Development and Use of a NEXRAD Database for Water Management in South Florida

Abstract

The South Florida Water Management District is responsible for managing water resources in a 46,439 square-kilometer (17,930 square-mile) region. The area extends from Orlando to Key West and from the Gulf Coast to the Atlantic Ocean and contains the country’s second largest lake. The area is also the site of a major environmental restoration project. The District operates 2,898 kilometers (1,800 miles) of canals, 22 major pump stations and 2,200 water control structures. Rainfall-based management plans are becoming more prevalent in operation of these pumps and structures. The District uses a network of over 300 active raingage stations that cover the more populated and environmentally sensitive areas under its management and provide data for this purpose. Five NEXRAD (Next Generation Weather Radar) sites operated by the National Weather Service cover the region. NEXRAD data have been used for several years at the District for weather reporting that targets operational issues. However, their use has been largely limited to visual interpretation of data by the staff as opposed to quantitative analysis. In July 2002 the District, in conjunction with three of the other four water management districts in Florida, began to acquire NEXRAD data coverage and develop a corporate database and methods for data access. Corporate access of 15-minute, raingage-adjusted NEXRAD data was a major objective of the acquisition. Four major uses of the NEXRAD data at the District were identified: operations; modeling; planning and analysis; and reporting. Each use had unique datastorage and access needs. This paper details the database design; integration with the corporate database, DBHYDRO; access methods established, including those for GIS and modeling applications; data QA/QC; data verification; and applications of the NEXRAD database.