NOAA’s NWS and the USGS: Partnering to Meet America’s Water Information Needs

Ernie WellsHydrologic Services DivisionNOAA National Weather ServiceMay 2, 2014

Complimentary Missions

• NOAA's NWS provides weather, hydrologic, and climate forecasts and warnings… for the protection of life and property… and enhancement of the national economy.

• The USGS… provides reliable scientific information to describe and understand the Earth, minimize loss of life and property from natural disasters, manage water…

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• On average, over the past 30 years in the U.S., flooding has caused over 90 deaths and damages in excess of $8 billion annually

• Floods occur in all 50 states •Threat all months of the year

Socioeconomic Impacts

USGS Data Vital to NWS Operations

USGS data critical to the NWS river forecast and warning mission include:

•Real-time and historical stream gage observations •Real-time supplementary stream observations during flood events•Rating curves relating flow to stage

HydrologicModeling

Radar Data

River Gage Data

Snow

PrecipitationForecasts

ReservoirReleases Diversion

PrecipitationEstimates

Satellite Data

TemperatureForecasts

Hydrologic Forecasting

Serving America Together

NWS Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) Products rely on USGS data

http://weather.gov/

USGS Streamgage Observations

Serving America Togetherhttp://water.weather.gov/

USGS Streamgage observations serve as foundation for NWS river forecasts and warnings

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Observe, monitor, detect, forecast and generate warning

Disseminate warning

Respond

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The Warning Process

Growing Water Challenges

• Population growth and economic development are stressing water supplies and increasing vulnerability

• A changing climate is impacting water availability and quality, increasing uncertainty

• An aging water infrastructure is forcing critical, expensive decisions

• Socio-economic risks of floods and droughts are escalating

Blue Gold, “The New Oil”

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WATER SECURITY HYPOXIA

HYDROLOGIC EXTREMES11

Grand Challenges

Framework to align and leverage multiple agencies with complimentary water-related missions to:

•Integrate services and service delivery

•Improve river and flood forecasts

•Provide new summit-to-sea water resources analyses and forecasts

ROADMAPDOCUMENT(2009)

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Expanding our PartnershipIntegrated Water Resources Science and Services (IWRSS)

www.nohrsc.noaa.gov

Snowpack

Precipitation

Soil Moisture

Evapotranspiration

Groundwater

River flow

Surface Storage

Water Quality

Watershed – to – National Information

Proposed Summit-to-Sea Water Resources Products

Local Information (<1 km2)

Pilot Snowpack Products

Snowfall

Snow Depth

Water Content

Snow Cover Temperature

Snowmelt

Past Present FutureUSGS WaterSMARTInitiative

IWRSS Forecasts

New Digital Information Products

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Flood Inundation Mapping and Analysis

Simulated flood for rise of 7.4 feetBlanchard River near Findlay OH 

http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood inundation/

New Digital Information Products