CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System and its role in Hydrologic

Observatories

Core Team: D. Maidment, J. Helly, P. Kumar, M. Piasecki, R. Hooper

Collaborators: W. Graham, V. Lakshmi, X. Liang, Y. Liang, U. Lall, L. Poff, K. Reckhow, D.

Tarboton, I. Zaslavsky, C. Zheng

Thanks to: CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System Standing Committee

CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System (HIS) Project

• This a 2-year project to develop an RFP for the Center for Hydrologic Information (CHI) and perform preliminary research and prototyping for HIS

• For years 3 and onwards, all funding will be competitively awarded by NSF/CUAHSI– Center for Hydrologic Information – HydroInformatics Thematic Centers

• Proposal has been recommended for funding but is awaiting final administrative approval at NSF

DataHypotheses

Needs

Tools

Data

Models

Exogenous DataTechnologicalAdvances

CommunitySupport

Multi-DisciplinaryTeams

HydrologicSynthesis

HydrologicObservatories

MeasurementTechnology

HydrologicInformation

Systems

CommunitySupport

AdditionalHypotheses

CUAHSI Program Components

Environmental Cyberinfrastructure

• Part of NSF Cyberinfrastructure program

• Special emphasis on environmental sciences fostered by Margaret Leinen

• CUAHSI Hydrologic Information Systems is one of several pilot projects

Institutions of participants in the CUAHSI HIS Proposal

Hydrologic Information Partners

Hydrologic Information System

Analysis, Modeling, Hypothesis testing

Hydrologic Database

HIS will facilitate Model Integration

Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere

Models

Mesoscale Models

SVATs

Groundwater Models

Watershed Models

P

E

Qs

Ss

SgQg

Ig

Information Sources

Analysis and Visualization

Hydrologic Information Data Model

CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System

GIS

Experiments

Simulation

Monitoring

Climate models

2. Integrate data into a coherent structure

3. Do science

1. Assemble data from many sources

Hypothesis testing

Data Assimilation

Remote sensing

Statistics

Created first for the Neuse basin and then for each of the following CUAHSI Observatory Planning basins

Digital Watershed:An implementation of the CUAHSI Hydrologic Information Data Model for a particular region

Data from the Center for the Analysis & Prediction of River Basin Environmental System @ Duke University

http://www.env.duke.edu/cares/

Neuse River Basin Data Themes

STATSGO - General soil survey data

Land Use / Land Cover Data

Dams

Stream flow gages

Watersheds

Digital Elevation Model

plus lots of time series of water resources monitoring data…..

Hydrologic Characterizationat Observatories

• Three properties:– Residence time distribution within “stores”– Fluxes across interfaces/stores– Flowpaths between stores

• Conceptual model– Include atmosphere as part of model– Elaboration of stores (boxes) and structure

must be reconciled among disciplines

Need for spatial definition of “stores”, perhaps as control volumes

3D Control Volume of Neuse Basin

Fluxes

Extrude watershed boundary 15 km up into atmosphereand 1 km down into subsurface

Observatory Goal: Hydrologic Fluxes

• Improve predictive understanding of fluxes of– Water– Sediment– Nutrients– [Selected Contaminants]

• Across spatial scales, including catchment outlet• Riverine fluxes, at a minimum, but also fluxes

across other interfaces (PI-specified)

Need for definition of “HydroElements”, at any location in hydrologic system

Riverine HydroElements

Detailed bathymetry points of a river channel

3D HydroElement formed fromcross-sections and profile lines

Geospatial HydroElements

Grid

Watershed Triangulated irregularnetwork

3-D

Move smoothly among different views of basin

CUAHSI HIS… Parting Thoughts

• We want to be as open and collaborative as possible

• We welcome any ideas and suggestions you may have

• We are open to helping with additional proposals to other funding sources to leverage the CUAHSI HIS effort

• Email me at maidment@mail.utexas.edu