Doppler Radar-Derived Rainfall Data Monitoring to Support Surface Water Modeling of TMDL

Abstract A Calibrated High-Resolution Precipitation Database (CHPD) represents an enhanced tool for modelers developing Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL) or using water resource related surface water (SW), ground water (GW) or integrated SW-GW models. With software support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), funding support by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) and the Environmental Protection Agency, and academic support from Florida State University (FSU), Florida is the first State to have successfully completed the construction of a practical CHPD. Precipitation input for a watershed model typically has relied on weather data obtained from rain gauges that are sparsely distributed in a watershed. A popular method for computing precipitation is the Thiessen method. This method assigns an area called a Thiessen polygon around each gauge. The polygon is an area in which every interior point is closer to the particular gauge than to any other. In effect, ...