CW3E Field Team Starts Meteorology and Radar Instrument Installations in Feather and Yuba Watersheds
November 22, 2019
The CW3E Field Team along with interns and volunteers worked to install meteorology, soil moisture, and radar instruments in the Feather and Yuba watersheds over the course of September – November. The team installed two soil moisture and surface meteorology arrays and a Micro Rain Radar, focusing on the high precipitation region of the watersheds. The Feather and Yuba watersheds introduce a new challenge of observing the meteorological and hydrological impacts of ARs on watersheds in the rain-snow transition of the Sierra Nevada. An additional soil moisture and meteorology array and an additional Micro Rain Radar are planned to be installed in the watersheds prior to the 2019-20 AR season for a total of three soil moisture and meteorology arrays and two MicroRain Radars. Three more soil moisture and meteorology stations will be installed next year. These installations add the Oroville and New Bullards Bar reservoirs to the Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations (FIRO) project, which assesses the potential to enhance water resources and flood control operations with hydrometeorological forecast data. Maintenance work was also conducted on all sites in the Russian River to support Lake Mendocino FIRO activities. For more information on FIRO, visit the FIRO web page. CW3E thanks the landowners who have volunteered to have instruments installed on their properties.
Photos from field installations in the Yuba/Feather watersheds and maintenance visits in the Russian River basin during Fall 2019.