1. Wireless Sensor Networks for Hydrological Monitoring, Helpful Tools for Accurate Models

Technological advancements made the development and deployment of wireless sensor networks feasible. These networks were utilized in this research to evaluate the need for high-resolution rain measurement. The variability of the precipitation amounts was studied, in addition to its effect on the rainfall-runoff predictions in semi-arid regions. Results indicated that there is a statistical difference between the average daily precipitations reported within a sub watershed with a diameter of as low as 5 km. These differences can be as high as 62%. The same statistical difference was noted even when a comparison was done between the official records and an average of several gaging stations calculated using either the arithmetic mean approach, or the Thiessen polygon approach. Runoff predictions using the HEC-HMS model clearly demonstrated the effect of the variability in rainfall on runoff. Utilizing the wireless sensor networks for accurate capture of spatially varied precipitation patterns is highly recommended to accurately capture the system dynamics.