The CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System

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The CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System

• http//his.cuahsi.org/

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Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of
Hydrologic Science, Inc.

• 110 US University members
• 6 affiliate members
• 12 International affiliate members
• (as of March 2009)

An organization representing more than one
hundred United States universities, receives
support from the National Science Foundation to
develop infrastructure and services for the
advancement of hydrologic science and education
in the U.S.
http//www.cuahsi.org/
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HIS Team and Collaborators

• University of Texas at Austin David Maidment
  (PI), Tim Whiteaker, Ernest To, Bryan Enslein,
  Kate Marney
• San Diego Supercomputer Center Ilya Zaslavsky,
  David Valentine, Tom Whitenack
• Utah State University David Tarboton, Jeff
  Horsburgh, Kim Schreuders, Justin Berger
• Drexel University Michael Piasecki
• University of South Carolina Jon Goodall, Tony
  Castronova
• Idaho State University Dan Ames, Ted Dunsford,
  Teva Veluppillai
• CUAHSI Program Office Rick Hooper, David
  Kirschtel, Conrad Matiuk, Yoori Choi
• WATERS Network Testbed Data Managers
• HIS Standing Committee
• USGS Bob Hirsch, David Briar, Scott McFarlane
• NCDC Rich Baldwin

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What is HIS

• The CUAHSI Hydrologic Information System (HIS)
  provides web services, tools, standards and
  procedures that enhance access to more and better
  data for hydrologic analysis.
• http//his.cuahsi.org

Precipitation
Water quantity
Water quality
Meteorology
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Data Searching What we used to have to do
Searching each data source separately
Michael Piasecki Drexel University
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What HIS enables
Searching all data sources collectively
GetValues
GetValues
GetValues
GetValues
generic request
GetValues
GetValues
Michael Piasecki Drexel University
GetValues
GetValues
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CUAHSI Water Data Services System
Discovery
Access
Analysis
Query, Visualize, and Edit data using ODM Tools
Hydroseek
GIS Matlab Splus R IDL
HIS Desktop HydroExcel
Java C VB
ODM Database
Service Registry
Hydrotagger
WaterML
Streaming Data Loader
GetSites GetSiteInfo GetVariableInfo GetValues
Excel, text
HIS Central
Harvester
Water Metadata Catalog
USGS NWIS
WaterOneFlow Web Service
ODM Data Loader
EPA STORET
NCDC
Others
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Hydroseekhttp//www.hydroseek.org
Bora Beran, Drexel
Supports search by location and type of data
across multiple observation networks including
NWIS and Storet
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Desktop Hydrologic Information System Harvesting
and analyzing data from web services
Observations
Models
GIS
Climate
Remote Sensing
Goal for 2009
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Direct analysis from your favorite analysis
environment. e.g. Excel
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Direct analysis from your favorite analysis
environment. e.g. Matlab
create NWIS Class and an instance of the
class createClassFromWsdl('http//river.sdsc.edu/w
ateroneflow/NWIS/DailyValues.asmx?WSDL') WS
NWISDailyValues GetValues to get the
data siteid'NWIS02087500' bdate'2002-09-30T00
0000' edate'2006-10-16T000000' variable'NWI
S00060' valuesxmlGetValues(WS,siteid,variable,b
date,edate,'')
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WaterML and WaterOneFlow
WaterML is an XML language for communicating
water data WaterOneFlow is a set of web services
based on WaterML

• Set of query functions

• Returns data in WaterML

Slide from David Valentine
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What are the basic attributes to be associated
with each single data value and how can these
best be organized?

• Observations Data Model (ODM)
• A relational database at the single observation
  level (atomic model)
• Stores observation data made at points
• Metadata for unambiguous interpretation
• Traceable heritage from raw measurements to
  usable information
• Standard format for data sharing
• Cross dimension retrieval and analysis

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CUAHSI Observations Data Model
http//his.cuahsi.org/odmdatabases.html
Horsburgh, J. S., D. G. Tarboton, D. R. Maidment
and I. Zaslavsky, (2008), A Relational Model for
Environmental and Water Resources Data, Water
Resour. Res., 44 W05406, doi10.1029/2007WR006392
.
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Site Attributes
SiteCode, e.g. NWIS10109000 SiteName, e.g. Logan
River Near Logan, UT Latitude, Longitude
Geographic coordinates of site LatLongDatum
Spatial reference system of latitude and
longitude Elevation_m Elevation of the
site VerticalDatum Datum of the site
elevation Local X, Local Y Local coordinates of
site LocalProjection Spatial reference system of
local coordinates PosAccuracy_m Positional
Accuracy State, e.g. Utah County, e.g. Cache
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Independent of, but can be coupled to Geographic
Representation
Arc Hydro or NHD
ODM
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Sites
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SiteID
SiteCode
SiteName
OR
Latitude
Longitude

CouplingTable
1
SiteID
HydroID
1
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Stage and Streamflow Example
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Loading data into ODM
ODM Data Loader

• Interactive ODM Data Loader
• Loads data from spreadsheets and comma separated
  tables in simple format
• Streaming Data Loader (SDL)
• Loads data from datalogger files on a prescribed
  schedule
• Interactive configuration
• SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS)
• Microsoft application accompanying SQL Server
  useful for programming complex loading or data
  management functions

SDL
SSIS
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Dynamic controlled vocabulary moderation system
ODM Data Manager
ODM Website
ODM Tools
ODM Controlled Vocabulary Moderator
XML
Master ODM Controlled Vocabulary
Local ODM Database
ODM Controlled Vocabulary Web Services
Local Server
http//his.cuahsi.org/mastercvreg.html
From Jeff Horsburgh
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HIS Central

• Publishers
• Register a data service
• Users
• Find a data service
• Supported by
• Metadata Catalog

http//hiscentral.cuahsi.org
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HydroTagger
Ontology A hierarchy of concepts
Each Variable in your data is connected to a
corresponding Concept
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National Web Services implemented to date

• NWIS daily value data (e.g., daily average
  streamflow)
• NWIS groundwater data
• NWIS real time data
• NWIS instantaneous irregular data (field
  measurements, water quality)
• ORNL Daymet Meteorological model
• NCEP North American Mesoscale (NAM) Weather
  Research and Forecasting (WRF) model
• EPA STORET water quality data
• NASA MODIS Atmospheric data derived from remote
  sensing

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HIS Implementation in WATERS Network Information
System
National Hydrologic Information Server San Diego
Supercomputer Center

• 11 WATERS Network test bed projects
• 16 ODM instances (some test beds have more than
  one ODM instance)
• Data from 1246 sites, of these, 167 sites are
  operated by WATERS investigators

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Prototype Texas HIS

• TWDB is supporting a small project at University
  of Texas to start building a prototype Texas
  Hydrologic Information System

HIS servers at data sources (State
agencies, River authorities, Water Districts,
Cities, Counties.)
Web
Services
Texas Hydrologic Information Server (at
TNRIS) Texas Observations Catalogs and some state
water datasets
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Intermountain Constellation of Experimental
WATERsheds (ICEWATER)
The Inland Northwest Research Alliance (INRA)
Water Research Consortium is establishing a HIS
Network to share experimental watershed data to
address regional water resources challenges
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How CUAHSI works with agencies

1. Establish an agreement with the agency
2. Identify the scope of the service
3. Translate the semantics of the service to WaterML
4. Include agency personnel in OGC/WMO Hydrology
   Domain Working Group
5. Develop a first draft of the web service
6. Perform unit testing, over a series of validation
   cases
7. Harvest an observations metadata catalog for
   agency data
8. Develop a procedure for catalog updates
9. Document and register the water data service at
   HISCentral
10. Review and test the service together with the
    agency, for possible approval as operational

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Demonstrations

• Hydroseek http//www.hydroseek.net
• Little Bear River http//littlebearriver.usu.edu/
  
• HydroExcel

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Ideas for SWSI application

• HIS Server display of SWSI
• ODM of SWSI
• Input data used to calculate SWSI
• Calculated SWSI values
• WaterML based Web Services
• Web Map/Feature/Raster geospatial data services
• Map based display of SWSI

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Ideas for SWSI application

• SWSI viewer as HIS Desktop/Mapwindow plugin
• Access SWSI calculation inputs
• Access published SWSI values
• Access published SWSI maps
• Compute and display custom SWSI products

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Conclusions

• Data Storage in an Observations Data Model (ODM)
• Data Access through internet-based Water Data
  Services using a consistent data language, called
  WaterML
• Data Indexing through a National Water Metadata
  Catalog
• Data Discovery through federated map and thematic
  keyword search system

The combination of these capabilities creates a
common window on water observations data for the
United States unlike any that has existed before.