CUAHSI: Advancing Hydrologic Science through Community Engagement

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CUAHSI Advancing Hydrologic Science through
Community Engagement

• Rick Hooper, President

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What is hydrologic science?

• Hydrologic science studies the occurrence,
  distribution, circulation and properties of
  water, and its interaction with a wide range of
  physical, chemical and biological processes,
  acknowledging also the added complexity of social
  and behavioral sciences (NRC, 1991).

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Boundaries of hydrologic science

• Water links atmosphere, earth, and ocean sciences
• Water links living and physical world
• Water is a solvent of minerals and sculptor of
  the landscape
• Water is a key determinant of habit
• Water is an economic resource and extensively
  engineered by humans
• Hydrologic science interfaces with all these
  fields.

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Getting the water right

• A sufficient description of the hydrologic cycle
  for describing waters interaction with the
  physical and living world
• Stores, fluxes, flowpaths, residence times
• Coupling of components hydrologic cycle
• Recognition of biological controls on
  terrestrial water cycle
• Linkage to biogeochemistry, ecology,
  geomorphology, water resources engineering,

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Developing a Community

• Disciplinary Foundations
• Intellectual Basis
• Rigor in Observational Science
• Consensus Building
• Interdisciplinary Opportunities
• Enrichment from Multiple Perspectives
• New Transdisciplinary Science

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Community Science

• Complements investigator-driven science
• Articulates community goals and needs
• Undertakes projects impossible for individuals
• Generality of findings (cross-site comparison)
• Larger scale and coherent data (top-down design)
• Multidisciplinary efforts (synthesis teams)
• Develops and Operates Infrastructure
• Information systems
• Instrumentation development and sharing

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Defining the Community Agenda

• Move beyond what hydrologists, biogeochemists,
  ecologists study
• How does each discipline approach science?
• How are hypotheses posed?
• What constitutes proof?
• What are valid data?

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How do hydrologists work?

• Hydrologic cycle as organizing principle
• Quantitative approaches (e.g., budgets)
• Deterministic and stochastic approaches
• Both bottom-up (fluid mechanics) and top-down
  (systems) approaches
• Inferential rather than empirical
• Observation-limited (? right for the wrong
  reason)
• Multifaceted role of water (? multiple
  perspectives)

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Hydrologic subdisciplines

• Different phenomena
• Streamflow generation, contaminant transport,
  land surface-atmosphere interactions
• have different
• Spatial scales, temporal scales, dynamics,
  dominant processes
• leading to disciplinary fragmentation and
  limited understanding among hydrologists
• Bottom-up/ Top-down
• Catchment, groundwater, surface water

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Subdisciplines Compound Names

• Hydrometeorology, ecohydrology, geohydrology,
  hydropedology, biogeochemistry
• Names dont define intellectual endeavor
• Names dont define relationships among
  subdisciplines

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Traditional Views of Hydrologic Cycle
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Dimensions of Hydrologic Cycle

• Vertical Bedrock to Boundary Layer
• Down-slope Ridge to Stream
• Down-valley Headwater to Ocean

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The Vertical Dimension

• Sub-disciplines ecohydrology, hydrometeorology,
• Phenomenon transpiration, precipitation fields,
  precipitation partitioning, pedogenesis
• Spatial Scales plot to continental
• Temporal Scales seconds to days

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The Down-slope Dimension

• Sub-disciplines hydropedology, hillslope
  hydrology
• Phenomenon, streamflow generation, weathering
  (bioGEOchemistry), catena
• Spatial Scales 10s to 100s m
• Hydrologic Temporal Scales minutes to seasons

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The Down-Valley Dimensions

• Sub-disciplines fluvial geomorphology,
  BIOgeochemistry
• Phenomenon flood scaling, local to regional
  groundwater systems, hyporheic exchange
• Spatial Scales reach/local gw systems to river
  basin/regional aquifer system
• Hydrologic Temporal Scales seconds to
  millennia

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Towards a taxonomy

• Dimensions of hydrologic cycle combine
  disciplines to study phenomena within a range of
  space and time
• Encourage dialog see where my research fits
  into bigger picture
• Clarify goals of subdisciplines
• One approach for organizing discipline

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Disciplinary Foundations

• Understand epistemology of our own science
• Discussed epistemology with your graduate
  students lately?
• Explain goals to non-specialists
• Achieve consensus on open questions among
  subdisciplines

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Observations and Observatories

• The dilemma of place-based science
• Extensive characterization needed to pin down
  theory
• Establish generality of findings that transcend
  uniqueness of place
• Network of Observatories with comparable data
• Difficulty of top-down design
• Emergence of CZOs and other field sites
• Virtual Network with data publication

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Abstractions in Modeling
Digital Environment
Real World
Water quantity and quality
DNA Sequences
Meteorology
Remote sensing
Hydrologist
Vegetation Survey
Conceptual Frameworks
Snowmelt Processes?
Groundwater Contribution?
Physical World
Model Representations
-Mathematical Formulae -Solution Techniques
Geographically Referenced
Mapping
Q, Gradient, Roughness?
Data Representation

• Theory/Process Knowledge
• Perceptions of this place
• Intuition

Validation
Wetted Perimeter
Measurements
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Data Integration
Chesapeake Bay Program
EPA
USGS
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CUAHSI National Water Metadatabase

• Indexes
• 20 observation networks
• 1.73 million sites
• 8.38 million time series

NWIS
STORET
TCEQ
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Vision Network of Observatories

• Access data from all sites, regardless of funding
  source or location
• Develop larger scale context for research
  watersheds
• Enable analysis
• Across gradients
• Across scale to river basin
• Test generality of hypotheses in different
  settings
• Improve predictive capacity

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Realizing the Vision
Global Models
Regional Models
Modeling Platform
Dynamic Grid Data Publication
Geospatial Data Publication
Time Series Data Publication
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Moving Forward

• Data and Model Sharing
• Publication of academic data
• Explicit mapping of conceptual models to improve
  communication
• Synthesis
• Re-analysis of data from multiple perspectives
• Pilot synthesis activities are underway

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Building Communities

• Pay attention to the disciplinary foundation
• Need explicit definition
• Taxonomy to show how subdisciplines relate
• Aids in building consensus
• Engage across communities
• Place-based observatories as research vessels
• Better communication of conceptual models
• Synthesis

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Summary

• Collaboration to leverage existing resources
• NSF investments (NEON, LTER, OOI, CZO)
• Federal Mission Agencies (USGS, USFS, ARS,)
• Partnerships
• Move research scale to management scale
• Limited resources, but pressing needs

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CUAHSI Member Universities