How does the Atmospheric River flow? Scientists modernize research to understand

Most people are looking for ways to avoid stable rain from atmospheric rivers, but they use cumbersome weather patterns to improve predictions, control complex mazes of California waterways, and ultimately It helps to modernize to.

Weather researchers at the Scripps Agency, a worker at San Diego, California and Yuba Water Engine, have measured radiozond, air condition and measured real-time as part of their continued efforts to strengthen forecasts during the recent storm. Radiozond to send data carried the device. .

For people in the Yuba-Sutter area, these efforts could improve flood prevention. This is to gain more insight into how operators of the new Bullards Bar and Oroville Dams operate dams walled around the Yuba and Feather Rivers, respectively.

The practice itself is not new, but the goal of collecting that information and using it to manage reservoirs like the waters behind Yuba County’s new Bullard Bar Dam was decades ago Presents modern wrinkles to water management policies rooted in meteorological research.

“Outer rivers over the past decades have actually been identified as the type of storm that causes all major floods in our area,” said John James, director of resource planning at Yuba Water. Masu. “So the importance of understanding scientifically (they) has really come to the forefront recently.”

The partnership between Scripps and Yuba Water manages New Bullards Bar Dam and manages flood risk, water supply and hydroelectric power generation in Yuba County.

For water engines, research formally known as forecast-based reservoir operational studies leads to smarter predictions and then how to adjust reservoir levels while making necessary flood control space available. It is used to tell you what.

“We will use these predictions to make decisions on how to release water and when to hold it,” James said. “Essentially, these forecasts have improved, which means we are improving ways to reduce flood risk downstream while managing reservoir water.”

“Generational Opportunities”

Recent measurements of atmospheric rivers help to inform changes to the water management manual for regional dams based on the agreement reached between Oroville operators and New Breedbar Dam following the 1997 New Year’s flooding. Masu.

The event caused serious flooding in Yuba County, which led to an agreement that took lives, destroyed homes and encouraged coordination between feathers and dams surrounding the walls of the Yuba River.

The US Army Corps of Engineers is updating the underlying manual. The operation of the Oroville Dam is also built on top of the converging Feather River with the Yuba River downstream near Yuba City and Marysville.

“This is a kind of generational opportunity to incorporate new, latest and greatest science and technology without introducing additional risks into flood control,” James said.

Think of it as hardware and software.

The hardware, or physical infrastructure, is spillway and dams that hold almost one million acres of water in the case of the New Bullards Bar.

In this case, this is the water control manual for when the dam was built in the 1960s, instructing the operator how to use dams and spillways or hardware to release water.

If take-aways from projects between Yuba Water and Scripps prove feasible, they could affect and inform the broader US Army Corps of Engineers manual overhaul. Scripps is also working with the Oroville Dam, run by California’s Department of Water Resources.

Flood control and water supply

The work in Yuba County focuses on flood control management, in line with the origins and priorities of flood prevention for water agencies. However, similar Scripps projects in other parts of the state support other reservoirs that are essential for water supply management.

Another Scripps’ in Scripps’, part of the Atmospheric River Reconnaissance Program launches radiozondos in various parts of the state, gathering information to better predict the structure of the Atmospheric River and landfall.

In addition to weather balloons, the program also includes firing radio poons from planes called “Hurricane Hunters.”

“They can make a very clear snapshot of what the storm looks like at this point,” said Subin Yoon, Field Operations Manager for the Extreme Center for Western Weather and Water. .

All that data depends on model upgrades, which benefit those who control dams that protect nearby communities from flooding.

“It makes it more beneficial for water management people to use predictively driven decisions on these large dams and dam systems,” Yun said.

Measurements collected during the winter events of California filled with atmospheric rivers were rivers filled with atmospheric rivers, according to Julie Kalanski, operations manager for the Western Weather and Water Extreme Center. Winter events have improved by around 12% on average.

“The new Bullards Bar and Lake Oroville systems are unique in that they started out as systems together,” Kalansky said.

The Yuba County Project also benefits from advanced insight into the amount of rain and rainfall that radiozondo and other weather instruments have captured.

Winter spillway release

Yuba Water Agency has a higher current spillway location, allowing for more release opportunities, which means that releases need to be nearly full, so it will have a second spillway in a lower level dam. I’m planning to create it.

The agency last week released water from the New Breed Bar, sent it to the North Yuba River, passing through the new Colgate powerhouse, creating space for flood storage space within the recent atmospheric river.

Manipulating spillways is not uncommon in dam winter operations that allow the dam to take advantage of extra flood space, but it doesn’t happen very often at New Breed Bars.

“We go for years without releasing water from the spillway,” said Dede Cordell, Yuba Water Communications Manager. “It really only happens when we start to worry about invading that flood space…it’s managed by the corps.”

The Yuba River flows downstream of the dam near Mariesville feed the Feather River. This is influenced by the central and south Yuba rivers feeding the main channels of the south river between the dam and Marysville.

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