Project and Water News

To improve access to high-performance computing for water resource managers and researchers, CI-WATER is developing a suite of resources that will be released over the coming months.

The Tethys App Development platform, released earlier this year, is being joined by Tethys Cluster, ADHydro, HydroGate, and more.  Numerous apps and models are being created as well, such as the Canned GSSHA App, TMaps Tool and App, Observed Data App, and the ECMWF-RAPID Flood Prediction Tool.

The models and apps serve as use-cases for the development tools and as resources that water managers and researchers can use as-is or adapt to their own needs.

iUTAH is now accepting applications for its 2015 Summer Institute, which will bring together teachers, high school students and undergraduates to conduct field research in Heber Valley and learn more about water science. Stipends are available.

Funded by Utah EPSCoR, a CI-WATER partner, iUTAH is an interdisciplinary research and training program aimed at strengthening science for Utah’s water future.

You have data. A lot of it. Someone else has the high-performance computer systems to help you make sense from it. Left hand, meet right hand.

If only it was that simple.

Hydrological researchers, modelers and water managers have been faced with a dilemma. Become experts in high-performance computing (HPC), or keep using systems and models that can’t accommodate the floods of new data and higher resolution simulations now available.

CI-WATER researchers call the high wall between water researchers and HPC resources “the digital divide”—and they’re working on bringing it down.

Their work includes developing cloud-based modeling systems that use data-rich spatial databases and other resources, while also building simple web interfaces so that the engineers, decision-makers, advocacy groups and the public can use these robust models. Challenges the team has overcome includes converting data sets into a standard format so information about broader geographic areas can be consolidated and comparisons may be made.

Next week, CI-WATER partner Utah State University hosts the 2015 Spring Runoff Conference. The interdisciplinary event facilitates the exchange of ideas on water-related issues in the Intermountain West. On Tuesday, March 31, panels will focus on “Water Body Connectivity and the Clean Water Act,” and on Wednesday, April 1, the focus is on “Environmental Flows in a Time of Drought.”