Hydrometeorology Testbed Program

  • Iowa Flood Center map of Iowa showing instrumentation

Hydrometeorology Testbed Program

Sponsor:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Team:

Witold Krajewski and Bong Chul Seo

Award:

$251,357

Location:

All 99 counties in Iowa

Services provided by IFC:

The Iowa Flood Center (IFC) will improve NOAA weather forecasts and water/flood services for the public by validating and evaluating new statistical forecasting methods to better understand forecast errors and skills. The goal is to improve streamflow forecasting nationwide.

“The Iowa Flood Center is proud to support the National Weather Service’s Weather-Ready Nation initiative. This investigation is just one facet of our efforts.” —Witold Krajewski

Project Description:

This project seeks to improve NOAA’s weather and water services for the public. IFC researchers will validate new methods to improve flood monitoring and forecasting. In addition, they will evaluate hydrologic forecasts to better understand forecast errors and skills, with the goal of improving streamflow forecasting nationwide.

IFC researchers will study the sources of forecasting skills and uncertainty. The study will be limited to the state of Iowa, where the IFC has developed a significant observational and modeling infrastructure, including a fully automated distributed real-time streamflow forecasting model for more than 1,000 communities. The IFC’s work complements the services provided by the NWS offices in the area. The IFC maintains close collaborative ties with the NWS and shares model forecasts as well as streamflow data from 240 locations.