National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center, National Weather Service, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce
Data Center Description
http://www.nohrsc.nws.gov/
The National Operational Hydrological Remote Sensing Center (NOHRSC) creates
and distributes a variety of products that use remotely sensed data in support
of the hydrologic services mission of the National Weather Service (NWS). The
NWS issues river and flood forecasts for the Nation and provides
hydrometeorological data and products to support the Nation's water resources
managers. The most widely used Center products estimate snow cover properties
with data collected by airborne and satellite sensors. The Center operates two
terrestrial gamma radiation detection systems on low-flying aircraft to infer
snow water equivalent over a network of more than 1600 flight lines covering
portions of 25 states and 7 Canadian provinces.
Additionally, analysts use image data from the Advanced Very High Resolution
Radiometer (AVHRR) on the NOAA polar orbiting satellites and image data from
the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) to digitally map
areal extent of snow cover for over 4000 river basins in the U.S. (including
Alaska) and in Canada. The Center distributes these satellite-based snow cover
products weekly for regions covering 2/3 of the U.S. and Canada where snow
cover is a significant hydrologic variable. The remotely sensed hydrology
products are distributed electronically, in near real-time, to NWS and non-NWS
end-users in both alphanumeric and image format. Field hydrologists at the NWS
River Forecast Centers and other Federal, state, and private agencies use the
airborne snow water equivalent data and satellite areal extent of snow cover
data operationally when issuing spring flood outlooks, water supply outlooks,
river and flood forecasts, and reservoir inflow forecasts for the country.
The Center has recently developed the capability to generate and to distribute,
in near real time, raster (or grid-cell) snow water equivalent data sets using:
(1) ground-based point snow water equivalent data, (2) airborne flight line snow
water equivalent data, (3) satellite areal extent of snow cover data, (4)
digital elevation data, and (5) forest canopy cover data sets. Although the
Center exists primarily to generate and to distribute regular, operational,
remotely sensed hydrology products, it also provides support to various
inter-agency research programs and develops new products to meet specific
requirements of its users. Each summer, the Center distributes to end-users a
CD-ROM that contains the previous season's airborne and satellite snow data.
In the future, the Center will further develop and refine the remotely sensed
hydrology products to incorporate information contained in the Next Generation
Radar (NEXRAD) data sets and in Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I)
satellite data sets. These and other data sets provided by future remote
sensing technologies will be incorporated into operational, real-time,
hydrology products. All of the remotely sensed estimates of parameters
affecting the Nation's water resources are being fully integrated into NWS
plans for an enhanced Water Resources Forecasting System (WARFS).
Contact: Thomas R. Carroll
Director
National Operational Hydrological Remote Sensing Center
Office of Hydrology
6301 - 34th Avenue South, Room 112
Minneapolis, MN 55450-2985
USA
Phone: (612) 325-3039
Phone: FTS 725-3039
Phone: FAX (612) 725-3338
See: http://www.nohrsc.nws.gov/
Ordering/Price Policy:
Products are available at cost from the NOHRSC.
Available Distribution Media:
Data are available from NOHRSC on-line as well as off-line: CD-ROM, hardcopy,
and magnetic media.
