CUAHSI SURVEY RESULTS AT VIRGINIA TECH

Nimmy Ravindran and Yao Liang

Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Virginia Tech

CUAHSI HIS SURVEY

Objective: To analyze how hydrologic information is used at Virginia Tech among different interdisciplinary fields.

Participation: Members of Departments of Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering and Geological sciences

Survey methods: A paper based survey

Survey Analysis and Results

Survey was divided into multiple sections to include –

Systems/Software,

Hydrologic Data and Information,

Data Standards,

Role of HIS

Systems/Software Software usage and independence of HIS

system. About 75% of the participants uses

Windows XP/NT for research.

For data analysis programming about 75% of participants uses programming languages C++/Java

Other software such as IDL is used for visualization of the data.

About 50% of users believe that CUAHSI HIS software should work on all computer systems.

75% of participants consider CUAHSI HIS software independence with other 3rd party software as not essential.

Systems Usage for Research

Window s XP

Linux

Nonespecif ied

Systems/Software Software Functionality with priority of inclusion

in HIS on a scale of 1-5 (1 = low and 5 = high)1. 50% of participants considered Data storage and retrieval on a

score 3 and above.

2. 75% considered the inclusion of visualization of data (time series and spatial) in HIS as high priority.

3. The inclusion of Statistical analysis (Univariate and Multivariate) is considered as high priority by about 75% of participants.

4. About 50% believe that presentation of data to non-technical audiences as low priority (3)

Hydrologic Data and Information

Geological Sciences Department usesHydrologic information to calibrate ground-

water flow and aquifer deformation models.

Use data collected from downhole probes (hydrological and geophysical data) for characterizing fracture networks and fracture transmissivity/connectivity and assessment of flow systems.

Hydrologic Data and information Dataset usage

1. Datasets which were considered as high priority for HIS inclusion were National Hydrography dataset, USGS historical stream flow & real-time streamflow, NCDC precipitation.

2. Participants considers most of the datasets have a low level simplicity in usage except USGS historical and real-time streamflow.

75% of participants uses > 20% of the research time for data preparation and pre-processing.

Some of the difficulties in using hydrology datasets mentioned were,

Data integration problems Standardized metadata specifications Inconsistent data formats.

Role of HIS About 50% of participants

considered the potential role of HIS in retrieval of relevant National, Community, and Hydrologic Observatory datasets as highly essential.

Uploading, archival and sharing of hydrologic data with collaborators and the CUAHSI community was considered as an important and high priority role of HIS by 50% of participants.

About 50% of participants considered software system for HIS analysis as an important and high priority role for HIS.

Priority 1

Priority 2

Priority 3

Priority 4

Priority 5

Potential Role of HIS          

Retrieval - Hydrologic datasets     x   xx

Uploading/archival/sharing data     x xx  

Software system for analysis   x   xx  

Interfacing datasets with 3rd party analysis software   x   x x

Sharing models/software/simulation systems   x x x  

Development &,management of community models/software x     x x

Development-community data models & standards for data representation       x xx

Source or repository of information necessary for the interpretation of HIS data   x x x  

Source or repository of educational information   x x x  

Infrastructure Requirements in HIS – Geological sciences Department at Virginia Tech Need to have GPS and InSAR data

(deformation data). Borehole data need to be integrated for

resource availability.The borehole data can be multi-faceted and

can be used to learn about local and regional flow systems.

Comments/Suggestions

Better evaluation & quantification of the most important parameter -Recharge

Precise characterization of parameters such as precipitation, soil moisture and evapotranspiration will help in achieving this