Original Waternet Proposal:

A "Solutions Network" proposal selected for funding in response to NASA-CAN NN-H-04-Z-YO-010-C: Decision Support through Earth Science Results
Summary WaterNet poster jpg (1.5Mb)

Paul R. Houser9 (PI), W. Pozzi1, B. Imam2, R. Schiffer3, C. Schlosser4, H. Gupta5, C. Welty6, C. Vorosmarty7, D. Matthews8, R. Lawford,3 B. Fekete7

1Center for Research on Environment and Water, Calverton, MD 20705 2University of California; Irvine, CA 92697-2175 3Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center, Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County; Baltimore, MD 21250 4MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, Boston, MA 02139 5University of Arizona; Tucson, AZ 85721 6Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education, Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County; Baltimore MD 21250 7CUNY Envrionmental Cross-Roads Initiative, City College New York, NY, NY 10031 8Hydromet DSS, LLC, Silverthorne, CO 80498-1848 9George Mason University, Fairfax, VA

Seminars and Presentations

Project Abstract

Earth is a unique, living planet due to the abundance and vigorous cycling of water throughout the global environment. Water is essential to life and directly impacts and constrains society's welfare, progress, and sustainable growth, and is continuously being transformed by climate change, erosion, pollution, and engineering practices. The water cycle is a critical resource for industry, agriculture, natural ecosystems, fisheries, aquaculture, hydroelectric power, recreation, and water supply, and is central to drought, flood, transportation-aviation, and disease hazards. It is therefore a national priority to use advancements in scientific observations and knowledge to develop solutions to the water challenges faced by society. NASA's unique role is to use its view from space to improve water and energy cycle monitoring and prediction. NASA has collected substantial water cycle information and knowledge that must be transitioned to develop solutions for all twelve National Priority Application (NPA) areas. NASA cannot achieve this goal alone---it must establish collaborations and interoperability with existing networks and nodes of research organizations, operational agencies, science communities, and private industry.
Therefore, we propose to develop WaterNet: The NASA Water Cycle Solutions Network, whose goal is to improve and optimize the sustained ability of water cycle researchers, stakeholders, organizations and networks to interact, identify, harness, and extend NASA research results to augment decision support tools and meet national needs. We will develop WaterNet by engaging relevant NASA water cycle research resources and community-of-practice organizations to develop what we term an "actionable database" that can be used to communicate and connect NASA Water cycle research Results (NWRs) towards the improvement of water-related Decision Support Tools (DSTs). An actionable database includes enough sufficient knowledge about its nodes and their heritage so that connections between these nodes are identifiable and robust. Recognizing the many existing highly valuable water-related science and application networks, we will focus the balance of our efforts on enabling their interoperability in a solutions network context. We will initially focus on identification, collection, and analysis of the two end points, these being the NWRs and water related DSTs. We will then develop strategies to connect these two end points via innovative communication strategies, improved user access to NASA resources, improved water cycle research community appreciation for DST requirements, and improved identification of pathways for progress. Finally, we will develop relevant benchmarking and metrics, to understand the network's characteristics, to optimize its performance, and to establish sustainability. The WaterNet will deliver numerous pre-evaluation reports that will identify the pathways for improving the collective ability of the water cycle community to routinely harness NWRs that address crosscutting water cycle challenges.

NASA Earth observation satellites related to water and energy missions.
Link to full size 1.3Mb 2219x1529 image.
Figure 1:Recent and planned satellite missions to observe the global energy and water cycle.

Solutions network baseline

The need for understanding water cycle variability and its relationships with water availability and water-related natural hazards are well documented. This has provided a justification for wide ranging efforts to promote adequate observations (and historic reconstructions) to quantify the variability of water and energy cycle components.

Since the water cycle is fundamental to virtually all twelve NPAs, we envision a wide range of water-related WaterNet partners. A sampling of the DSTs used by the water cycle community is shown in Table 1. The primary WaterNet focus will be interaction with federal agencies or groups having national or broad application of water cycle data.

WaterNet: TABLE 1
NPA Water Cycle Relevance Example DSTs Value & Benefits to Citizens & Society
Agricultural Efficiency Improved production and yield prediction through water availability, and improved weather, climate & hazard prediction Crop Assessment Data Retrieval and Evaluation PECAD/(CADRE) POC Brad Doom Reduction in production costs; Better seaonal yield estimates; Early warning of food shortages
Air Quality Quantify atmospheric nitrogen deposition to water bodies as major contaminent
Provide accurate precipitation data		 Community Multiscale Air Quality Modeling System (CMAQ) POC: Kenneth L. Schere /
Air Quality Index (AQI) POC: Doreen Neil		 Reduction of the following: lung-related diseases, premature death, hospital admissions /
Improve crop resiliency/estimates; pollution reports
Aviation Turbulence, oceanic convective weather, and ceiling/visibility,precipitation, icing National Air Space Aviation Weather Research Program (NAS-AWRP) POC: Gloria Kulesa Improved safety, efficiency, earlier warnings of hazardous weather, reduction in the cost of flying
Carbon Management Provide accurate precipitation SM and ET for improved carbon flux estimates Carbon Query and Evaluation Support Tools (CQUEST) POC: Dr. Christopher Potter Improved efficiency in crop production, climate change mitigation
Coastal Mgmt Providing water availability and stresses on these systems; Provide accurate precipitation, salinity, and runoff data /
Providing water availability and stresses		 Coral Reef Early Warning System (CREWS) POC: Jim Hendee /
General NOAA Oil Modeling Environment (GNOME) POC: Gwen Jackson		 Alerting to coral bleaching conditions in the Florida Keys and the Great Barrier Reef /
Understand & mitigate effects of oil and hazardous materials in waters and along coasts; Improve tourism
Disaster Mgmt Prediction, assessment, and management of drought, wildfire, hurricane, climate, flooding hazards by providing precipitation, runoff, soil moisture and snow data. Advanced Weather System Interactive Warning System (AWIPS) POC: TBD /
Hazards U.S. (HAZUS), POC: Claire Drury		 Disseminate warnings including flood/forecasts in rapid, highly reliable manner /
Identify, prioritize high-risk communities, Improve disaster response, Community planning
Ecological Forecasting Biodiversity conservation and ecological sustainability, protected area management and marine fisheries forecasting using moisture, precipitatino and ET Regional Visualization & Monitoring System (SERVIR) POC: Dan Irwin /
Terrestrial Observation & Predication System (TOPS) POC: Ramakrishna Nemani		 Predict the impacts of changing land-use patterns & climate on ecosystem Develop ecological forecasts /
Enhance management decisions related to floods, draught, human health, and agricultural production
Energy Mgmt Energy production and efficiency using accurate global solar radiation, precipitatin, snow, soil moisture, runoff Renewable Energy Technologies Screen (RETScreen) POC: Gregory J. Lend /
Micropower Optimization Mode (HOMER)		 Optimize renewable energy systems /
Find cost-effective methods of energy distribution
Homeland Security Water supply info enabling response, recovery and mitigation to threats and military mobility prediction Interagency Modeling and Atmospheric Assessment Center (IMAAC) POC: Stephen Ambrose /
Integrated Operations Facility (IOF) POC: TBD		 Anticipate disaster-related damage, improve response /
Improve disaster response; reduction in lives lost; reduction in damage cost and time to recover
Invasive Species Primary factor controlling invasive species is accurate precipitation data Invasive Species Forecasting System (ISFS) POC: Michael T. Frame Improvement in the quality of health for man, animals and plants.
Public Health Epidemiologic surveillance systems for infectious disease, environmental health, and public health preparedness directly aided by precipitation and soil moisture Rapid Syndrome Validation Project (RSVP) POC: TBD /
Malaria Modeling and Surveillance (MMS) POC: Richard Kiang		 Provide early warning for harmful exposures, reduce environmental related diseases /
Increase warning time; reduce pesticide/drug resistance
Water Mgmt Provide accurate precipitation, snow, soil moisture, ET, and runoff data for water management decision support RiverWare, POC: T. Flup, D. Frevert, D. Matthews, M. Brilly, GGregoric; CALSIM: P. Fujitani, L. Peterson; HECRAS: D. Davis; WMS: J.Jorgeson /
Better Assessment Science Integrating Point & Nonpoint Sources (BASINS), POC: R. Kinseson		 Forecasting and long-term water management planning, water supply quantity and hydrologic runoff and floods /
Improved impaired surface waters, storm water management issues, drinking water source protection; improvement in monitoring of coast area water
Table 1: A selection of water-cycle relevant DSTs and the potential value of NASA water cycle research.

Currently, the WaterNet team has formal and informal affiliations with a wide range of national and international water cycle related agencies, industry and international organizations that will be formalized and expanded as part of this project.

WaterNet: TABLE 2
Network Description
CUAHSI The Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI) is a corporation of 100 univeristy member institutions founded in 2001 to develop and enable a research agenda for the hydrologic science community. CUAHSI's program calls for research to be carried out at much larger spatial scales than has been done in the past, to integrate all parts of the terrestrial hydrologic cycle in addressing research questions, and to link models consisting of an information database coupled with tools for acquiring, analyzing, visualizing, and modeling to distribute and synthesize hydrologic data.
CBP Columbia Basin Project is a multi-state (MT, WA, ID, OR) program that involves a network of 175 irrigation districts, Grand Coulee Dam, and related storage facilites on the Columbia River and tributaries that produce large quantities of hydropower, agricultural products, and manage the riverine ecosystems of this region. This project is managed by Reclamation in conjunction with the Bonneville Power Administration, British Columbia Power of Canada and state and local entities. DSTs are used in the operation and planning of water resources management in this area.
CVP Central VAlley Project of California, operated by the California Department of Water Resources, Reclamation, US Army Corps of Engineers, and a network of irrigation and power companies. The Central VAlley Operators Office uses a variety of DSTs for daily and monthly operational decision-making on the 150 reservoirs and hundreds of irrigation canals and laterals throughout the Central Valley.
URGOM Upper Rio Grande Water Operators Model and netowrk of users including the US ACE, USGD, Reclamation, and the irrigation districts and municipalities that use water from the Rio Grande Basin. This DST and user netowrk provide water management solutions to this water-scarce region which has headwaters in the San Juan Mountains of Colorade and involves NM, TX and Mexico, and the Colorado River Basin diversions.
GMES GMES is a joint initiative of the European Commission and the European Space Agency, designed to establish a European capacity for the provision and use of operational information for Global Monitoring of Environment and Security (GMES).
PUB The IAHS Decade on Predictions in Ungauged Basins (PUB) is aimed at formulating and implementing appropriate science programs to engage and energize he scientific community, in a coordinated manner, towards achieving major advances in the capacity to make predictions in ungauged basins.
GWSP The Global Water System Project (GWSP) will undertake key cross-cutting activities such as generating an information database on global water system change, facilitating a discourse on water between the social and natural sciences, and developing scenario models for the global water system.
HELP Hydrology for the Environment, Life and Policy (HELP) is designed to establish a global network of catchments to improve the links between hydrology and the needs of society. As a cross-cutting program of the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme, HELP is expected to contribute the the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP), and the Hydrology and Water Resources Programme of WMO (HWRP).
AWARE Available Water Resource in the Mountain Environment, an EU project involving Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia and Spain and eight research labs and universities to establish a geo-service for tailoring models and data assimilation systems to improve forecasting and management of mountain water resources, including snowpack, floods, avalanches, and related water-cycle hydrologic processes.
EFFS European Flood Forecast System--a consortium of EU nations studying methods to improve flood predictions and warnings in central and southern Europe, part of the EU and NATO scientific community.
UCOWR The Universities Council on Water Resources (UCOWR) organization is comprised of about 90 universities in the United States and throughout the world. Member institutions engage in education, research, public service, international activities, and information support for policy development related to water resources. Each member university appoints four faculty members as UCOWR lead delegates. Others may join as individual members.
HON Hydrological Observatory Network--an emerging network of hydrologic observations in Europe developed to monitor global change impacts on hydrology, flood frequency and intensity, hydrologic predictions within the EU fashioned after US CUAHSI.
ALPRESERV Alpine reservoir sustainable management considering ecological and economic aspects within EU high alpine lakes and regions using ecological and hydrological decision-making tools and engineering management systems.
GIO A NASA Level-II Program, Geosciences Interoperability Office (GIO), that is responsible for agency-wide leadership of the development, promotion and implementation of geospatial interoperability through open standards.
ESG A NASA funded GIO project, the Earth-Sun System Gateway (ESG) is an interoperable prototype portal which enables the community to access, view, layer and interact with dynamically updated results from NASA Earth-Sun System research, technology, education, and applied sciences programs.
DAAC Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) located at NASA/GSFC is one of eight NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) DAACs that offer Earth science data, information, and services to research scientists, applications scientists, applications users, and students. The goal is to server users Earth science data and information needs.
GLOBE GLOBE (Global Learning and Observatories to Benefit the Environment) is a worldwide hands-on, primary and secondary school-based education and science program. GLOBE is an interagency program funded by NASA and NSF, supported by the US Department of State, and implementedthrough a cooperative agreement between NASA, UCAR, and CSU. It is also a cooperative effort of schools in partnership with colleges and universities, state and local school systems and non-government organizations.
ECHO The NASA EOS ClearingHOuse (ECHO) supports efficient discovery and access to Earth Scienced data. It is a metadata clearinghouse and order broker being built by NASA's Earth Science and Information System. In the ECHO community, Data Partners provide metadata to represent Earth Science data holdings. Client Partners develop software applications to access the Earth Science metadata.
Table 2: A selection of existing water cycle related science and stakeholder networks; examples of networks to be engaged in WaterNet.

Project objective, strategy and approach

This WaterNet project will improve and optimize the sustained ability of water cycle researchers, stakeholders, organizatins and networks to interact, identify, harness, and extend NASA research results to augment decision support tools and meet national needs. We adopt an end-to-end systems engineering strategy to establish pathways and partnerships between NASA's water cycle focus area research investments and various decision support needs, as follows:
Figure 2: The WaterNet integrated system solutions approach.

Figure 3: The WaterNet Solution Network Diagram is a general outline of how the project will identify the nodes and the relationships between them during the period of performance.

Anticipated results and improvements

Water is essential to life and is central to society's welfare, progress and sustainable economic growth by serving as a resource for industry, agriculture, natural ecosystems, fisheries, aquaculture, hydroelectric power, recreation, and water supply. NASA's unique vocation is to produce key scientific contributions using global observatinos from space and to exploit these contributions from improved Earth system monitoring and prediction. As such, NASA's Earth science programs have collected and archived substantial water cycle information archives and knowledge that must be integrated and reanalyzed to make decisive contribution towards all twelve NPAs. Prior analysis has called for the need for catalyzing the adoption of NASA geophysical data products (e.g. Walsh et. al 2000). However, NASA alone cannot achieve the ultimate goal of improved operational environmental assessments, predictions and applicatins and therefore must establish collaborations with other research organizatins, operational agencies, the scientific community and private industry. The proposed WaterNet will establish the pathways and partnerships between NASA's vast water cycle focus area research investments and various decision support needs. The resulting Waternet will improve the collective ability of water cycle scientists, managers and stakeholders to routinely harness NWRs to address crosscutting water cycle assessment, prediction and management challenges. The NASA Applied Sciences Program is developing activities that evaluate, verify, and benchmark solutions that integrate Earth science observatins and predictins resulting from NASA research into DSTs of partnering organizations for National Priority Applications (NPAs). Our goal to improve and optimize the sustained ability of water cycle researchers, stakeholders, organizations and networks to interact, identify, harness, and extend NASA research results to augment decision support tools and meet national needs will contribute directly to this Program goal. We embrace and employ and "end-to-end" systems engineering approach to extend NASA Water Cycle Research Results (NWRs) to policy, business, and management decisions through organizational collaborations and will enable the assimilation of NASA water cycle results (satellite observations and model predictions to server as inputs to DSTs. Further, we will identify, verify and validate water cycle observations and predictions to improve their capacity to be assimilated into DSTs. We will systematically enable the identification, and eventual evaluation and benchmarking of thses NWRs in DST solutions. Finally our project will entrain not only a broad range of crosscutting water-relevant applications of national scope, but will also enbrace several critical water-relevant international water organizations studying the global water system (e.g. GWSP), attempting to compensate for losses in traditional hydrographic monitoring capacity (e.g. IAHS-PUB), or coping with emerging water management challenges (e.g. HELP).

WaterNet demonstration projects will clearly define specific NPA improvements that may range from enhanced riparian ecosystem sustainability, to reductions in aviation costs and loss of life in natural disasters. The demonstration projects will document (in pre-evaluation reports) the expected value added by specific NASA Earch science research results to improve the decision-making process, thus enhancing the stakeholder and end-user experiences. These will provide explicit examples fo the WaterNet contribution to improving how NASA's research is applied in the various NPAs. Demonstration projects will identify the contributing science organizations, decision-makers, and stakeholders, and quantify the value received by each entity.

Finally, WaterNet is driectly responsive to the nine USGEO societal benefits areas, as follows. Knowledge of soil moisture patterns and cloud processes directly improves weather forecasting (area 1). Improved assessment and prediction of water cycle extremes (flood and drought) directly mitigates loss of life and property from disasters (area 2). Sources and sinks of water directly impact ocean processes and health (area 3). Changes to the water cycle are the consequences of climate change, so we must understand assess, predict, mitigate and adapt to them (area 4). Knowledge of water availability is at the heart of sustainable agriculture and forestry, and combating land degradation (area 5). Water quality, water-borne and insect related disease are primary envrionmental factors of human health and well-being (area 6). Ecological forecasting is centrally dependent on water availability forecasting (area 7). Understanding and predicting the water cycle is obviously critical for protecting and monitoring our water resources (area 8). And energy production, especially hydropower, is dependent on water resources (area 9). Finally, WaterNet is well positioned to contribute to the six near-term opportunities, especially NIDIS, disaster warnings, the global land observation system, air quality assessments and forecasts, and data management.

WaterNet is intended to be an extensive "solution network of networks and nodes", encompassing and interconnecting a large number of water-relevant existing networks, research results, and decision support tools.

WaterNet: TABLE 3
Org. Name Role Node/Network NPA Contact
NASA NASA Energy & Water cycle Study (NEWS) Partner Nat'l Res. Net. All Houser, Schiffer, Belvedere
NASA's Geosciences Interoperability Office (GIO) Affiliate Int'l App. Net. All M.Babacus
Earth-Sun System Gateway (ESG) Affiliate Nat'l App. Net. All M.Babacus
Geospatial Applications & Interoperability (GAI) Affiliate Nat'l App. Net. All M.Babacus
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) holds more than 15,000 descriptions Affiliate Int'l App. Net. All L.Olsen
Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Affiliate Nat'l App. Net. All E.Levine
EOS Clearing HOuse (ECHO) Affiliate Nat'l App. Net. All M.Esfandiari
Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) ---- ---- ---- ----
Academic Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science (CUAHSI) 100+ members Partner Nat'l App. Net. ---- C.Welty
Universities Council on Water Resources (UCOWR) 86 Universities in US & World Affiliate Int'l App. Net. All C.Lant
Collaborative Large-Scale Engineering Analysis Network for Environment Research (CLEANER) Associate Nat'l App. Net. All C.Welty
Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Associate Nat'l App. Net. Eco. F'cast C.Welty
National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) Associate Nat'l App. Net. Eco. F'cast C.Welty
Sustainability of semi-Arid Hydrology and Riparian Areas (SAHRA) Partner Local App. Node All J.Shuttleworth
Hydrology Web Associate Local App. Net All T.Scheibe
Industry Terrapin Asset Management, LLC Associate Local App. Node ---- R.Parsley
Risk Management Solutions (RMS) Associate Int'l App. Node Water Mgmt D.Lohmann
AMEC Associate Nat'l App. Node All S.Jencen
AMEC Natureserve Associate Nat'l App. Node All D.Grossman
Gov't NOAA's National Climate Data Center (NCDC) Worlds largest archive Associate Nat'l Res. Net All T.Karl
US Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) Associate Nat'l App. Net Water Mgmt F.Frevert
US Army Corps of Engineers and Development Center (USACE/ERDC) Affiliate Nat'l App. Node Water Mgmt Jorgeson
NWS/California Nevade River Forecast Center (NWCNRFC) Affiliate/Partner ---- Water Mgmt R.Hartman/L.Peterson,D.Matthews
USDA Agriculture Research Service (USDA/ARS) Partner ---- Agriculture M.Weltz
National Weather Service (NWS) Associate Nat'l App Net. All G.Carter
National Water & Climate Center (NWCC) Associate Nat'l App Net All P.Pasteris
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Services/West, National Technology Support Center (NRCS) Associate Nat'l App Net Air Quality G.Johnson
DHS Interagency Modeling & Atmospheric Assessment Center (IMAC) Associate Nat'l App Node Homeland Security N.Suski
DSTs Coral Reef Early Warning System (CREWS) Affiliate Nat'l App Node Coastal J.Hendee
EPA/Community Multiscale Air Quality Model (CMAQ) Affiliate Nat'l App Node Air Quality K.Schere
RetScreen-Energy Affiliate Nat'l App Node Energy G.Leng
Invasive Species Forecasting System (ISFS) Affiliate Nat'l App Node Inv. Species A.Simpson
Malaria Modelling & Surveillance (MMS) Affiliate Nat'l App Node Public Health R.Kiang
Terrestrial Observation & Prediction System (TOPS) Associate Nat'l App Node Ecological F'casting R.Nemani
Carbon Query & Evaluation Support Tools (CQUEST) Associate Nat'l App Node Carbon C.Potter
Labs NCAR Affiliate Nat'l App Net Aviation C.L.Winter
NCAR's Research Application Laboratory (RAL) Affiliate/Partner Nat'l App Net Aviation R.Rassmussen/D.Matthews
Non-Profit Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) Federation Includes more than 80 member orgs Affiliate Nat'l Res Net All R.Wertz
US Nat'l Academies Water Information Network (100+ peer reviewed reports) Associate Nat'l Res Net All W.Logan
Int'l UN Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Associate Int'l App Net All M.Borell
World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) Associate Int'l App Net All G.Sommeria
Global Water System Project (GWSP) Partner Int'l App Net ---- C.Vorosmarty
Global Energy & Water Experiment cycle (GEWEX) Partner Int'l App Net All R.Schiffer
EU AWARE (Available Water Resource) Affiliate Int'l App Node Water Mgmt B.Majes
Hydrology for the Environment, Life & Policy (HELP) Associate Int'l App Net All J.Triggs
Environmental Agency of the Republic of Slovenia (EARS) Affiliate Int'l App Node Water Mgmt J.Roskar
Graz University of Technology (TUG) Affiliate Int'l App Node Water Mgmt G.Heigerth
Associate: A no cost contract has been established with the intention of developing collaboration.
Affiliate: An in-kind commitment has been made to share or provide resources.
Partner: A WaterNet team member is funded to enable the collaboration.
App: potential application(s) of NASA water cycle research result(s).
Res: water cycle research result(s).
Net: a group or network of research results or decision support tools.
Node: an individual research result or decision support tool.
Table 3: WaterNet relationships with contact organizations.
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Last Updated: 2 October 2009