Thanos Papanicolaou
IIHR - Hydroscience & Engineering, The University of Iowa

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Application Note: Watershed Studies
 
Watershed modeling: Watershed related processes are non-linear in nature due to complex interactions in pedology, geology, biology and hydrology and remain all-together a challenging problem with several societal implications.  Some of the perplex questions associated with watershed processes are the effects of scale in monitoring and modeling, the integration of all phases (i.e., surface and subsurface) in monitoring and modeling, and the development of economic and environmental indicators for alternative scenarios and modeling assessment purposes.  Recognizing the critical need for developing an integrated and scientifically sound framework in watershed research, interdisciplinary groups began to emerge, beyond traditional discipline, some innovative concepts for watershed modeling.
   
Digital watershed: As a part of collaborative effort with the Consortium of Universities for Advancement of Hydrologic Sciences, Inc. (CUAHSI), a hydrologic information system was developed. The hydrologic information system is intended to support data storage, analysis, and modeling of the movement of water and the transport of constituents. The hydrologic system includes a digital watershed for representing various components of the hydrologic system, a framework for computing fluxes, flow-paths, and residence times for various components within the digital watershed, and tools for computing mass balance within the digital watershed. The concept of hydrologic information system was demonstrated by applying it to the Neuse Basin in North Carolina.