| NSF Org: |
EAR Division Of Earth Sciences |
| Recipient: |
|
| Initial Amendment Date: | March 11, 2013 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | March 11, 2013 |
| Award Number: | 1327830 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Thomas Torgersen
EAR Division Of Earth Sciences GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | March 1, 2013 |
| End Date: | February 28, 2014 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $48,570.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $48,570.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
|
| History of Investigator: |
|
| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
105 JESSUP HALL IOWA CITY IA US 52242-1316 (319)335-2123 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
|
| Primary Place of Performance: |
2 Gilmore Hall Iowa City IA US 52242-1320 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
|
| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
|
| Parent UEI: |
|
| NSF Program(s): |
Physical & Dynamic Meteorology, Hydrologic Sciences |
| Primary Program Source: |
|
| Program Reference Code(s): |
|
| Program Element Code(s): |
|
| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.050 |
ABSTRACT
NASA will conduct a field campaign (spring of 2013) called Iowa Flood Studies (IFloodS) in support of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite mission scheduled for launch in 2014. This campaign, part of the GPM Ground Validation activities, will focus on hydrologic applications of the mission products, specifically for the prediction of floods. IIHR/Hydroscience & Engineering (IIHR) and the Iowa Flood Center (IFC) of the University of Iowa will host the experiment and assist NASA personnel in selecting sites and deploying instruments, as well as organizing and facilitating access to data resources, and performing preliminary processing and analysis of IFloodS data. IIHR and IFC will organize and set up a Command Center Facility for the campaign, coordinate the logistical support of instrumentation maintenance during the campaign, provide communication support for other state and federal agencies using the data in real-time, and manage media and public outreach.
Data collected by this campaign will enhance our understanding of rainfall variability across scales, provide uncertainty estimates for operational network of weather radars, and help to refine models and improve predictions driven by space-based precipitation data input for applications around the world. IFloodS presents a unique research and education opportunity for many members of the hydrologic community because there will be very high quality rainfall data collected over large river basins. This specific project will support up to ten individuals to participate in this opportunity.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
In spring 2013, Eastern Iowa was the site of the Iowa Flood Studies (IFloodS) field campaign. NASA sponsored the campaign as an element of its Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite mission. This mission is an international effort that provides nearly global observations of rainfall and snowfall. Satellite-based sensors detect clouds and the precipitation within them, and algorithms convert the detected signal into rainfall and snowfall intensities and accumulations. This ability to measure rain and snow from space supports improved forecasting of floods and landslides, as well as management of water resources around the world.
To test and improve the algorithms, NASA and other agencies conduct field campaigns using numerous instruments to collect rainfall and snowfall data for comparison with the space-based estimates. The National Science Foundation provided funding to enable participation by students and young researchers from many institutions in the United States and abroad. Because one major application of the GPM mission is flood forecasting, NASA chose Iowa as a test site due to the frequent flooding this area has experienced in the past decade. Iowa’s excellent observational infrastructure, deployed by the Iowa Flood Center (IFC) at the University of Iowa, also made the state a good choice for the campaign. The IFC served as host for the campaign’s participants. NASA brought two state-of-the-art weather radars and numerous other instruments to Iowa to measure the size and number of raindrops. The IFC contributed its mobile weather radars as well as two networks of rain and soil moisture gauges. Using NSF-provided funds the researchers brought, installed and maintained additional instruments, analyzed the data, and tested different methods of predicting rainfall and flooding.
The list of participating institutions is extensive, including NASA, National Weather Service, Agricultural Research Service, National Center for Atmospheric Research, University of Iowa, Iowa State University, Colorado State University, Princeton University, University of Wyoming, University of California-Irvine, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Maryland, University of Louisiana-Lafayette, University of Connecticut, Duke University, St. Cloud University, University of Illinois, University of Alabama, University of Washington, EPFL (Lausanne, Switzerland), Joseph Fourier University (Grenoble, France), and more.
The six-week campaign was a great success, as “Mother Nature” cooperated and brought many storms, rain, hail, and flooding to the region. This roused public interest and increased the visibility of the campaign, which enjoyed plenty of coverage by local media. The collected data is a “gold mine” of information that will go a long way to improve the algorithms for radar and satellite rainfall measurement and streamflow forecasting. Early analysis of the results confirms that accurate measurement of rainfall is not only a scientific and technological challenge, but it also constitutes a crucial element of flood forecasting.
Last Modified: 12/31/2014
Modified by: Witold F Krajewski
Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.
