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.
   
 

Modeling technologies: The major driving force of the Clear Creek Watershed (CCW) effort is the CyberEnviroNet research group at The University of Iowa.  The CyberEnviroNet includes around 25 scientists and engineers from Geography, Geoscience, Computer Science, and various Engineering Departments.  The group leads diverse research and education projects involving cyberinfrastructure applied to water-resource and environmental concerns.  An outcome of the CyberEnviroNet group’s activities is the emerging Clear Creek Observatory at the headwaters of the CCW.  In addition, members of this group actively participate in CUAHSI, CLEANER, WATERS, and other ongoing NSF-supported activities and initiatives.  On the educational front the group has worked with Kirkwood Community College, one of 16 lead partners in AgrowKnowledge.  The goal of this collaboration was to train students to apply emerging modeling technologies for agriculture, food and natural resource management. Grid, defined as the high performance and flexible access to various resources on the network, was used to integrate locally distributed resources and multidisciplinary experts to form an advanced, sharing and collaborative environment. An infrastructure of flood mitigation grid was developed to illustrate the capabilities on resource access and integration, multi-communication, and platform’s effectiveness.  Flood mitigation grid integrates sensor net for capturing real-time information, data grid for data acquisition and exchange, and Access Grid for multi-communication and decision-making, and also show how Grid platform plays a role of enabling technology to realize application technology.   Most activities were led by IIHR-Hydroscience & Engineering (IIHR) and the Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research (CGRER), both prestigious institutions with international visibility in hydrologic science and environmental engineering.