFC Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Services <br />(AHPS) Demonstration Project. These AHPS streamflow forecasts are experimental and under <br />evaluation. These forecasts use ensemble streamflow forecasts that have' benefited from GCIP <br />and AHPS research; however, they lack operational reservoir and diversion interfaces that would <br />make them true operational forecasts. <br />