United States Office of Water
Environmental Protection 4305 April 2008
Agency
BASINS Technical Note 10
Using the BASINS Meteorological
Database (Version 2006)
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Technical Note 10
Using the BASINS Meteorological Database (Version 2006)
April 2008
INTRODUCTION
Downloading of data from the updated BASINS Meteorological database is now
available. The updated database contains data at over 16,000 stations, though not all
stations are still active and most of them contain only a subset of all the meteorological
constituents used in BASINS. For those stations that are current, data have been updated
through the year 2006.
DOWNLOADING METEOROLOGICAL DATA
The updated data are downloaded through the File:Download Data menu option by
choosing the Meteorologic checkbox in the BASINS group.
Download Data
Region to Download |View Rectangle
BASINS -
Census T GIRAS T NED
DEM Shape T Legacy STORE! F NHD
DEM Grid |7 Meteorologic !J T PCS3
NHD Plus
F All
l~~ Elevation Grid
F" Flow Direction Grid
F" Flow Accumulation Grid
F" Catchments
l~ Hydrography
F" Hydrologic Units
F" Streamgage Events
r-NWIS-
|~~ Daily Discharge JJ |~~ Stations |~~ Water Quality
NLCD 2001
l~ Land Cover |~" Impervious |~" Canopy |~~ 1392 Land Cover
|~" Merge |~" Clip to Region Other...
Cancel
Download
This feature uses two plugins, both of which are available under the D4EM Data
Download option of the Plugins menu. The two plugins are "BASINS" and "Main" and
are loaded automatically.
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The area currently viewed is used to select a subset of stations for which data are then
downloaded. The area for selecting stations can alternately be set to the extent of a GIS
layer using the Region to Download pull-down list.
HHCI
BASINS 4 - Patuxent
File Compute Models Launch Analysis Edit View Plug-ins Watershed Delineation Shapefile Editor GIS Tools Help
...+ .,.- °?v r°i ja*. A T, C*2 T*, f i±^ _•*• _- . y r«~|T
1^
I.' Observed Data Stations
0 Weather Station Sites 2006
—U Water Quality
—D Water Quality Observation
D WDM Weather Data
—D Weather Station Sites
LEGS Gage
Bacteria
D Weather Station Area
NAWQA Study Area UnitBouQ
B0 Elevation
Outlets
—0 Streams
0 selcatch
-00 Digital Elevation Model
B0 NHDPIus
L_WASHDC
L_BALTMD
—0 NHDPIus Area
30 Hydrology
X: 847,236.226 Y: 4,334,989.236 Meters |X: 847.236 Y: 4,334.989 Kilometers
After downloading is complete, a new GIS layer ("Weather Station Sites 2006") is added
showing the location of the stations. This layer is stored as a shape file (met.shp) in the
BASINS project directory.
All stations within the current view are downloaded and merged into a single project
WDM file. Each station's datasets are organized using a similar data set numbering
scheme to the original BASINS met database (i.e. 1, 11, 21,... PREC; 3, 13,23,...
ATEM; and so on). The resulting WDM file is by default stored in the BASINS project
directory (e.g. \BASINS\Data\Project Name\met\met.wdm). This default location can be
changed using the folder button next to the Meteorologic checkbox in the Download Data
form. The new WDM file is automatically added to the current project.
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DATABASE CONTENT CHANGES
Besides a dramatic increase in the number of available meteorological stations, there are
some key differences between the original database and the updated:
1. The Pan Evaporation (EVAP) dataset has been removed - The original database
contained both this computed Pan Evaporation dataset and a computed Potential
Evapotranspiration (PEVT) dataset. Besides frequently causing end-user confusion,
it was strongly suggested by modeling experts that the PEVT dataset is more
appropriate as an input to the HSPF model.
2. Many stations do not contain the full suite of seven meteorological constituents -
Whereas the original database contained only stations with all eight potentially-
needed constituents, the updated database has greatly expanded the number of
available stations, many of which contain a subset of the seven meteorological
constituents used in BASINS. Details of how BASINS components have been
updated to handle this issue are provided below.
3. Some stations contain multiple precipitation records - Using the more than 2000
active observed hourly stations (and more than 3500 with 10+ years of record), the
daily observed precipitation values were disaggregated to an hourly time interval.
This resulted in some stations having both an observed and a disaggregated
precipitation record. When only one form of hourly precipitation exists, it has been
assigned a data-set number ending in 1 (e.g. 1,11, etc.). When both forms of hourly
precipitation data exist, the observed data set is assigned a number ending in 1 and the
disaggregated data set is assigned a number ending in 0 (e.g. 10, 20, etc.)
BASINS components have been updated to reflect these changes. The BASINS GIS
interface has been updated to display a suite of distinct icons to graphically represent
which constituents are available at each station.
With each station marked by the letter M, the seven available constituents are represented
at the following positions in relation to the station center:
• - Precipitation (PREC) - due South
• - Wind speed (WIND) - due West
• - Cloud Cover (CLOU) - North West
• - Potential Evapotranspiration (PEVT) - due North
• - Solar Radiation (SOLR) - North East
• - Air Temperature (ATEM) - due East
• - Dewpoint Temperature (DEWP) - South East
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BASINS provides a variety of tools for exploring the meteorological data. The Analysis
menu provides standard display capabilities such as listing and graphing along with a
synoptic analysis feature for exploring events. The Compute menu provides a wide array
of timeseries generation methods, including the meteorological computation and
disaggregation features previously found in the WDMUtil program.
The BASINS model setup plug-in for HSPF has been updated to effectively use stations
that do not contain all seven constituents. The interface includes a list of all stations with
at least PREC and PEVT datasets (the minimum constituents needed by HSPF). Stations
in this list marked with a "*" are those that contain the full suite of meteorological inputs.
BASINS HSPF
General | Land Use | Streams | Subbasins | Point Sources Met Stations
Met WDM File
|C:\BASINS\data\Q2Q60QQ6\met.wdm
Select
1VlD180465:BALTIMQRE WASH INTLAP (1970/1/I-2006/1/I]
"MD180700:BELTSVILLE (1 9;
MD1B0705:BELTSVILLE PLANT STN 5 (19-19/1/1-1978/10/1)
MD181995:COLLEGE PARK (1954/2/1 -1996/4/1)
MD18929Q:WASHNGTN DC WB CITY (1948/8/1 -1966/1/1)
•VA443906:WASHINGTON REAGAN NATIONAL AIR (1970/1/1-2006/1/1)
"Full Set Available
Status
Update specifications if desired, then click OK to proceed.
OK
Open Existing
Cancel
Help
About
If a station is selected that does not have the full suite, WinHSPF allows the user to
specify where to get other needed constituents. For details on the model setup plug-in and
WinHSPF working with the meteorological database, see the BASINS User's Manual.
ANCILLIARY DATA
Additional datasets may be available for downloaded stations, but are not merged into the
project's met.wdm file. These may be found in the individual station WDM files (e.g.
GA090451 .WDM) in \BASINS\cache\clsBasins\met. These data were involved in the
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development of the revised database and are provided as an additional reference. They
are organized on the WDM files by data-set number in one of the three categories:
• 1000 series - These data are original observed daily or hourly data that were used in
the development of the final hourly datasets.
• 1100 series - These data are computed daily or hourly data that were used in the
development of the final hourly datasets.
• 2000 series - These data are from the BASINS 3.1 meteorological database.
TROUBLESHOOTING
The Download Data feature uses two plug-ins called "BASINS" and "Main". If they are
not automatically loaded, they can be loaded manually through the Plugins:D4EM Data
Download menu option.
Log files showing details of the meteorological database development are available
through EPA. These files provide records of potentially suspect values, how data
correction was performed, and how daily precipitation data were disaggregated to hourly.
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