ARS | Publication request: A long-term data set for hydrologic modeling in a snow-dominated mountain catchment

Submitted to: Water Resources Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: June 16, 2011
Publication Date: July 30, 2011
Citation: Reba, M.L., Marks, D.G., Seyfried, M.S., Winstral, A.H., Kumar, M., Flerchinger, G.N. 2011. A long-term data set for hydrologic modeling in a snow-dominated mountain catchment. Water Resources Research. DOI: 10.1029/2010WR010030.

Interpretive Summary: This paper presents the most comprehensive and carefully crafted model forcing data for a snow dominated mountain catchment available to the hydrologic community. These data include 25 water years of hourly measurements of precipitation, wind, solar and thermal radiation, air and soil temperature, and humidity for a pair of sites; one wind-protected by terrain and a grove of aspen and fir, and the other on a wind-exposed sagebrush-dominated ridge. These sites generally represent the two primary land cover types in the area, and data from them represent the range of hydro-meteorological conditions found in this mountain environment. GIS data provided include information on topography, catchment outline and drainage area, vegetation, soils, geology, stream channels, roads, and measurement site locations. Collectively, these data offer 25 water years of detailed hydrometeorological information for a mountain catchment at a level of detail that is unprecedented. They provide all of the information required for developing and testing, snow and hydrologic models. It is hoped, that findings from the use of this modeling data set by the watershed science community will lead to innovation in hydrologic modeling and will improve our understanding of basin-scale snow-dominated mountain hydrology.

Technical Abstract: An hourly modeling data set is presented for the water years 1984 through 2008 for a snow-dominated headwater catchment. Meteorological forcing data and GIS watershed characteristics are described and provided. The meteorological data are measured at two sites within the catchment, and include precipitation, wind speed and direction, air and soil temperature, relative humidity, dew point temperature, and incoming solar and thermal radiation. Our objective is to provide high quality data to develop, test and apply hydrdologic models over snow-dominated mountain catchments. These data are available from the USDA, Northwest Watershed Research Center, Boise, Idaho, USA, via anonymous ftp: ftp://ftp.nwrc.ars.usda.gov/public/RME_25yr_database/.