Features

• Presents an overview of the past, current and future remote sensing observations of the precipitation, soil moisture, evapotranspiration and total water storage
• Reviews the various applications of remote sensing in hydrological/land surface/climate modeling and Ensemble Square Root Filter (EnSRF) data assimilation
• Demonstrates techniques to help reduce devastating disasters triggered by hydrological hazards such as floods and landslides
• Explains how remote sensing, modeling and data assimilation can be utilized to improve societal resilience and environmental sustainability
• Shows how to create real-time flood and drought monitoring systems

Summary

Environmental remote sensing plays a critical role in observing key hydrological components such as precipitation, soil moisture, evapotranspiration and total water storage on a global scale. As water security is one of the most critical issues in the world, satellite remote sensing techniques are of particular importance for emerging regions which have inadequate in-situ gauge observations. This book reviews multiple remote sensing observations, the application of remote sensing in hydrological modeling, data assimilation and hydrological capacity building in emerging regions.

https://www.crcpress.com/Hydrologic-Remote-Sensing-Capacity-Building-for-Sustainability-and-Resilience/Hong-Zhang-Khan/p/book/9781498726665

Features

• Presents an overview of the past, current and future remote sensing observations of the precipitation, soil moisture, evapotranspiration and total water storage
• Reviews the various applications of remote sensing in hydrological/land surface/climate modeling and Ensemble Square Root Filter (EnSRF) data assimilation
• Demonstrates techniques to help reduce devastating disasters triggered by hydrological hazards such as floods and landslides
• Explains how remote sensing, modeling and data assimilation can be utilized to improve societal resilience and environmental sustainability
• Shows how to create real-time flood and drought monitoring systems

Summary

Environmental remote sensing plays a critical role in observing key hydrological components such as precipitation, soil moisture, evapotranspiration and total water storage on a global scale. As water security is one of the most critical issues in the world, satellite remote sensing techniques are of particular importance for emerging regions which have inadequate in-situ gauge observations. This book reviews multiple remote sensing observations, the application of remote sensing in hydrological modeling, data assimilation and hydrological capacity building in emerging regions.

Congratulations to Manabendra Saharia, CEES/ARRC PhD student, for winning the second prize in the oral presentation category of the 2016 Student Research and Creativity Day held in University of Oklahoma, Norman, March 4, 2016.
Congratulations to graduate student and PhD candidate Race Clark (OU/CIMMS) for winning the McNair’s Choice award for his poster in the Science A category of the 2016 Student Research and Creativity Day held in University of Oklahoma, Norman, March 4, 2016.

Research highlights:
A team of researchers led by Ke Zhang, Yang Hong, and Jonathan Gourley recently discovered that Global Vegetation Greening, combined with Climate Change, Promote Multi-decadal Rises of Global Land Evapotranspiration, accelerating global water cycles and potential regional drought risks. The findings were published on Nature Publishing Group Scientific Report magazine’s website (http://www.nature.com/articles/srep15956/).

The research team first generated a long-term global satellite record of land evapotranspiration using remote sensing satellite data since 1982. They investigated multi-decadal changes looking at trends between 1982 and 2013. In addition to global evapotranspiration trends, they examined vegetation greenness and general climate data including temperature, precipitation and cloudiness. Collectively, results show that during the past 32 years general increasing trends in both plant growth and evaporation with recent climate change mainly driven by vegetation greening and rising atmosphere moisture deficits. The study predicts that a continuation of these trends will likely exacerbate regional drought-induced disturbances, especially during regional dry climate phases associated with strong El Nino events.

Figure: (a) Annual anomalies of global land ET, global land air temperature and vegetation index NDVI from 1982 to 2013. A multivariate ENSO index, MEI, is shown with vertical color shading intensity. (b) Multi-decade spatial pattern of global land ET trends from 1982 to 2013.

On Wednesday, July 16, 2014, HWT-Hydro received a visit from NOAA Deputy Under Secretary Vice Adm. Michael S. Devany and National Weather Service Director Dr. Louis W. Uccellini. They were visiting Norman to see how research-to-operations (R2O) activities are conducted within the various NOAA units housed in the National Weather Center. Both officials discussed the ongoing efforts to align research activities at NSSL with the operational needs of the NWS. Dr. Uccellini described methods of easing the eventual R2O transition of the FLASH suite of forecast tools with the experiment’s principal investigator, Dr. JJ Gourley. Dr. Gourley also took the opportunity to explain how the various components of the FLASH product suite work in unison to give forecasters a view of heavy precipitation and flooding issues. Vice Adm. Devany and Dr. Uccellini visited during the middle of an experimental forecasting shift, where week 2 HWT-Hydro participants were monitoring potential flash flooding impacts in the High Plains and the Intermountain West. Week 2 participants are Britt Westergard (NWS Albany NY), Laura Belanger (NWS Peachtree City GA), Amanda Schroeder (NWS Fort Worth TX), and Jeff Waldstreicher (NWS Eastern Region).

Experimental activities have also attracted the attention of local media in central Oklahoma. Oklahoma City’s Fox affiliate, KOKH, aired a story about the experiment on Thursday, July 10. The KOKH story is available here: http://www.okcfox.com/story/25990371/forecasters-test-technology-to-better-predict-flash-floods.

Dr. JJ Gourley explains the HWT-Hydro experiment to NWS Director Dr. Louis Uccellini and NOAA Deputy Under Secretary Vice Adm. Michael Devany

After 4 weeks the inaugural HWT-Hydro Experiment has come to a close. During the month of July, we welcomed 17 total participants from NWS offices across the United States. Both the participants and the experiment coordinators took every opportunity to share ideas and knowledge in an effort to improve communication between the research and operational portions of the weather enterprise. Our weekly “Tales from the Testbed” webinars were well-attended, averaging between 20 and 30 remote NWS offices each week. Many of us have made plans to stay in touch and some of us will see each other again as soon as the NWS Flash Flood Summit in September, when the conversation about flash flood observations, forecasting, and modeling will broaden to include all of the National Weather Service’s partners across the US. We recommend watching this space for further news about this year’s experiment, including preliminary results. An overview of the experiment will be presented at the National Weather Association&amp’s annual meeting in Salt Lake City, UT in October. The FLASH research group has also submitted five HWT-Hydro-related abstracts to the 2015 AMS Annual Meeting which will be held in Phoenix, AZ in January.

Now let’s look back at the people who made the last four weeks possible. Thank you all!

Week 1 participants and staff (L to R, back row): Brandon, David, Chris, Steve, Zac, Jess, and Elizabeth; (L to R, front row): Jonathan, Mike, and Race

Week 2 participants and staff (L to R): Steve, Brandon, Race, Britt, Laura, Amanda, Zac, and Jess

Week 3 participants and staff (L to R): Ami, Brandon, Race, J.J., Greg, Steve, Jeff, Scott L., Scott W., Zac, and Tony

Week 4 participants and staff (L to R): Steve, Tom, Brandon, Jess, Chris, Elizabeth, Jennifer, J.J., Race, Zac, and Ray

More details in this link.

Dr. Yang Hong, ARRC/CEES faculty member and head of the HyDROS Lab at the National Weather Center, has been voted as Chair-elect of the International Professionals for the Advancement of Chinese Earth Sciences (IPACES). Established in 1999, IPACES is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to advance earth sciences research and education in China, and to promote scientific collaborations between China and the rest of the world. Membership in IPACES is by invitation only with current members either tenured professors at U.S. universities or senior scientists at national laboratories. IPACES is among the largest Chinese overseas think tanks currently advising the Chinese government and universities on science, education, research and development. Congratulations Yang!