Environmental

hydrological data, hydrological methods, hydrology, hydrology blog, hydrology corner, water data, Rating Curves, Monitoring

Will the US Geological Survey Go Metric?

By Stu Hamilton  |  May 15th, 2012  |  Environmental,  Featured Posts  |  1

I was asked the other day if I thought that the USGS would ever go metric. I am unqualified to answer this question but I care about the implications of the issue. I started my field career working in Imperial units (also known as English) before the Water Survey of Canada converted to the International System of units (SI, commonly known as metric) in 1980 so I have a firsthand experience with the process and believe it would be much easier now with the advantage of modern electronic technology. In order to coordinate data sources to tackle the ‘wicked’ 21st … Read More

hydrological data, hydrological methods, hydrology, hydrology blog, hydrology corner, water data, Rating Curves, Monitoring

Do you have enough bananas?

By Stu Hamilton  |  May 9th, 2012  |  Environmental,  Featured Posts  |  3

The rejuvenation of the hydrometric workforce is apparent everywhere I look. The bi-modal demographic of pre-retirees and new recruits is rapidly changing to a positive-skew, long tail, age distribution. This is both exciting and worrisome. The long tail of experienced veterans is continually getting shorter. What is left is a cadre of (mostly) young, very smart, capable, well-educated and enthusiastic stream hydrographers. This transition is very timely given the rapid changes in hydrometric  monitoring technology (e.g. ADCP). The implementation of new technology is actually driving some old field hands to choose to retire. They simply aren’t interested in learning how … Read More

hydrological data, hydrological methods, hydrology, hydrology blog, hydrology corner, water data, Rating Curves, Monitoring

A New Frontier – Rating Curves from Space?

By Stu Hamilton  |  May 1st, 2012  |  Environmental,  Featured Posts  |  0

Early in my career, frequent field visits were necessary to wind the recorder clock; flush the intakes; replace the paper chart; and keep the pen ink reservoir full. Modern gauging technology is much more reliable so the requirement for frequent field visits is primarily to obtain rating measurements. Station health can be monitored remotely; data are communicated in real-time; and solid state electronics require little maintenance resulting in little need for regularly scheduled field visits. What is needed now is some way to reduce our reliance on brute force methods for rating curve calibration and validation. Nathanson et al. (2012) … Read More

hydrological data, hydrological methods, hydrology, hydrology blog, hydrology corner, water data, Rating Curves, Monitoring

Real or Not? Discharge as a Virtual Variable

By Stu Hamilton  |  April 24th, 2012  |  Environmental,  Featured Posts  |  0

Discharge is such a great variable It is so rich in information about everything that has happened upstream and so informative about what will be happening downstream. The dynamics of streamflow are tightly linked to both ecosystem function and economic viability. If only discharge data were real. Beven and Westerberg (2011) argue that “some periods of hydrological data are disinformative in trying to make models as hypotheses about catchment response…”. It is difficult to counter this argument in light of studies such as Jonsson et al. (2002). Two gauging stations in each of five Nordic countries were selected and all … Read More

hydrological data, hydrological methods, hydrology, hydrology blog, hydrology corner, water data, Rating Curves, Monitoring

Virtual Observatories and Snakes in the Grass

By Stu Hamilton  |  April 12th, 2012  |  Environmental,  Featured Posts  |  0

I ended my last post “Amazing GRACE” with a segue to virtual observatories with a call to “… start thinking about our methods of measurement and data management to figure how to combine what remote sensing does well (extensive coverage) with what field observations do well (high resolution).” Virtual observatories are a blend of the things that we observe with the things that we predict, or assume, to be true. The things that we predict, or assume, to be true are derivatives of observational systems. There are many sources of satellite remote sensing information and almost all of these products … Read More

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