Welcome to the TOTAL Project
There are several limitations with accurately measuring the amount of liquid precipitation that occurs during an event. These limitations range from handling solid winter precipitation to undercatch of precipitation in windy conditions to errors with extreme rainfall rates.
To collect data more effectively for various radar and gauge-based studies, the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) in collaboration with the University of Oklahoma Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations (CIWRO) have developed a project titled the Telemetry of Total Accumulated Liquid, or TOTAL. The main objective of this project is to collect the most accurate representation of precipitation that occurs at the surface. This data can be used to help generate more accurate radar-derived precipitation estimates as well as information that can help correct observations from standard rain gauges used throughout the country.
The work with the TOTAL project is focused on a mobile instrumentation platform. This allows NSSL and CIWRO scientists to study various precipitation events across the country. The flexibility with a mobile instrumentation platform will allow NSSL and CIWRO scientists the ability to measure precipitation properties from everything to snow and mixed-phase precipitation to monsoon convection, tropical cyclones, and precipitation events that generate flash flooding.
This page will provide various information about the project, including a description of the trailer and the instruments available for it, details of TOTAL trailer deployments, and publications & presentations related to this project.