Portable automated research micrometeorological stations (PARMS) were designed and constructed by staff at the Oklahoma Climatological Survey (OCS) to provide enhanced observations of atmospheric conditions at remote locations. Since 2005, four PARMS have been deployed at the Tar Creek Superfund site near Picher, Oklahoma to provide in depth environmental monitoring. Because the transport of hazardous toxins through the surface water system is such a critical aspect of research at the Tar Creek Superfund site, multiple research objectives were identified using the PARMS. These objectives include: (a) quantifying precipitation variability at the Tar Creek watershed for initialization into hydrologic models, (b) comparing radar estimated precipitation and variability with in situ observations, and (c) quantifying the spatial variability of surface observations across the watershed.

Over the past two years, nearly 130 rainfall events have been observed by the PARMS at the Tar Creek site. For each of these events, the variability of precipitation across the watershed has been quantified. Further, the in situ rainfall observations have been compared with quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) products created by the National Weather Service Arkansas-Red Basin River Forecast Center (NWS ABRFC); this study will present the results of the comparison between PARMS observations and various mosaic radar data products and will provide insight into the unique challenges of QPE at Tar Creek.