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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Accomplishments: <br /> <br />1. Near real-time NEXRAD radar Level III reflectivity products from the Chanhassen, MN, (KMPX) <br />WSR-88D radar were accessed through a NIDS vendor. <br /> <br />2. Reclamation's Snow Accumulation Algorithm (SAA) was modified to use Level III reflectivities <br />from KMPX as input to the SAA and has been operationally tested. <br /> <br />3. The SAA was modified to provide near real-time SWE estimates with a stand alom~ computer <br />that ingests the Level III data, runs the SAA, displays visual outputs and provides numerical <br />outputs. <br /> <br />4. Software to display the SWE estimates for the past 1 and 3 hours, and sincl3 the beginning of <br />each snow storm, on the same computer used to run the SAA was developed. <br /> <br />5. A means to convert radar SWE estimates from polar coordinates into a gridded field coordinate <br />system specified by NOHRSC was developed. <br /> <br />6. A means to provide gridded fields of radar-estimated SWE to NOHRSC in a timely fashion was <br />developed. <br /> <br />7. Initial work to use special snow gage and airborne SWE observations to better "calibrate" the <br />SAA for the GCIP LSA-NC and LSA-NW regions was begun in thE! 1998-99 wlinter season. <br /> <br />8. Range corrections were added to correct SWE at distances beyond 35 km from the radar. <br /> <br />9. Range corrections with a range dependent Alpha were tested. <br /> <br />10. Seasonally averaged vertical profiles were examined to develop an improved correction <br />method. <br /> <br />11. Results were presented to Reclamation's Upper Missouri Basin water managers and the <br />MBRFC in February 2000 to determine their value in river forecasting. <br /> <br />12. Progress and plans for the integration of this work into Water Resources Management were <br />presented at Reclamation's River Systems Management Workshop in October 1999, and at the <br />American Meteorological Society Second Symposium for Environmental Applications, (Fulp et al <br />2000). <br /> <br />Most of the SAA effort during this reporting period was clone in support of NOAA"s GCIP program. <br /> <br />The following is an overview, based on a presentation, A Demonstration of the Operational Use <br />of Reclamation's NEXRAD Snow Accumulation Algorithm for Estimating Snow Water Equivalent, <br />by Arlin B. Super and Edmond W. Holroyd, III, made at a GCIP confElrence held 17-18 May 1999, <br />at the University of Maryland. <br /> <br />Subsequent work was largely reported by Holroyd (199Sl) in a supplemental report to the NEXRAD <br />Operational Support Facility. The following technical information is extracted from that report. The <br /> <br />2 <br />