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Abstract
Using NEXRAD Rainfall Data in an ArcView GIS-Based Hydrology Model as an Educational ToolTrack: Water Resources
Author(s): Enrique Rafael Vivoni, Daniel Dean Sheehan
This paper presents the design and application of a simplified GIS-based hydrology model capable of ingesting NEXRAD radar rainfall. The distributed model was designed as an educational tool for providing a hands-on hydrologic modeling experience to undergraduate environmental engineering majors at MIT. A simplified approach was taken to watershed modeling in order to
take advantage of the existing spatial analysis function within ArcView GIS and its ArcView Spatial Analyst and Hydrologic Modeling extensions. The model couples a runoff generation subcomponent based on the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) approach and a DEM-based Travel Time routing method. In addition to data analysis and GIS model setup, aspects of model calibration and evaluation were considered during the teaching exercise. The model was applied to two river basins (Peacheater Creek Basin near Eldon, OK, and Squannacook River Basin near West Groton, MA) for two storm events. The Squannacook case study consisted of a significant flooding event in June 1998, while the Peacheater Creek storm event produced high flow conditions during January 1998. Telemetered stream gauge data from the USGS was used to calibrate and validate the model response to the input NEXRAD rainfall fields. The modeling exercise was encapsulated within ArcView GIS and aided through model description procedures available at http://web.mit.edu/1.070/www/GISlab.html.
Enrique Rafael Vivoni
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue
MIT Room 48-208
Cambridge, MA 02139
USA
Phone: (617)253-1969
Fax: (617)497-7850
E-mail: vivoni@mit.edu