Automated Rainfall Mapping in Hawai‘i
A sustainable supply of clean water is essential for all aspects of life in Hawai‘i and there are multiple threats to maintaining this resource for future generations. Climate change is decreasing rainfall and increasing sea levels throughout the islands and population growth, urban development, agricultural use continue to increase, bringing into question what is sustainable. Knowledge of mean rainfall patterns in Hawai‘i are critically important in support of the research and understanding of watershed modeling as well as for the management and protection of groundwater and surface water resources. Further, rainfall information can inform methods to control and eradicate invasive species, methods to protect and restore native ecosystems, and planning for the effects of global climate change.
The Hawai‘i Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) ‘Ike Wai project in partnership with the University of Hawai‘i Water Resource Research Center (WRCC) has spent the last several years developing gridded monthly rainfall products. The gridded month rainfall products are highly useful for water resources analysis and planning, ecological modeling, and other applications. Prior to this work, maps were produced at irregular intervals of at least several years, and maps for recent months were generally not available. By automating and streamlining data acquisition, quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC), gap filling, interpolation, and dissemination, this initiative intends to produce results in regularly updated maps with the goal of releasing a preliminary product within one month of the end of the most recent month. Having more up-to-date analyses available will potentially facilitate additional applications for these datasets, such as drought planning and wildfire management.