Upper Missouri River Basin Pilot Project
Project DescriptionThe Upper Missouri River Basin (UMRB) Pilot Project encompasses
interactive modeling and observational studies of the coupled
atmosphere-surface-subsurface hydrology of the Black Hills area
of South Dakota and Wyoming. This NASA sponsored project
emphasizes coupled hydrologic modeling of Intermediate Scale
Areas (ISA) in orographic terrain, the use of observations of
differing temporal and spatial resolutions to assess ambient
variability as well as model and budget uncertainties and
sensitivities, intercomparison of sensors, and the
transferability of models from the Black Hills ISA to other
ISAs. Execution of this project is being coordinated with GEWEX
Continental-Scale International Project (GCIP) activities such
as the GCIP Large Scale-Northwest (LSA-NW) study.
The objectives of this project are to:
1. Assess the importance of "deep" groundwater in subsurface
aquifers to water budgets and water resources in the LSA-NW.
2. Determine the resolution required in atmospheric and coupled
models to represent adequately precipitation and other
components of the water budget in orographic terrain. Examine
sensitivities and important spatial scales for impacts due to
variations in evapotranspiration and moisture advection.
3. Determine the uncertainties in atmospheric components of the
water budgets on ISA and larger scales in orographic terrain.
For more information, link to
[Summary provided by South Dakota School of Mines and Technology]