The
data required for MOPEX can be grouped into four categories:
1. Basic required observations for development and testing
2. Required physical characteristics
3. Desirable additional observations
4. Observations for detailed testing and evaluation.
The
Required Observations for Development and Testing
The main types of required historical data are: hourly
and
daily gaged precipitation; daily maximum, minimum and
average
temperature; surface meteorological observations
and
daily average stream discharges.
Since
the desirable level of data are unachievable for all
basins, the most important requirement is the minimumnm
level.
The most basic mimimum requirements is to have daily precipitations
and streamflow
with climatological monthly mean statistics of the following
surface meterological
variables air temperature, relatve humidity, wind speed
and cloud
cover.
The
surface observation statistics would be used to estimate potential
evaporation
for some schemes and radiative forcing for others. Experiencing
in hydrological
modelling is that good parameter estimates can be made with
climatological
statistics to estimate energy forcing.
www.nws.noaa.gov 
The main types of required historical data are: hourly
and