# Presentation: 529938

## Hydrology at the National Center for Atmospheric Research:A Natural Collaborator for NCHS

- Larry Winter
- NCAR
- September 8, 2005
- lwinter@ucar.edu
- 1-303-497-1108

## UCAR  a non-profit corporation formed in 1959 to serve the atmospheric and related science and education community

- UCAR  *a non-profit corporation formed in 1959 to serve the atmospheric and related science and education community*

**The UCAR mission**
- 	***to support, enhance, and extend the capabilities of the university community, nationally and internationally; to understand the behavior of the atmosphere and related systems and the global environment; and to foster the transfer of knowledge and technology for the betterment of life on earth.***

## University of Alabama in Huntsville
University of Alaska
University at Albany, 
	State University of New York
University of Arizona
Arizona State University
California Institute of Technology
University of California, Davis
University of California, Irvine
University of California, Los Angeles
University of Chicago
Colorado State University
University of Colorado at Boulder
Cornell University
University of Denver
Drexel University
Florida State University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Harvard University
University of Hawaii
Howard University
University of Illinois 
	at Urbana-Champaign
University of Iowa
Iowa State University
The Johns Hopkins University
University of Maryland
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

**University of Alaska**
**University at Albany, **
**	****State University of New York**
**University of Arizona**
**Arizona State University**
**California Institute of Technology**
**University of California, Davis**
**University of California, Irvine**
**University of California, Los Angeles**
**University of Chicago**
**Colorado State University**
**University of Colorado at Boulder**
**Cornell University**
**University of Denver**
**Drexel University**
**Florida State University**
**Georgia Institute of Technology**
**Harvard University**
**University of Hawaii**
**Howard University**
**University of Illinois **
**	****at Urbana-Champaign**
**University of Iowa**
**Iowa State University**
**The Johns Hopkins University**
**University of Maryland**
**Massachusetts Institute of Technology**

**University of Texas at Austin**
**Texas Tech University**
**University of Toronto**
**Utah State University**
**University of Utah**
**University of Virginia **
**University of Washington **
**Washington State University**
**University of Wisconsin- Madison**
**University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee**
**Woods Hole Oceanographic **
**	****Institution **
**University of Wyoming**
**Yale University**
**York University**

**McGill University**
**University of Miami**
**University of Michigan-Ann Arbor**
**University of Minnesota**
**University of Missouri**
**Naval Postgraduate School**
**University of Nebraska, Lincoln **
**University and Community College **
**	****System of Nevada**
**University of New Hampshire, Durham**
**New Mexico Institute of **
**	****Mining and Technology**
**New York University**
**North Carolina State University**
**The Ohio State University**
**University of Oklahoma**
**Old Dominion University**
**Oregon State University**
**Pennsylvania State University**
**Princeton University**
**Purdue University**
**University of Rhode Island**
**Rice University**
**Rutgers University**
**Saint Louis University**
**Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD**
**Stanford University**
**Texas A & M University**

- UCAR** **Members

## NCAR Overview

- NCAR is a federally funded research and development center of NSF. Together with our partners at universities and other research centers, we are dedicated to exploring and understanding our atmosphere and its interactions with the Sun, the oceans, **the terrestrial hydrosphere**, the biosphere, and human society.
- Sponsored by the NSF
- Size: ~900
- Funding: $150M/yr
- Founded: 1960

**NSF**
- 60%
- $88

## National Center for Atmospheric Research 

**National Center for Atmospheric Research**

## Institution Rankings in the GeosciencesSorted by Papers – February 2004

| RANKING | INSTITUTION | PAPERS |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Russian Academy of Science | 9,967 |
| 2 | NASA | 5,063 |
| 3 | NOAA | 4,017 |
| 4 | US Geological Survey | 3,848 |
| 5 | University of Colorado | 2,927 |
| 6 | Chinese Academy of Science | 2,716 |
| 7 | University of Washington | 2,526 |
| 8 | NCAR | 2,429 |
| 9 | CALTECH | 2,426 |
| 10 | CNRS | 2,157 |

*Data courtesy of ISI Essential Science Indicators**TM** – Powered by ISI Web of Knowledge**TM*

**Institution Rankings in the Geosciences****Sorted by Papers – February 2004**

## Institution Rankings in the GeosciencesSorted by Citations – February 2004

| RANKING | INSTITUTION | CITATIONS |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | NASA | 81,064 |
| 2 | NOAA | 66,900 |
| 3 | NCAR | 47,800 |
| 4 | University of Washington | 45,670 |
| 5 | US Geological Survey | 44,980 |
| 6 | University of Colorado | 44,690 |
| 7 | Columbia University | 39,737 |
| 8 | CALTECH | 36,053 |
| 9 | Woods Hole Institute of Oceanography | 31,914 |
| 10 | University of California,San Diego | 30,588 |

*Data courtesy of ISI Essential Science Indicators**TM** – Powered by ISI Web of Knowledge**TM*

**Institution Rankings in the Geosciences****Sorted by Citations – February 2004**

## Hydrology at NCAR: A Critical Related Science

- Basic atmospheric research
-  Precipitation at regional and local scales
-  Horizontal routing
-  Initiation
-  Freshwater input to oceans
- Support for policy and decision makers
-  Flooding
-  Drought
-  Energy and climate
-  Wildland fire
-  Earth system management

## Hydrology at NCAR: Current Activities

- Small staff focused on key areas
- Modeling
- Precipitation
- Water Cycle Initiative
- Understand and improve prediction of the diurnal cycle of precipitation using models and observations
- $640K/yr
- North American Monsoon Experiment (NAME)
- Surface rain gauge network in western Mexico and southwestern US
- Hydrologic Sciences Project
- Collaborations and leveraging

## Water Cycle Initiative

- Predicting precipitation using models and observations

- Key Areas of Research
-  Precipitation on a continental scale
-  Cloud systems simulation
-  Water vapor and warm season convection
-  Land-surface hydrology

- http://www.rap.ucar.edu/projects/watercycles

## Water Cycle Initiative: Land-surface Hydrology

- Water Cycle Initiative: Land-surface Hydrology

**Goals:**
- Improve knowledge of land-surface processes and land-atmosphere interaction
- Improve our ability to predict such processes.

- Enhance the Intl H20 Proj (IHOP) Surface Flux Observation Network by measuring:
-  Soil moisture/temperature profile
-  Soil thermal/hydraulic properties
-  Vegetation characteristics
-    at nine NCAR surface stations
- Critical role of modeling

- OSU NOAH Land Surface Model
- NCAR MM5

## Hydrologic Sciences Project

- To respond to our nation’s need for a systematic approach to earth system modeling, NCAR will initiate a Hydrological Sciences Program (HSP).  The basis of the HSP will be **increased collaborations with the hydrologic community**.  This partnership can build on the great scientific talents and emerging organizational strengths of the hydrologic community. The HSP will **augment NCAR’s current capabilities** by drawing on the larger hydrologic science community through **workshops, faculty and student exchanges, and joint scientific projects**.  In some cases this will mean contributing resources to support visitors, joint post-docs and students who come to NCAR to supplement their hydrologic expertise with familiarity with the atmospheric sciences; in others it will mean sending NCAR scientists to other institutions where they can gain insight into the concerns and methods of hydrology. The HSP will **coordinate partnerships** between NCAR and this vital community.  The HSP will be a center for developing the deep understanding of interactions among the atmosphere, the oceans, human systems and hydrology that will be needed as we learn to **manage Earth’s future**.
**-- Draft NCAR Strategic Plan, 2005**

## HSP-NCHS Goals

- Joint projects that support each other’s science and education missions
- Activities housed within jointly-defined Integrated Research Areas
- workshops
- working groups
- post-doctoral and doctoral scholars
- visiting scientist appointments
- A core working group will identify and define joint IRA topics
- Initially, 4 representatives from each of NCAR and NCHS
- NCAR’s deputy director and NCHS director will be ex-officio members of the core group
- Identify procedures for getting NCHS researchers involved in on-going NCAR research projects requiring hydrology expertise and vice versa
- NCHS “East” office at NCAR