BASIN-SCALE PRECIPITATION ANALYSIS FOR SOUTHEAST U.S. WATERSHEDS USING HIGH-RESOLUTION RADAR PRECIPITATION ESTIMATES.

The southeastern United States maintains a sensitivity to water resources for agriculture, hydroelectric power production, and basic environmental sustainability; therefore, it is important to understand the patterns of regional precipitation variability. Since high resolution precipitation data are necessary to estimate the local precipitation distribution over each basin, radar-derived precipitation estimates from 1996-2006 will be used for analysis. To quantify regional patterns of precipitation in the southeast United States, analysis will be conducted over three individual watersheds in the southeast: the Yazoo River watershed, the Savannah River watershed, and the Everglades/Lake Okeechobee drainage in southern Florida. Results of the study show a clear separation between maximum warm-season precipitation depth and frequency over southern Florida. In the Savannah River, precipitation maxima in the mountainous headwaters and coastal lowlands are revealed, along with a third peak in the southern Piedmont due to a localized affect resulting from spatial changes in soil characteristics. The Yazoo River watershed shows a similar effect during the summer months, leading to heightened precipitation in the eastern portion of the basin. Additionally, this study shows that radar-derived multisensor precipitation estimates are a viable data source for analyzing spatial and temporal precipitation patterns for the purposes of water resources research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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