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EOS, TRANSACTIONS AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION, VOL. 87, NO. 23, doi:10.1029/2006EO230004, 2006

Survey Provides Guidance for Consortium's Hydrologic Measurement Facility

David Robinson

Department of Geophysics, Stanford University, California, USA


John Selker

Department of Biological and Ecological Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA


Breck Bowden

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA


Jonathan Duncan

CUAHSI, Washington, DC, USA


John Durant

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA


Rick Hooper

CUAHSI, Washington, DC, USA


Jennifer Jacobs

Department of Civil Engineering, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, USA


Rosemary Knight

Department of Geophysics, Stanford University, California, USA


Abstract

The Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Sciences, Inc. (CUAHSI) began the Hydrologic Measurement Facility (HMF) program in June 2005 to advance hydrologic measurement capability within the research community. To provide guidance for this effort, a recent survey assessed the level of need among the hydrological sciences community for community instruments and facilities. The survey aimed to identify technologies and methodologies that could make major advances in the hydrologic sciences. Between 1 November 2005 and 15 January 2006, 363 responses were returned. (45%from hydrologists, 15% soil scientists, 12% geophysicists, 11% biogeochemists, 3% ecologists, 3%geomorphologists, and 11% other disciplines). One question asked respondents to identify what was most needed to make progress in hydrologic sciences among 23 options about measurements, instruments, and facilities. Results showed that 80.6 percent of respondents favored improving the integration between measurement and modeling methods; 79.7 percent supported improving spatial resolution of measurements; 77.3 percent thought the ability to make more/better measurements, for example, through distributed sensor networks was important; and 76.4 percent thought that improving the ability to measure and quantify water in the subsurface was necessary. There was also strong support for providing access to equipment costing over $200,000, and for accompanying that access with technical support for deployment and data interpretation.

Published 6 June 2006.

Index Terms: 1895 Hydrology: Instruments and techniques: monitoring; 1899 Hydrology: General or miscellaneous.

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Citation: Robinson, D., J. Selker, B. Bowden, J. Duncan, J. Durant, R. Hooper, J. Jacobs, and R. Knight (2006), Survey Provides Guidance for Consortium's Hydrologic Measurement Facility, Eos Trans. AGU, 87(23), doi:10.1029/2006EO230004.