Quantitative Assessment – SMEX 02/03/04

Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of Iowa

Drainage Network across catchments

Aircraft based soil moisture (PSR C-Band)

Quantitative Assessment – SMEX 02/03/04

McCabe, Gao and Wood (2004) submitted J. Hydrometeorology

Qualitative Assessment – Hydrological Patterns…

Is it dry when it should be dry??

Do results reflect expectations??

Or is it dry when it should be wet – or vice versa??

Qualitative Assessment – Hydrological Patterns…

Soil moisture patterns conform well with expected rainfall distributions (most of the time)….even if the quantities might not be right!

Can such data be used to ‘quality check’ satellite based rainfall predictions…if it rained it should be wet!

McCabe, Wood and Gao (2004) submitted Geophys. Res. Lett.

Qualitative Assessment – Hydrological Patterns…

Remote sensing data is “pattern rich”.

What is the best/most appropriate way to use this data…

Can approaches be developed to incorporate “fuzzy” measures of information into the modelling process.

There are major issues associated with both the validation and use of remote sensing products:

Temporal sampling – instantaneous v’s time averaged

Seasonality – intensive field campaigns/continuous monitoring

The point – pixel scale disparity

Equivalence of the measured/modelled variable

Validation/Calibration/Evaluation – different needs??

How accurate do we need to be?

How well do we predict the other variables in the water balance – holistic or component modelling?

Research Problems and Questions