Introduction ------------ The static images provided here can be used to visualize streamflow and soil moisture from the NOAA/NWS National Water Model (NWM). Please refer to http://water.noaa.gov/about/nwm for a description of the NWM and its model configurations. Products -------- Three NWM products are available: (1) streamflow, (2) streamflow_anomaly and (3) soil_moisture Both the streamfow and streamflow_anomaly products depicts NWM channels of stream order 3 or higher. The soil_moisture product depicts soil moisture on the 1 km NWM land grid. The streamflow product depicts nominal streamflow in cubic feet per second (cfs) on a log scale. The streamflow_anomaly product depicts streamflow anomaly as compared to monthly average flow. Average flow values are taken from the NHDPlus Enhanced Runoff Method (EROM) table. Anomalies are not computed in Canada or Mexico as EROM values do not exist these areas. The soil moisture product depicts fraction of soil saturation in the upper soil layers of the NWM (i.e. 0-40 cm). Soil moisture values vary from 0 to 1. Directory and File Structure ---------------------------- The highest directory level contains two directories: (1) static_images and (2) static_images_yesterday These two directories separate the valid NWM images by UTC time. The next directory level has three directories separating each image by product: (1) streamflow, (2) streamflow_anomaly and (3) soil_moisture Each directory is then separated by model configuration as described on the NWM about page: (1) assim_hourly, (2) short_range_15h, (3) medium_range_10d and (4) long_range_30d Valid Time vs. Initialization Time ---------------------------------- The assim_hourly files represent the NWM analysis and assimilation runs and are named according to their valid analysis time (UTC). Example: nwm.t00z.analysis_assim.channel_rt.tm00.conus_streamflow.png nwm.t06z.analysis_assim.channel_rt.tm00.conus_streamflow.png nwm.t12z.analysis_assim.channel_rt.tm00.conus_streamflow.png Note that the analysis and assimilation run is actually initialized 3 hours before as indicated on the images. THIS IS NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH THE VALID ANALYSIS TIME. Similarly, the files within the short_range_15h, medium_range_10d and long_range_30d directories indicate both valid and initialization times. The example files below are initialized at 06z but are valid at 09z, 12z and 15z. These times are referenced in the images. Example: nwm.t06z.short_range.channel_rt.f003.conus_streamflow_anomaly.png nwm.t06z.short_range.channel_rt.f006.conus_streamflow_anomaly.png nwm.t06z.short_range.channel_rt.f009.conus_streamflow_anomaly.png EOF