NRCS National Water and Climate Center

1. NRCS National Water and Climate Center Bruce Newton Acting Director National Water Quality Monitoring Council Meeting December 8, 2003

2. Mission • Snow survey and water supply forecasting • Soil Climate Analysis Network • Climate data for conservation planning • Technical tools and support for: • hydrology • nutrients, pesticides, animal waste, water quality • air quality • irrigation and water management

3. Locations and staffing Amherst, 2 staff Great Falls, MT Portland, 33 staff Beltsville, 6 staff West Lafayette Ft. Collins Durham, NC Lafayette, LA

4. Snow Survey&Water Supply Forecasting

5. Snow Survey / Water Supply Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fightin’ over.- Mark Twain • 50-80% of useable water derives from mountain snowpack. Snowpack highly variable year to year. • Snow monitoring and water supply forecasts are essential to the western economy

6. Snow Survey / Water Supply • Users of NRCS data and forecasts: • irrigation districts and farmers • hydroelectric utilities • reservoir operators • flood managers • disaster management agencies • wildfire managers • recreation interests

7. Snow Survey / Water Supply • 709 Locations • 12 States • Jan-Jun • 11,411 Forecasts

8. Manual Snow Survey

9. Manual Snow Survey • 1100 sampling sites • Sampled 2 - 4 times a year • NRCS field office staff and many cooperators • Majority are candidates for automation

10. Remote Stations (SNOTEL)

11. Remote Stations (SNOTEL) • 702 stations in 12 States • approximately 10 new stations added per year • located in high elevation mountainous areas • three communication master stations relay data to NWCC Data Center

13. Wind Solar Radiation Air Temp Relative Humidity Snow Depth Snow Water Equivalent

15. Snow Survey / Water Supply • Resource investment: • 61 full time NRCS staff • 22 at NWCC • 39 at State level • Additional staff on part time basis • Portland Data Center • Electronics Maintenance Facility • Equipment investment of $30 million (replacement cost)

16. Data Center Operations

17. Data Center Operations • Major data center within NRCS configuration responsible for snow survey and climate data systems • 900,000 monitoring observations per week incoming • 24/7 operation • System is classified mission-critical by Department

18. Data Center Operations • Resource investments • seven NRCS staff dedicated to IT • we use programming services contracts • expenditures for hardware, software, and operations run one million dollars per year.

19. User access - March

20. New Usage Measure • Counting web hits and FTP downloads is flawed • Developed a new measure narrowly focused on user access to snow survey data and forecasts • For FY03 there were 3.9 million user accesses

21. Current Priorities and Strategic Issues

22. FY04 Priorities • Upgrade SNOTEL stations • replace obsolete station transceivers and data loggers • soil moisture and other sensors • Data Center software and products • Pilot test short-term forecasting • Expand staffing as resources allow • Improve data QA

23. Strategic Issues • Short-term streamflow forecasting • issue short-term discharge forecasts in addition to current seasonal volume forecasts • System automation • replace manual snow courses with SNOTEL stations

24. Short-term forecasting • supplement seasonal volume forecast with short-term discharge forecast • peaks; onset of low-flow • currently forecasting 29 basins in MT • 2-week forecast • issued weekly

25. Short-term forecasting • major resources implications • pilot project • various models • various potential partnerships • NWS • State agencies

26. System automation • about 40% of the snow survey system is automated • forecast accuracy improved • important for short-term forecasting

27. SCAN Soil Climate Analysis Network

28. SCAN • Climate and soil moisture monitoring to • support farm operations (planting, waste spreading, irrigation scheduling) • improve drought assessment and flood forecasting • to advance scientific knowledge of soil hydrology and climate relationships

29. SCAN • Stations located in low elevation agricultural areas • Joint with National Soil Survey Center • Expanding primarily through cooperator funding • Utilizes the SNOTEL infrastructure for design, equipment, data management, user access to data

30. SCAN • Principle cooperators: • USDA World Agricultural Outlook Board, ARS, FS • Land Grant Universities • State Climatologist Offices • Regional Climate Centers • Principle users: • local farmers • WAOB • researchers • State climatologists • Weather Service

31. SCAN • Currently 85 stations in 41 States • Demand for new stations to be paid for by partners exceeds our ability to install and maintain them • Greatest need is for technician-level staff and data QA analysts

32. SCAN

33. Climate Services

34. Climate Services • Climate is a major factor in natural resources management • Climate data are used extensively by our conservationists and partners in planning • Our role is to coordinate research, obtain data, complete value-added analyses, and make information easily accessible to resource professionals

35. Climate Services • Provide expertise, analyses, and data for • wetland determination • county soil surveys • water supply forecasting • air quality assessments • erosion estimation • crop planning and risk assessment • water quality models

36. PRISM World recognized technology to analyze and map climate using GIS

37. Ag. Climatology Work with other agencies to develop climate information and improve accessibility • climate generator for modeling • serially complete data sets • wind data analysis for air quality • Internet-based access and analysis of climate data (ACIS)

39. Technology Support

40. Technology Support Water Quality Animal waste engineering Nutrient management Pest management Hydrology Air Quality Irrigation and Water Management

41. Thanks!