A New Soil Moisture Observational Network In Arizona: Design, and Preliminary Results bert Zamora NOAA/ESRL Physical Sciences Division Clark NOAA/NWS Colorado Basin River Forecast Cente ve Brandon NOAA/NWS Western Region Headquarters rty Ralph NOAA/ESRL Physical Sciences Division mothy Schneider NOAA/ESRL Physical Sciences Divisio
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A New Soil Moisture Observational Network In Arizona: Design, and Preliminary Results Robert Zamora NOAA/ESRL Physical Sciences Division Ed Clark NOAA/NWS.
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A New Soil Moisture Observational Network In Arizona: Design, and
Preliminary Results
Robert Zamora NOAA/ESRL Physical Sciences DivisionEd Clark NOAA/NWS Colorado Basin River Forecast Center Dave Brandon NOAA/NWS Western Region HeadquartersMarty Ralph NOAA/ESRL Physical Sciences DivisionTimothy Schneider NOAA/ESRL Physical Sciences Division
• Vitel Stevens Hydra Probe (BOC) • Campbell Scientific 107 Temperature Probe• 2.0 m Air Temperature and Relative Humidity• Texas Electronics Tipping Bucket Rain Gauge• Probe Depths (5, 10, 20, 50, 100 cm)• 2.0 or 5.0 minute averages transmitted every
hour by land line or GOES (Convective events are of the most interest)
Deployment
ReflectometersTemperature Probes
TDR Calibration
15 20 25 30 35 40R e fle cto m e te r p e rio d in m icro se co n d s
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H eald sb u rg , C A
Campbell 0.5 dSm-1
USGS1.0 dSm-1
7/18/08 7/20/08 7/22/08 7/24/08 7/26/08T im e (U TC )
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60S
oil V
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ater
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m)
VW C 5.0 cm
VW C 10.0 cm
VW C 15.0 cm
VW C 20.0 cm
VW C 50.0 cm
Cum ulative Rainfa ll
W hetstone, AZ
NWS BABA3Nearest Gauge to Whetstone Site
NWS BABA3Nearest Gauge to Whetstone Site
A closer look at the infiltration
• The soil moisture observations captured the movement of rainfall as it penetrated deeper into the soil.
• The water takes ~ 20 minutes to move from the surface to 50 cm depth in the nearly saturated layer.
12:00 14:00 16:00 18:00 20:00 22:00 0:00 2:00 4:00 6:00 8:00 10:00 12:00T im e (U TC )
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ater
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tent
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infa
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m)
V W C 5.0 cm
V W C 10.0 cm
V W C 15.0 cm
V W C 20.0 cm
V W C 50.0 cm
C um ulative R a infa ll
W hetstone, A rizona
Ju ly 23
CBRFC Simulated Soil Moisture for 23 July, 2008
• Simulated soil moisture values have a dry bias.• Observed values appear to have a wet bias
based on USGS field capacity estimates in the San Pedro River Basin.
7/18/08 7/20/08 7/22/08 7/24/08 7/26/08T im e (U TC )
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ain
fall
(mm
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VW C 5.0 cm
VW C 10.0 cm
VW C 15.0 cm
VW C 20.0 cm
VW C 50.0 cm
Cum ulative Rainfa ll
W hetstone, AZ
• Without radar bias corrections the MPE significantly underestimated the amount of precipitation input to the RDHM.
Max MPE Over Whetstone ~ 0.75”
Observed at Whetstone ~ 1.29”
Summary
• Active monsoon period over four days (19-24 Jul 2008)• ~100 mm (4 inches) of rain fell in four storms• Evidence of gradual moistening to greater depths over time• After a 2-day delay for the rain from the first storm to reach
50 cm, the stream response to the next storm occurred within 1 h
• A significant runoff event was associated with this storm; streamflow went from near zero to 3500 cfs, and flow exceeded 5 feet in depth, i.e., a flash flood occurred
• Preliminary results suggest that the soil moisture observations will play an important role in the evaluation and development of the NWS hydrological models
Future Plans
• Begin ingesting the PSD precipitation data into the RDHM at CBRFC. Handbook 5 ID’s soon
• Evaluate the CBRFC simulated soil moisture products with the PSD observations.
• Examine the heterogeneity of precipitation and soil moisture in the Upper Babocomari using the three HRAP scale stations: Black Oak Cemetery, Canelo and Freeman Spring.