WMOD00425

• Title: Demonstration of Improved Operational Water Resources Management Through Use of Better Snow Water Equivalent Information
• Date: 9/1/2002
• Weather Modification - Doc Type: Report

Basins currently targeted for prototype testing of the SAAIP AA are:

· Several basins in the north-central U.S. from Minnesota to Montana
· Truckee - AHPS tests beginning fiscal year 2001
· Jefferson, Madison, Missouri in the Upper Missouri
· Yakima, Columbia, Umatilla
· Tualatin
· Rogue
. Lower Colorado - Yuma water operations and Lower Colorado River Accounting System
· South Platte

Reclamation water operations partners include: Upper Missouri Basin Water Operations/
Montana Area Office, Tim Felchle; Yakima Project Water OperationslUpper Columbia Area
Office, Warren Sharp; Lower Colorado Water Operations/Yuma Area Office, Robert Adams;
Lower Colorado Water OperationslBoulder Canyon Operations Office, Bruce Williams and Paul
Matuska; Truckee River OperationslLahonton Basin Area Office, Tom Scott; Truckee River
Federal Water Master, Reno, Nevada, Jeff Boyer; Tualatin and Rogue ProjectslBend Field
Office, Kathy Kihara, and Leo Busch.

GClP funded the following projects:

. Use of NEXRAD Radar Snow Accumulation Algorithm in the GClP-Large Scale Area-North
Central (LSA-NC)

. Demonstration of Improved Operational Water Resources Management through Utilization
of Better SWE Information

. Practical Implementation of GClP Research Tools for Water Managers in USBR GP Region

This report summarizes results from these studies that were also leveraged by additional
Reclamation S&T Program funding.

1.2 The WSR-88D Radar, Precipitation Processing Subsystem System, and SAA

During the period 1991-97, approximately 160 WSR-88D radars were installed in the United
States and abroad (Crum et al., 1993). This radar network was a major part of the
modernization of the NWS and was a significant upgrade of the aging conventional radar
network that it replaced. The network was installed and maintained by three Federal agencies-
U.S. Department of Commerce (NWS), U.S. Department of Defense (U.S. Air Force), and
U.S. Department of Transportation (Federal Aviation Administration).

The operational precipitation algorithms within the WSR-88D are collectively known as the
Precipitation Processing Subsystem (PPS). The PPS was described by Fulton et a1. (1998). The
system was designed for rain rather than snow. To meet the need for snowfall estimation by the
NWS and other users, Reclamation responded to a 1994 request for proposals by the WSR-88D
Operational Support Facility (OSF) for a SAA. Reclamation was selected in 1995 to carry out

2.

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