Use of MIRS to Conduct System Density Studies

NOAA/National Weather Service (NWS) has developed the Management Information Retrieval System (MIRS) to perform a variety of mapping and reporting functions. MIRS uses the ARCIMS© family of GIS products to portray both NWS and non-NWS metadata in new and innovative ways. When combined with information about NWS service areas and other characteristics such as population densities, MIRS can produce a host of graphics to be used in a wide variety of applications. This paper is centered on techniques for evaluating the geospatial distribution of surface-based networks with respect to hydro-meteorological and climatic applications. The techniques will show how geospatial techniques can be utilized to answer network density studies such as: How dense should a particular network be to provide sound scientific information?