Stu Hamilton
Senior Hydrologist
Hydrology field work done today, if managed well, becomes part of a legacy of information that will serve for generations to come. As an avid canoeist and whitewater kayaker I was easily drawn into a career in hydrometry in spite of an undergraduate education in biology. Shortly after graduating from the University of Alaska I started work with the Water Survey of Canada in Whitehorse, Yukon. The initial appeal was the freedom to travel extensively to some of the most beautiful landscapes on the planet to measure streamflow. The highlight of my career was measuring 7040 m
3s
-1 of flow on the Porcupine River using a small, under-powered, aluminum skiff, kevlar tagline and a 150 pound sounding weight. It took 4 tries to string the line, while uprooted trees and large ice floes came down the river. I am guilty of being a data philosopher. I think we have to first be able to clearly articulate what an ideal data set should look like and then we can influence the direction of technological development to make that ideal achievable.
Webinar Helps Thousands Learn USGS Best Practices for Modernizing Water Time-Series Data Collection & Processing Over 2,600 water professionals registered for this week’s USGS Webinar: Modernizing Water Time-Series Data Collection & Processing featuring expert hydrologist Joseph Nielsen. The event, likely the largest in the industry, sold out. All members of the industry are now invited to watch the recording! We believe that sound environmental decisions are a critical legacy for future generations and the ongoing health of our planet. This belief drives our company to build great software solutions that simplify data management, analysis, and information sharing. This belief also … Read More
Good data lead to good outcomes! Most of us have the luxury of taking our data for granted. Without the experience of what would happen if we didn’t have data to inform our decisions we lack appreciation for the difference it makes in our lives. I recently had the great pleasure of meeting with the hydrologists at MARN in El Salvador and, as best as I can, this is their story. Dynamic geography and a rich, often tragic, history combine to create a culture of resilience in El Salvador. People shape the landscape and the landscape shapes the people. Entire … Read More
I recently had the very great pleasure of meeting Jeff and Marianne Watson of New Zealand – the power couple of stream hydrography. I learned a lot from our discussions – the differences in stream gauging techniques and methods between New Zealand and North America can sometimes be traced to differences in geo-physical realities but sometimes the differences are just plain puzzling. A project that will no doubt keep me in touch with the Watsons for many years will be trying to trace the source of methodological divergence. Why has the mid-section method been adopted in some jurisdictions of the … Read More
My last post on water footprint has generated quite a bit of feedback. The concept definitely resonates with a lot of people. I was thinking about water smart choices on the menu of a restaurant at the SeaTac airport yesterday and came to one of my favorites: Wild Salmon. The waiter was no doubt puzzled by how long I was taking to make my selection. I was trying to figure out how to even calculate the water demand for a serving of salmon. What I came to was that it is the product of contact surface area times contact water … Read More
To mark World Water Day at Aquatic Informatics we watched the movie ‘Last Call at the Oasis’. In discussion about the issues raised by this movie one of our senior developers expressed surprise at the magnitude of the water footprint for everyday products. For example, the water footprint for a t-shirt was given as 700 gallons! I don’t know whether the notion of accounting for your water footprint will catch on or not. A few years ago the idea of calculating your carbon footprint got quite a bit of press and even though carbon calculators have never caught on the … Read More
