Soil moisture data collection and water supply forecasting
Date
2004-10
Authors
Julander, Randall P., author
Perkins, Tom, author
U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract
Extreme deviations in hydroclimatic conditions are a source of considerable error in statistical water supply forecast models. Much attention has been given over the past years to the relationship between snowpack, precipitation and streamflow (Martinec, 1975, Hawley, et al. 1980, McCuen, 1993). These relationships tend to vary in strength, but in large part have been satisfactory for water supply forecasting purposes. Increased demands on water resources have led to crises in water management and ways are being sought to improve water supply forecasting. Many other hydroclimatic variables such as soil moisture are implicit in these statistical relationships. As long as these variables (soil moisture) remain proportional to the independent variables (snowpack, precipitation, etc.) in the forecasting relationship, then the model will be stable. If there is some amount of disproportion, then the model will most likely produce significant error. Such a case in northern Utah is presented with a limited database. The success of this instrumentation has led to a broader scale application with the goal of complete soil moisture and temperature sensor installations at all SNOTEL sites system wide. Currently, soil moisture data are being incorporated into water supply forecasting in an analog method with some success.
Description
Presented during the USCID water management conference held on October 13-16, 2004 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The theme of the conference was "Water rights and related water supply issues."