cuahsi mark williams incoming chair, cryosphere focus group, american geophysical union (agu) co-i,...
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CUAHSI
MARK WILLIAMS
• Incoming chair, Cryosphere focus group, American Geophysical Union (AGU)
• Co-I, initial CUAHSI planning grant• Co-chair, Hydrologic Observatories
committee• Co-I, NWT LTER• Participant, NEON Standards Workshop
CUAHSI
HYDROLOGY AND ECOLOGY
• Hydrology: community-driven discipline with little presence in DC
• Ecology: strong presence in DC but lack of community involvement
• NEON a vehicle to promote synergism between the two disciplines
CUAHSI
GOALS TONIGHT
• CUAHSI as an example of community-based initiative that ecologists can follow
• NEON and HO’s are compatible and complementary
CUAHSI
Science
Hydrologicobservatories
Measurementtechnology
Informationsystems
Research infrastructure for the advancement of hydrologic science:
Planning highlights & update
Need for research infrastructure– Nature of hydrologic research?– Role of infrastructure?– Current infrastructure?– Limitations of current
infrastructure?DOES THIS SOUND LIKE NEON?
Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science
CUAHSI
CUAHSI
Research in hydrologic sciences is geographically distributed, due in part to the Earth’s heterogeneous climate
CUAHSI
Research in hydrologic sciences addresses a diversity of questions, aimed at understanding
water & chemical fluxes & reservoirs
CUAHSI
Research in hydrologic sciences depends heavily on measurements
CUAHSI
Current infrastructure
Research watersheds
ARS watersheds
Measurement networks Field laboratories
Special equipment
CUAHSI
Natural observatories: What’s new?
Will enable addressing science questions at much larger scales than current ARS or USGS research catchments & larger than nearly all of NSF’s LTER’sOne factor in locating the observatories will be
nesting of & synergy with other natural laboratories
Will involve coordinated physical, chemical & biological measurements over the long termThis degree of coordination & long-term
commitment is absent from nearly all existing natural laboratories
CUAHSI
Research Platform
Geology
Multiscale Catchment Models of Flow and
Transport
Catchment Infrastructure
Scaling Theories for Hydrological Flow and
Transport
MeteorologyPhysics
Ecology and Biogeo-
chemistry
Applied Maths and Statistics
Hypothesis-driven Experiments
CUAHSI
Partnerships with Federal Agencies
• Experimental watersheds have been operated and maintained by a number of Federal Agencies.
• Build on experience acquired through time-consuming trial & error
CUAHSI
MAGNET ROLE OF LTHOs• LTHOs will act as a “magnet” to
attract a broad array of additional scientific activities addressing hydrological sciences
• LTHOs will provide a research platform for the hydrologic community to increases its interactions with cognate disciplines such as atmospheric sciences, ecology, biogeochemistry
• LTHOs will find applications in
the work of federal, state, and local agencies that manage environmental resources
CUAHSI
The road ahead
Community involvement is critical• Diversity of ideas & issues• Build infrastructure & research together
Initial science plan is essential• Sound science & definite initiatives• Snowbird, UT; 18-20 August 02
CUAHSI
BOTTOMS-UP APPROACH
Grass roots approach
Each of you need to lobby your buddies, congress, cats, dogs
Anything can happen if we all work together!
CUAHSI
UNITED WE STAND
• Hydrologists and ecologists need to speak with one voice
• ESA, ASLO, AGU and other organizations should be in the vanguard of promoting environmental science
• DEB and GeoSciences at NSF need to cooperate
CUAHSI
Current science planning process
Builds on many prior efforts:• Water, Energy, Biota (WEB) working group• USGCRP Water Cycle Study Group• NAS Basic Research Opportunities in Earth
Sciences (BROES report)• NAS Committee on Hydrologic Sciences
(CoHS)• NAS Grand Challenges report
Broadly soliciting science & implementation input
NSF needs strong science justification for planning & implementing initiatives
CUAHSI
Elements of draft science plan
• Natural observatories• Information systems• Measurement technology• Education & outreach• Applications & knowledge transfer
Characteristics: • Long term• Serve individual investigators• Accountable
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