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Working Group
Working Group Charter
Charter last updated 4 June 2006
Background:
The Applied Sciences Program within the NASA Science Mission Directorate focuses on extending the benefits of NASA Earth-Sun science research results to applications of national priority. The Applied Sciences Program collaborates with partner organizations to enable the application of NASA's Earth science research results to support and enhance their decision-support capabilities. The Water Resources program (known before 2008 as Water Management) is one of twelve national applications in the Applied Sciences Program. The Water Resources program extends Earth science results (e.g., observations, model outputs, etc.) to enhance partners' decision support capabilities regarding water quality and availability.
The Water Resources program management team seeks to optimize the portfolio of projects, studies, and activities to achieve the program's objectives. The management team relies on information and insights to design, plan, navigate, and execute the program appropriately.
Purpose:The purpose of the Water Resources Working Group is to provide a forum for organizations with water management responsibilities to a) discuss trends, directions, and priorities within the water management community, b) discuss opportunities to integrate Earth science products in water management decision making, and c) provide insights and recommendations on priorities and directions to the NASA Water Resources program.
Approach:The Water Resources Working Group is comprised of professionally- and organizationally-diverse representatives with different perspectives on water management issues and the use of Earth science products in water management decision making. The Working Group will meet periodically (semi-annual or as needed), and the group will primarily meet via teleconferences. The NASA Water Resources program management team will organize the meetings. The Water Resources program management team may share documents, plans, reports, etc. with the Working Group members (as appropriate) for their comments and feedback.
Expectations:NASA expects the Water Resources Working Group to provide recommendations and feedback to the NASA Water Resources program team on the program's direction, products, and priorities to help the program serve the water management community and achieve the NASA Applied Sciences Program's goals.
Working Group Member Biographies & Interests
- Jim Carleton - Environmental Protection Agency
- Don Frevert (Acting) - US Bureau of Reclamation
- Thomas Graziano - NOAA NWS/OHD
- Brian Parsons - American Society of Civil Engineers
- Dale Straw - Colorado Division of Water Resources
- Mike Thomas - Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection
- Kathleen White - Army Corp of Engineers
Jim Carleton - Environmental Protection Agency
James Carleton is an Environmental Engineer with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He has served in their Office of Water, Office of Science and Technology, Standards and Health Protection Division, and Modeling and Information Team. He is developing and calibrating runoff and pollutant transport simulation models of urban watersheds using GIS and landscape scale fate and transport models (HSPF, SWAT). He also participates in the public-private cooperative Brake Pad Partnership, and presents results at stakeholder meetings. He is overseeing a cooperative effort aimed at integrating fate/transport and ecological effects modeling to develop a mechanistic approach to deriving water quality standards and criteria for nutrients. Carleton recieved a BS degree in chemistry and an MS in Environmental Science and Engineering.
Some interests:- BASINS Decision Support Tool
- Next version of BASINS will use open source GIS, MapWindow
- Tools for TMDL modeling
- Heterogeneity of precipitation is not well represented by station data
- Further development of precipitation patterns, heat patterns
- "what if" scenarios for climate change
Don Frevert (Acting) - US Bureau of Reclamation
Donald Frevert is presently a Hydraulic Engineer with River Systems & Meteorology Group, of the Bureau of Reclamation. His major responsibilities include serving as BOR team leader for the interagency Watershed and River Systems Management Program, serving as principle investigator on the Advanced Hydrologic Techniques Program, chairing the organizing committee for the USBR River Systems Management Workshop, directing a variety of reservoir and river basin management studies in the 17 western states and serving as BOR technical lead for the joint Watershed Management Planning exchange program with Japan's Public Works Research Institute. Frevert holds a BS in hydrology, an MSCE in Hydrology & Water Resources, and a PhD in Irrigation & Drainage.
Some interests:- Manage water resources in 17 Western US states
- Manages water supply for flood control, municipal use, recreation, etc.
- Technical service center provides technical support
- Needs: snowpack/snow cover at top of list, rainfall and runoff capabilities are becoming more important, temperature, ET, and windspeed are important
Thomas Graziano - NOAA NWS/OHD
- Chief for Hydrological Services Program at NOAA
- Mission is to produce/issue forecasts and warnings for nation's economy
- Operational science-based organization
- Advanced Hydrological Prediction Service: 10 year program finishes in 2013/2014.
- Seek to improve accuracy, extend range, and quantify certainty of forecast.
- Customers need someone to say "this is the probability of such and such; and these are the recommended actions to take."
- Explore how to quantify and convey information to users in a meaningful way; especially how to communicate risk.
- Seek higher resolution in time and space for forecast program.
- Improve data access for customers/partners.
- Common infrastructure with other agencies is important
- Build a community hydrological prediction system to share/exchange info efficiently.
- Develop flood severity index
- Need snow cover depth info, improved precipitation in area of no radar
- Need improved high resolution radar data for flash flood guides in small watersheds
Brian Parsons - American Society of Civil Engineers
- American Society of Civil Engineers has about 150,000 members
- ASCE has several institutes, particularly the Environmental and Water Resources Institute
- Mutual Operating Understandings (MOU ?) with other professional societies and international groups.
- ASCE Emerging Technology Council is appropriate niche for NASA interaction
Dale Straw - Colorado Division of Water Resources
Dale Straw is a graduate of West Point Military Acadmey and holds MS degrees in both Civil Engineering and Applied Mathematics. He served for 14 years as an active duty commissioned officer in the U.S. Army in the USA, Asia, and Europe. He was a Member, Group Technical Staff, and an Engineering Systems Analyst for 7 years with the Advanced Weapons Program of Texas Instruments Inc. Most recently, he has worked for 10 years for the Colorado Division of Water Resources as an Augmentation Coordinator, Assistant Division Engineer, and a Water Resources Engineer. He has managed the delivery of water to the Arkansas River by irrigation pumpers in Colorado to replace depletions caused by well pumping and has supervised surface water and hydrographic operations on the Arkansas River in Colorado. He has prepared and presented expert testimony in the areas of river operations, water rights administration, and computer modeling in the Kansas v. Colorado Arkansas River Compact litigation before the U.S. Supreme Court. He is now directing projects to improve the computer model used to determine compliance with the Arkansas River Compact, to study the effects of irrigation management and salinity on crop evapotranspiration, and to construct two large weighing lysimeters to develop Penman-Monteith crop coefficients for crops in the Arkansas River Valley of Colorado.
Some interests:- Colorado Division of Water Resources goal is to regulate and administrate use of water in Colorado
- Regulating dam safety with Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, and other agencies.
- Currently designing Decision Support Tools
- Interested in the interaction between surface and groundwater usage
- Colorado has a state hydrological program (others rely on USGS) for gauging streams and surface diversion points; data available close to real-time
- A major focus is on snow/snow-pack monitoring
- Need info to help monitor ongoing drought that began 1997
- In order to transfer water to municipalities, need to know history of the water as an agricultural asset.
- Rely on remote sensing products (thermal, ET) to understand historical aspect of water.
Mike Thomas - Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection
Mike Thomas received his B.S. in Microbiology in 1981, his Master of Engineering degree in Agricultural Engineering in 1984, and his Doctorate in 1988 from the University of Florida. He served as a water and wastewater engineer for a GWC Corporation subsidiary in Jacksonville for 4 years, and moved to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in late 1990. Since 1992, he has specialized in agricultural Best Management Practices and Pollution Prevention. He is currently an engineer with the Nonpoint Source Management Section of the Bureau of Watershed Management at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection
Some interests:- The Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection administers state lands for the Cabinet and lands in the Park Service
- State of Florida has five water management districts
- More growth in Florida equals less water
- Unique situation: elevation in Florida is recorded in tenths of inches, thus not compatible with BASINS tool
- Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) development and implementation has been authorized by state legislation
- Need to monitor over time the wetlands permittance & usage practices currently being implemented
- Seek NASA historical products for staging, current products for monitoring.
- Looking for capability to map Karst limestone geology
- Need high resolution (1-3 meters) data for chlorophyll blooms and early detection of red tide blooms.
- Must link vegetation to phosphorous that is not sediment-based but dissolved
- Need real-time data for EvapoTranspiration and soil moisture
Kathleen White - Army Corp of Engineers
Kathleen White holds BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering. She is a Research Hydraulic Engineer conducting research in the area of river ice with special emphasis on statistical analyses and forecasting and water quality. She also conducts interagency workshops in ice jam data collection, mitigation, and control. She is co-lead of the Corps AML sub-Community of Practice and is a member of the Environmental Community of Practice Steering Committee. She has also provided technical support to the Iraq Ministry of Water Resources from November 2003 to present. She leads the USACE National PDT for FEMA Map Modernization studies and the USACE Climate Focus Group. From 2002 to the Present she is the Focus area leader managing Cold Regions Engineering, Emergency Management, and Water Supply Technologies in the Flood and Coastal Storm Damage Reduction Research Program.
Some interests:- Army Corp of Engineers is responsible for all aspects of water resources management in the US: water control, reservoirs, emergency management, recreation, ecosystem restoration, navigation, etc.
- Army Corp of Engineers monitors over 600 dams.
- Interested in operational use of data
- Seek hyperspectral data to better monitor and regulate water resources.
- Climate variability important for water resources management systems.
- Snow is important, especially in the Pacific NorthWest
- Working with FEMA on disaster management and development of national levee database
- Interested in any remote sensing data that derives information for levees and levee safety
Presentations by Working Group Members
- 1st Water Management Program Workshop, June 13-14 2006 (ftp site)
