Overview

The NWSRFS preprocessors create time series of the data inputs, described in the previous section, which are used by the OFS.  In this section of the module, approaches are described for qualitatively assessing the effects these input time series are likely to have on individual hydrologic models in the OFS and the resulting output from the entire system, given the assumptions and limitations of those models.  The goal is to provide the student with enough detail to gain an understanding of why models react the way they do to data inputs and how they sometimes respond during common situations.  Detailed descriptions of how the hydrologic models work are presented through other training mechanisms.  Figure 1 illustrates a schematic of the typical sequence of hydrologic models in an OFS execution. 

Figure 1 – Typical location of the snow model in the OFS