REVIEW OF THE WATERS NETWORK SCIENCE PLAN
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, D.C.
www.nap.edu
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
500 Fifth Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20001
NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
Support for this study was provided by the National Science Foundation under grant number CBET-0715260. Any opinions, findings, or conclusions and recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-15313-3
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-15313-1
Additional copies of this report are available from the
National Academies Press,
500 5th Street, N.W., Lockbox 285, Washington, DC 20055; (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-3313 (in the Washington metropolitan area); Internet, http://www.nap.edu.
Copyright 2010 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences.
The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Charles M. Vest is president of the National Academy of Engineering.
The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine.
The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Charles M. Vest are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council.
COMMITTEE ON THE REVIEW OF THE WATER AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH SYSTEMS (WATERS) NETWORK
GEORGE M. HORNBERGER, Chair,
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
MARY JO BAEDECKER,
U.S. Geological Survey, Scientist Emeritus, Reston, Virginia
YU-PING CHIN,
Ohio State University, Columbus
GLEN T. DAIGGER,
CH2M Hill, Englewood, Colorado
TONY R. FOUNTAIN,
University of California, San Diego
TIMOTHY K. KRATZ,
University of Wisconsin, Boulder Junction
RICHARD G. LAWFORD,
Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
DANIEL P. LOUCKS,
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
CHARLES R. O’MELIA,
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
STEPHEN POLASKY,
University of Minnesota, St. Paul
NANCY N. RABALAIS,
Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, Chauvin
JOHN T. SCHOLZ,
Florida State University, Tallahassee
THOMAS C. WINTER,
U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado
NRC Staff
STEPHANIE E. JOHNSON, Study Director
MICHAEL J. STOEVER, Research Associate
WATER SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY BOARD
CLAIRE WELTY, Chair,
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
YU-PING CHIN,
Ohio State University, Columbus
OTTO C. DOERING,
Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
JOAN G. EHRENFELD,
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
GERALD E. GALLOWAY,
University of Maryland, College Park
CHARLES N. HAAS,
Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
KENNETH R. HERD,
Southwest Florida Water Management District, Brooksville
JAMES M. HUGHES,
Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
KIMBERLY L. JONES,
Howard University, Washington, DC
MICHAEL J. MCGUIRE,
Michael J. McGuire, Inc., Los Angeles, California
G. TRACY MEHAN,
The Cadmus Group, Inc., Arlington, Virginia
DAVID H. MOREAU,
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
DENNIS D. MURPHY,
University of Nevada, Reno
THOMAS D. O’ROURKE,
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
DONALD I. SIEGEL,
Syracuse University, New York
SOROOSH SOROOSHIAN,
University of California, Irvine
STAFF
STEPHEN D. PARKER, Director
JEFFREY W. JACOBS, Scholar
LAURA J. EHLERS, Senior Program Officer
STEPHANIE E. JOHNSON, Senior Program Officer
LAURA E. HELSABECK, Program Officer
M. JEANNE AQUILINO, Financial and Administrative Associate
ELLEN A. DE GUZMAN, Senior Program Associate
ANITA A. HALL, Senior Program Associate
MICHAEL J. STOEVER, Research Associate
STEPHEN T. RUSSELL, Senior Program Assistant
Preface
For nearly a decade, a substantial group from the hydrologic sciences community has been engaged in discussions about formation of a network of hydrologic observatories. This coincided with a time when the National Science Foundation (NSF) was considering how to achieve the goals of “big-science” through environmental observing systems. With encouragement from NSF to proceed with plans for a network of hydrologic observatories, the WATERS initiative was born in 2005. This committee reviewed the Draft Science, Education, and Design Strategy (SEDS) document in 2008 and criticized the absence of a clear scientific vision for the project. Between August 2008 and May 2009, a team of scientists and engineers, led by Professor Jeff Dozier, prepared a Science Plan presenting the vision for an observatory network. It was the privilege of the committee who prepared this report to review this WATERS Science Plan.
The committee brought to its task a breadth of knowledge gained from experience with field research as well as from related scientific literature and reports produced during the planning of hydrologic observatories. The WATERS Science Plan was read and reviewed within this broad contextual background. The committee benefited greatly from frank and open briefings provided by members of the WATERS team and by NSF leaders from three directorates, briefings that led to much greater appreciation of both the great potential for an observatory network and also some of the challenges associated with it.
As chair of the committee, I thank the members of the committee for their hard work in preparing three reports, of which this is the final one, and for the way that everyone interacted with great good nature throughout our work together. This report, like all National Research Council (NRC) reports, was made possible by excellent staff work. My thanks to Michael Stoever for managing logistics for the committee and to Dorothy
Weir, who very ably served as study director for the committee for the first year and a half. I especially want to thank Stephanie Johnson for her major contributions to our work. Stephanie served as the study director for the interim and final reports. Special thanks are due for both editorial and substantive suggestions she made on the reports and for shepherding the reports through the NRC publication process.
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with the procedures approved by the NRC’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments to assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report:
A. ALLEN BRADLEY, University of Iowa
JAMES R. GOSZ, University of Idaho
WENDY D. GRAHAM, University of Florida
SALLY MACINTYRE, University of California, Santa Barbara
DAVID L. SEDLAK, University of California, Berkeley
EDELLA C. SCHLAGER, University of Arizona
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions and recommendations nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Mary Anderson, University of Wisconsin. Appointed by the NRC, she was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.
George Hornberger, Chair
Committee on the Review of Water and Environmental Research Systems (WATERS) Network