Robert J Zamora

NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory

Physical Sciences Division

Boulder, CO

Arizona HMT Soil Moisture Network

Overview

• Six soil moisture monitoring sites in the Babocomari River Basin

• Soil moisture and temperature at standard NRCS depths (5, 10, 20, 50, 100 cm)

• Surface air temperature and relative humidity• Tipping Bucket Rain Gages• Two minute temporal resolution transmitted to Boulder

hourly

HMT Arizona Soil Moisture Network

+ TUS

Fairbank, AZ online 1/2011

+FBK

Granby, Colorado

Babocomari River Flood 23 July 2008

• Second highest discharge measured on the river in the period of record

• First flood event captured by the HMT network

Meteorological Setting• Typical monsoon

upper air pattern consisting of a ridge over the four corners region

• No dynamic forcing• Significant

Convective Instability• CAPE= 2768 J/kg• LI= -4.77• Precipitable

Water= 52.52mm

July 22, 2008 12 UTCJuly 23, 2008 00 UTC

Soil Moisture ResponseLower Basin (WSE) 50 cm Caliche

• HMT Network data indicates that the lower Babocomari basin was saturated before the flood

• The upper basin had lower soil moisture values• Significant streamflow response in the lower Babocomari River

Upper Basin (FMS) 100 cm Caliche

Streamflow ResponseHydrograph Data:

• No streamflow response in the upper Babocomari River basin

Red Arrows Indicate Flow Direction

• Six stations operational in Arizona

• Handbook 5 ID’s for Arizona stations

• All preliminary data displayed in near real-time on PSD-2 data webpages http://www.esrl.noaa.govh/psd/data/obs/surfacefluxobs/soil/soil.php

• Zamora, R. J., F. M. Ralph, E. Clark, and T. Schneider, 2011: The NOAA Hydrometeorology testbed soil moisture observing networks: Design instrumentation, and preliminary results Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 28, 1129-1140.

• Zamora, R. J., E. Clark, E. Rogers, M. B. Ek, and T. A. Lahmers, 2012: An examination of soil moisture conditions in the Babocomari River Basin: The flood event of 23 July 2008. to be submitted to Journal of Hydrometeorology

Milestones

HMT Data and the Noah Land Surface ModelNAM Grid Point v. HMT comparisons:

Soil Moisture DifferencesNoah LSM Level 1 and HMT 5 cm:

• Noah LSM soil moisture values show dry bias in the lower basin• Wet bias in upper basin, seen at both ELG, and FMS

Noah LSM Level 2 and HMT 20 cm:

• WHTTUS •

Tucson 88D radar coverage at 1.0°